MASID-DANAS

TEN COMMANDMENTS AS MORAL CODE

Individual Activity:
How relevant or important are the Ten Commandments for you as a Christian believer/as a
Lasallian?

1. Explain your response.

What comes to your mind as a Filipino when you read the Ten Commandments?
How do you understand why the 10 Commandments are given by God?

Most of the time Filipinos would associate the Ten Commandments to the story of Moses with
the two stone tablets. These 10 commandments were viewed unfortunately as something
imposed, if not followed, people will be punished by God. People may think that this is not
closely related with their daily lives of moral responsibilities. It is also viewed as something
about God and others but not so related with love, faithfulness, fidelity and friendship or deeper
relationship with God and others. On the other hand, some adult Filipino Catholics may also see
that their relationship with God tends to be dominated by the external ritual piety of their
upbringing (devotions, religious rituals, church attendance, pious acts to show off). For them, the
Commandments of God are simply not relevant to today’s Philippine context and the work for
social justice and empowerment of the poor. (CFC #865).

Suri-Nilay

BIBLICAL BACKGROUND OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

1. How should we understand the ten commandments?

2. Why were the Ten Commandments given?

The Ten Commandments should be understood against the backdrop of Israel’s experience of
slavery in Egypt (1300 BCE). Israel’s laws should ensure that God’s people will no longer
experience oppression. It should also be seen in the light of God’s covenant with his people.
They describe the conditions accepted by the community as reflecting the will of Yhwh (Adonai)
who brought them out of the land of Egypt.
The laws should not be seen as a restriction of freedom. Rather, the laws allow the children of
Israel to live peacefully and harmoniously with one another and with God.

Jesus summarized the core of these ten commandments into two – the interrelated love of God
and love of neighbor (Matthew 22:36-39). We have learned in the previous term that love of God
cannot really be separated from love of neighbor. Through the ten Commandments, God
actually reveals to us the basic norms of the law written into our human nature, the Natural Law,
on how to act toward God and neighbor (CFC #867).

While in the last term, we focused on love of God covering the first 3 commandments, in this
term, we shall focus on the commandments directly related to love of neighbor. However since,
we will have a session on the Right to Life, we skip discussing in this session the 5th
commandment, thou shalt not Kill, and reserve it for follow-up discussions. Our discussion of
these commandments will focus on their social significance and how they reflect the face of
Yhwh (Adonai) who brought the Israelites out of oppression

The Ten Commandments constitute the basic imperatives needed for life in a community that
points to two directions: reverence for God and respect for our fellow human beings. The lasting
exceptional value of the Ten Commandments can be grounded in their historical origin
(historical events of Exodus and Mt. Sinai) , their covenantal character and their liberating
power. They are also a deliverance from the slavery of sin (CFC #870-873).

The “law” behind the Ten Commandments is the law of love, also known as charity. And
what is charity?

Charity is the power by which we, who have been loved first by God, can give ourselves to God
so as to be united with him and can accept our neighbor for God’s sake as unconditionally and
sincerely as we accept ourselves. [1822-1829, 1844] Jesus places love above all laws, without
however abolishing the latter. Therefore St. Augustine rightly says, “Love, and do what you will.”
Which is not at all as easy as it sounds. That is why charity, love, is the greatest virtue, the
energy that inspires all the other virtues and fills them with divine life.

4th Commandment: Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in
the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
Honor in Hebrew is kabbed; literally translated as “to make heavy”. It can mean to prize highly,
respect and revere, care for and show affection, or obey.

To honor means showing proper gratitude, affection, respect, obedience and care to parents
and extended as well to all who contributed to one’s care , upbringing, and education such as
grandparents, elder brother or sister, auntie and uncle(CFC 1023)

Scholars hold that the 4th commandment is addressed to adults and thus more likely refer to
caring for the elderly parents. Caring for the elderly involves provisions for physical needs such
as food and clothing (Proverbs 3:9). Proper attitudes prescribed are as follows: Do not despise,
forsake or be angry with them. Be patient and kind especially when their minds fail (Sirach
3:1-16)

Interpreting the 4th commandment as obedience to parents needs to be qualified. We heed only
what is good and helpful. If the parents turn against God, their authority ceases and the child is
no longer obliged to obey their commands (I Kings 15:13-14)

Honoring our parents can include advocating for the rights of the elderly. Ageism is the
stereotyping and prejudice against older people that can lead to age discrimination. Age
discrimination is when someone is treated differently, with an unreasonable or disproportionate
impact, simply because of their age. It is a violation of older people’s rights. The rights of the
elderly include freedom from discrimination because of their age, freedom from violence, right to
social security, right to health care, right to work, right to property and inheritance.

