2196-2257.The Fourth Commandment. This section covers the family in God’s plan, the Christian family, the family and society, the duties of family members, the family and the Kingdom. Fr Guy explores the primacy of the family in the life of all humanity, subject to God’s law.
2087-2092. Fr Guy resumes his examination of the obligations of the First Commandment. He looks more closely at two of the theological virtues, faith and hope, and at the ways we can sin against them in relation to this commandment as outlined in the Catechism.
2083-2089. The First Commandment states: ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself and graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them (Exodus 20:2-5). Jesus, when tempted by the Devil in the wilderness responds to one of his taunts by echoing this first commandment: ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve’ (Matthew 4:10). Elsewhere he summed up man’s duties toward God in this saying: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind and with all your strength’ (Luke 10:27, cf. Matthew 22:37). Fr Guy begins to explore these key statements of the Christian faith.
2052-2082.‘Teacher, what good deed must I do to inherit eternal life?’ To the young man who asked this question, Jesus answers … ‘If you would enter life, keep the commandments’. Fr Guy de Gaynesford is now able to continue his commentary on the Catechism with this introduction to the Ten Commandments – the ‘Ten Words of God’.
CCC 11: ‘This Catechism aims at presenting an organic synthesis of the essential and fundamental contents of Catholic doctrine, as regards both faith and morals in the light of the 2nd Vatican Council and the whole of the Church’s Tradition. Its principal sources are the Sacred Scriptures, the Fathers of the Church, the liturgy and the Church’s Magisterium.’ The Scriptures are listed first in order of importance. Fr Guy further examines this often overlooked principle of Catholic teaching and shows how the Holy Scriptures are the prime source of all Catholic doctrine, contrary to what many may believe.
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A lecture given during the conference ‘Who do you say that I am?’ at the School of the Annunciation in October 2015. We are grateful to the School for giving permission to publish this talk.
2006-2029. Beginning with a useful revision of the aspect of the quality of grace outlined in paragraph 2005 of the Catechism, Fr Guy continues by exploring the doctrinal concept of merit. The Catechism states that the merit of man before God in the Christian life arises from the fact that God has freely chosen to associate man with the work of his grace. Thus the fatherly action of God is first on his own initiative but then follows the possibility of our free acting through his collaboration with the will of God and in this lies merit. With his characteristic clarity and precision, Fr Guy explains this key aspect of the Catholic faith to make the basic principles simple to grasp. Essential listening for those who wish to enter more fully into this beautiful and inspiring doctrine and truly a spur to attempting to live a holier life.
1996-2005. Our justification comes from the grace of God. Grace is a favour, the free and underserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons and daughters, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life. Grace is a participation in the life of God, it is supernatural, sanctifying. It asks for our free response.