(Deut 32, 6) Is he not your father who created you?
[6] Is the LORD to be thus repaid by you, O stupid and foolish people? Is he not your father who created you? Has he not made you and established you?
(CCC 238) Many religions invoke God as "Father". The deity is often considered the "father of gods and of men". In Israel, God is called "Father" inasmuch as he is Creator of the world (Cf. Dt 32:6; Mal 2:10). Even more, God is Father because of the covenant and the gift of the law to Israel, "his first-born son" (Ex 4:22). God is also called the Father of the king of Israel. Most especially he is "the Father of the poor", of the orphaned and the widowed, who are under his loving protection (Cf. 2 Sam 7:14; Ps 68:6).
[24] When Moses had finished writing out on a scroll the words of the law in their entirety, [25] he gave the Levites who carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD this order: [26] Take this scroll of the law and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD, your God, that there it may be a witness against you.
(CCC 2056) The word "Decalogue" means literally "ten words" (Rom Ex 34:28; Deut 4:13; 10:4). God revealed these "ten words" to his people on the holy mountain. They were written "with the finger of God" (Ex 31:18; Deut 5:22), unlike the other commandments written by Moses (Cf. Deut 31:9-24). They are pre-eminently the words of God. They are handed on to us in the books of Exodus (Cf. Ex 20:1-17) and Deuteronomy (Cf. Deut 5:6-22). Beginning with the Old Testament, the sacred books refer to the "ten words" (Cf. for example Hos 4:2; Jer 7:9; Ezek 18:5-9), but it is in the New Covenant in Jesus Christ that their full meaning will be revealed.
[17] If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen, but are led astray and adore and serve other gods, [18] I tell you now that you will certainly perish; you will not have a long life on the land which you are crossing the Jordan to enter and occupy. [19] I call heaven and earth today to witness against you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, [20] by loving the LORD, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him. For that will mean life for you, a long life for you to live on the land which the LORD swore he would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
(CCC 2069) The Decalogue forms a coherent whole. Each "word" refers to each of the others and to all of them; they reciprocally condition one another. The two tables shed light on one another; they form an organic unity. To transgress one commandment is to infringe all the others (Cf. Jas 2:10-11). One cannot honor another person without blessing God his Creator. One cannot adore God without loving all men, his creatures. The Decalogue brings man's religious and social life into unity. (CCC 2070) The Ten Commandments belong to God's revelation. At the same time they teach us the true humanity of man. They bring to light the essential duties, and therefore, indirectly, the fundamental rights inherent in the nature of the human person. The Decalogue contains a privileged expression of the natural law: From the beginning, God had implanted in the heart of man the precepts of the natural law. Then he was content to remind him of them. This was the Decalogue (St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 4, 15, 1: PG 7/l, 1012). (CCC 2071) The commandments of the Decalogue, although accessible to reason alone, have been revealed. To attain a complete and certain understanding of the requirements of the natural law, sinful humanity needed this revelation: A full explanation of the commandments of the Decalogue became necessary in the state of sin because the light of reason was obscured and the will had gone astray (St. Bonaventure, Comm. sent. 4, 37, 1, 3). We know God's commandments through the divine revelation proposed to us in the Church, and through the voice of moral conscience.
(Deut 30, 15-16) The LORD, your God, will bless you
[15] Here, then, I have today set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. [16] If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving him, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees, you will live and grow numerous, and the LORD, your God, will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.
(CCC 1696) The way of Christ "leads to life"; a contrary way "leads to destruction" (Mt 7:13; cf. Deut 30: 15-20). The Gospel parable of the two ways remains ever present in the catechesis of the Church; it shows the importance of moral decisions for our salvation: "There are two ways, the one of life, the other of death; but between the two, there is a great difference" (Didache 1, 1: SCh 248, 140). (CCC 2057) The Decalogue must first be understood in the context of the Exodus, God's great liberating event at the center of the Old Covenant. Whether formulated as negative commandments, prohibitions, or as positive precepts such as: "Honor your father and mother," the "ten words" point out the conditions of a life freed from the slavery of sin. The Decalogue is a path of life: If you love the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, then you shall live and multiply (Deut 30:16). This liberating power of the Decalogue appears, for example, in the commandment about the sabbath rest, directed also to foreigners and slaves: You shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out thence with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm (Deut 5:15).
[3] But not even at the present day has the LORD yet given you a mind to understand, or eyes to see, or ears to hear.
(CCC 368) The spiritual tradition of the Church also emphasizes the heart, in the biblical sense of the depths of one's being, where the person decides for or against God (Cf. Jer 31:33; Dt 6:5; 29:3; Isa 29:13; Ezek 36:26; Mt 6:21; Lk 8:15; Rom 5:5).
(Deut 28, 10) All the nations see you bearing the name of the LORD
[10] So that, when all the nations of the earth see you bearing the name of the LORD, they will stand in awe of you.
(CCC 63) Israel is the priestly people of God, "called by the name of the LORD", and "the first to hear the word of God" (Deut 28: 10; Roman Missal, Good Friday, General Intercession VI; see also Ex 19:6), The people of "elder brethren" in the faith of Abraham.
(Deut 25, 13-16) Who is dishonest is an abomination
[13] You shall not keep two differing weights in your bag, one large and the other small; [14] nor shall you keep two different measures in your house, one large and the other small. [15] But use a true and just weight, and a true and just measure, that you may have a long life on the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you. [16] Everyone who is dishonest in any of these matters is an abomination to the LORD, your God.
(CCC 2409) Even if it does not contradict the provisions of civil law, any form of unjustly taking and keeping the property of others is against the seventh commandment: thus, deliberate retention of goods lent or of objects lost; business fraud; paying unjust wages; forcing up prices by taking advantage of the ignorance or hardship of another (Cf. Deut 25:13-16; 24:14-15; Jas 5:4; Am 8:4-6). The following are also morally illicit: speculation in which one contrives to manipulate the price of goods artificially in order to gain an advantage to the detriment of others; corruption in which one influences the judgment of those who must make decisions according to law; appropriation and use for private purposes of the common goods of an enterprise; work poorly done; tax evasion; forgery of checks and invoices; excessive expenses and waste. Willfully damaging private or public property is contrary to the moral law and requires reparation.
Commentary to the main texts of the Catholic Church through the "CCC" CCC
Dear Visitors and Readers,
We have completed the commentaries of the “Cathechism of the Catholic Church” to “Youcat English: Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church” and to all the other documents of the Catholic Church posted on this blog since 2007. You can always find them on this blog. They are the following:
“New Testament” commented through the Cathechism of the Catholic Church.
“Old Testament” (chosen Pages) commented through the Cathechism of the Catholic Church.
“Compendium of the Cathechism of the Catholic Church” commented through the Cathechism of the Catholic Church.
The four Gospels commented through the “Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church” and Encyclical Letter "Caritas In Veritate".
Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World: “Gaudium et Spes” commented through the Cathechism of the Catholic Church.
Dogmatic Constitution on the Church: “Lumen Gentium” commented through the Cathechism of the Catholic Church.
Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation: “Dei Verbum” commented through the Cathechism of the Catholic Church.
“Youcat English: Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church” commented through the Cathechism of the Catholic Church.
We thank You for your kind attention and we wish you always an useful and pleasant reading. God bless You.
Gualberto Gismondi ofm.
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