Parents and children must learn to communicate with one another openly and deeply in a
loving, forgiving, mutually supporting that is honest and truthful. both should be willing to admit
errors. The whole family must look beyond itself and strive to offer Christian witness of the
Gospel values of justice and protection of human rights. In honoring our parents we honor God
himself. (CFC#1041, 1027)

6th Commandment: Thou shalt not commit adultery

Old Testament

Adultery was an offense against the husband’s rights to the integrity of his marriage and
certitude about his descendants. A married man did not commit adultery against his wife by
intercourse with another woman.

A man could have more than one wife (Deuteronomy 21:15) and even if a married man sleeps
with an unmarried or unbetroth woman, this is not considered adultery (Ex. 22:16-17; Deut.
22:28-29)

Only a man who slept with another man’s wife or fiancée could be penalized for adultery
together with the concerned woman (Deut. 22:22-26). A woman however had to be faithful to
her husband alone and she needed to be a virgin until she married. (Deut. 22:13-21)
In the New Testament, the wife becomes a full partner in the covenant. It is she who is sinned
against when her husband violates his commitment to her. Jesus speaks of divorce [except on
the grounds of unchastity] as adultery, a breaking of the covenant, a violation of either the wife
or the husband. Paul supports this “equal rights amendment” insisting that a man owed sexual
allegiance to his wife as much as his wife owed it to him (I Cor 7:4)

These six commandments touches the very nature of human sexuality in the entire range of
man-woman relationship and our common vocation to love and communion. Sexuality is a
fundamental component of personality, one of its modes of being, of manifestation, of
communicating with others, of feeling, of expressing and of living human love (CFC 1070).
There are consequences in this fundamental truth 1. God gives man and woman an equal
personal dignity, 2. man and woman are both different and complementary, 3. man and woman
are called to mutual gift of self, to a reciprocity, 4. sexuality is for love (CFC 1071-1073).

By word and example, Jesus revealed the true nature of our human sexuality and of marriage.
Through His resurrection, Jesus redeemed our whole persons, with all our instincts, powers and
relationships, including our sexuality (CFC 1080)

7th Commandment: You shall not steal

Taya-Kilos

Module Activity: Dyad (with partner)

Group Work:

Go over Commandments 7 to 10 as a cluster of commandments on “loving one’s neighbor”.

Represent every Commandment with a key word plus key value. Then come up with an
Infographic based on your agreed key word and key value. As a Team, discern the practical
challenges of your identified key word and key value to our present situation, local or global and
focusing on family or social issues. Attach an image of your identified situation to every key
word and key value in your Infographic.

Pope Francis reminds every one in his Post-Synodal Exhortation, Christus Vivit: He is in you, he
is with you and he never abandons you. However far you may wander, he is always there, the
Risen One. He calls you and he waits for you to return to him and start over again.
HUMAN RIGHTS AND DUTIES IN THE
CATHOLIC TRADITION
Overview:

When we see a person begging at the street, a very old woman selling goods
at the street, or a family living under skyways, what comes into your
thoughts, or moreover, how do we act? The face of the child carrying his/her
sibling while begging for alms, the face of the old man pushing his kariton
while asking for your house's scraps are not merely faces of poverty. These
are faces as well as the reality of human rights violation that had become
common in our eyes. The Catholic Church for many decades had called for
government and state leaders to address any form of human rights violation
from its roots.

Take a look at the following pictures.

1. 1Certification with school seal stating that F-137 wasn’t forwarded to any school here or
abroad
2. Certificate true copy of form 137 - Grade 11 and Grade 10
In relation to your initial understanding and reflection, how are these
pictures associated with human rights?

Does human rights involves violations against life only?

What are other dimensions with which human rights are violated in the
contemporary world?

According to the handbook on Human Rights released by the United Nations

– Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights in 2016, human rights
are defined as the rights that every human being has by the virtue of his or
her human dignity, thus making human rights inherent to all human beings.
This was also referred as the “sum of individual and collective rights laid
down in State constitutions and international law.” Human rights includes all
aspects of life, therefore a broader understanding, rather than selective, is
required. Issues on poverty, education, persons with special needs, and
violations on liberty and life is under this aspects.

Do you think the Church must involve herself on matters of human rights?

3. Certification with school seal stating that F-137 wasn’t forwarded to any school here or
abroad
4. Certificate true copy of form 137 - Grade 11 and Grade 10