Catechism index

2071 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. 31 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: …
2072 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. 32 Since they express man's fundamental duties towards God and towards his neighbor, the Ten Commandments reveal, in their primordial content, grave obligations. They are fundamentally immutable, and they oblige always and everywhere. …
2073 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. 32 Obedience to the Commandments also implies obligations in matter which is, in itself, light. Thus abusive language is forbidden by the fifth commandment, but would be a grave offense only as a …
2074 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. 32 Jesus says: "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears a life made fruitful by union with Christ. …
2075 IN BRIEF "What good deed must I do, to have eternal life?" - "If you would enter into life, keep the commandments" (Mt 19:16-17).
2076 IN BRIEF By his life and by his preaching Jesus attested to the permanent validity of the Decalogue.
2077 IN BRIEF The gift of the Decalogue is bestowed from within the covenant concluded by God with his people. God's commandments take on their true meaning in and through this covenant.
2078 IN BRIEF In fidelity to Scripture and in conformity with Jesus' example, the tradition of the Church has always acknowledged the primordial importance and significance of the Decalogue.
2079 IN BRIEF The Decalogue forms an organic unity in which each "word" or "commandment" refers to all the others taken together. To transgress one commandment is to infringe the whole Law (cf Jas 2:10-11).
2080 IN BRIEF The Decalogue contains a privileged expression of the natural law. It is made known to us by divine revelation and by human reason.
2081 IN BRIEF The Ten Commandments, in their fundamental content, state grave obligations. However, obedience to these precepts also implies obligations in matter which is, in itself, light.
2082 IN BRIEF What God commands he makes possible by his grace. Previous - Next Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana
2083 YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND Jesus 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." 1 …
2084 I. "You Shall Worship the Lord Your God and Him Only Shall You Serve" God makes himself known by recalling his all-powerful loving, and liberating action in the history of the one he addresses: "I brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the …
2085 I. "You Shall Worship the Lord Your God and Him Only Shall You Serve" The one and true God first reveals his glory to Israel. 6 The revelation of the vocation and truth of man is linked to the revelation of God. Man's vocation is to …
2086 I. "You Shall Worship the Lord Your God and Him Only Shall You Serve" "The first commandment embraces faith, hope, and charity. When we say 'God' we confess a constant, unchangeable being, always the same, faithful and just, without any evil. It follows that we must …
2087 I. "You Shall Worship the Lord Your God and Him Only Shall You Serve" Our moral life has its source in faith in God who reveals his love to us. St. Paul speaks of the "obedience of faith" 9 as our first obligation. He shows that …
2088 I. "You Shall Worship the Lord Your God and Him Only Shall You Serve" The first commandment requires us to nourish and protect our faith with prudence and vigilance, and to reject everything that is opposed to it. There are various ways of sinning against faith: …
2089 I. "You Shall Worship the Lord Your God and Him Only Shall You Serve" Incredulity is the neglect of revealed truth or the willful refusal to assent to it. "Heresy is the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with divine and catholic …
2090 I. "You Shall Worship the Lord Your God and Him Only Shall You Serve" When God reveals Himself and calls him, man cannot fully respond to the divine love by his own powers. He must hope that God will give him the capacity to love Him …