Former prisoner of war and U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Doug Hegdahl reports that fellow U.S. captives in the Vietnam War would authenticate a new prisoner's U.S. identity by using “Shave and a Haircut” as a shibboleth, tapping the first five notes against a cell wall and waiting for the appropriate “two note” response.
The Catechism asks: “What is prayer?” The great Doctor of the Church, Saint John Damascene (675-749), defines prayer as “the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God” (ccc 2559). Another Doctor of the Church, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897), defines prayer as “a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy” (ccc 2558).
Many of you may recall, as I do, the catechetical lessons of childhood. When my mom taught me the Ten Commandments, her explanation was simple: “These are God’s laws,” she explained. “By following them, we are preparing ourselves to be with God forever in Heaven.” I would ask her: “What do we do in Heaven?” My mom would explain: “Oh it is beautiful…We kneel before God and worship Him for all eternity.” My response: “Forever? That sounds boring.” My mom would try to explain that God would make sure it would not be boring for us. I would mostly leave her lap unconvinced about “how” God would make it less boring, but quite convinced that following God’s Commandments would enable us to gain Heaven.
When was the last time you spoke ill of another? Perhaps in frustration? Perhaps in anger? Perhaps due to jealousy? Maybe even envy? Those of us who have experienced a moment like that have broken the Eighth Commandment.
Justice and solidarity among nations” and “love for the poor” are themes close to my heart. How are these topics related to the Seventh Commandment, “You shall not steal”? When unjust relations exist between nations or when circumstances create a situation causing people to live on the brink of destitution, we need to consider how we might lend a helping hand.
This article examines the Seventh Commandment: “You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15; Deuteronomy 5:19), which forbids unjustly taking or keeping the goods of one’s neighbors and wronging them in any way with respect to their goods” (ccc 2401). Does this include seemingly unimportant things like firewood or paper clips or copy paper or crabapples?
For better, for worse, or richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health… until death.” This vow has been declared tens of millions of times over the centuries as a pledge of love between a man and a woman embarking upon their new life as “two becoming one flesh (see Gensis 2:24 and Matthew 19: 5-6). Saint Paul explains further that Christan couples have “put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27 ) who is the model of all chastity. As such, whether married or unmarried, “all th baptized are called to chastity” (cc 2348 ). In fact, “at the moment of his baptism the Christian is pledged to lead an affective life in chastity” (cc 2348 ).
The word “chastity” suggests the notion of someone being “as pure as the driven snow.” What exactly does this mean? The Catechism makes it crystal clear: “Chastity means the successful integration of sexuality within the person and thus the inner unity of a person in his or her bodily and spiritual being…The virtue of chastity therefore involves the integrity of the person and the integrality of the gift” (ccc 2337).
My protestant grandmother used to say that “life is like probation.” By this, she meant that through life we undergo the test of whether or not we are worthy to be united with God for all eternity. The sin of our first parents assured this imbalance in our desires and tendency toward disobeying God in order to seek our own selfish passions. The most serious of these sins is lust (also defined as a deadly sin). God provides the Sixth Commandment to help us, which states: “You shall not commit adultery” (Ex 20:14; Dt 5:18). The Catechism explains: “The tradition of the Church has understood the Sixth Commandment as encompassing the whole of human sexuality” (ccc 2336).
Article 154 - Catechism of the Catholic Church Series Paragraphs 2258-2269 The Fifth Commandment teaches: “You shall not kill” (Exodus 20:13 and Deuteronomy 5:17).
Article 153 - Catechism of the Catholic Church Series Paragraphs 2221-2246 Our discussion of the Fourth Commandment to “honor your father and your mother...” (Exodus 20:12 & Deuteronomy 5:16) continues with a review of its relationship to the duties of parents, and then the duties of civil authorities and citizens, as well as, the political community and the Church.
The Fourth Commandment in Sacred Scripture found in Exodus 20:12 and Deuteronomy 5:16, which states: “Honor your father and your mother...”, is explained further in the Catechism as follows: “God has willed that, after him, we should honor our parents to whom we owe life and who have handed on to us the knowledge of God” (ccc 2197).
Article 150 - Catechism of the Catholic Church Series Paragraphs 2133-2159 We have all heard it said in our grammar school “geography lessons” that all the rivers of the world flow to the ocean. Similarly, it can be said, that all words uttered under Heaven reach the “mind” of God. Thus, the Second Commandment teaches that words matter, especially when referencing the Divine Name, as well as the Christian name given at Baptism.
In this article we continue to reflect on the First Commandment: “You shall have no other gods before me” (Ex 20:3). Did you know that certain activities considered hobbies or pass-times by some are actually sins that break this First Commandment? It is common practice, for example, for many people to check their “horoscopes” each day, often on the Internet but still available in most newspapers, too. When a person becomes fixated on such things, this “thing”, according to the Catechism, can easily become a “false god.”
In the classic theological text “A Companion To The Summa,” author W. Farrell explains that there are Americans who hold strange and dangerous theories about the nature of religion. Some teach that religion was born of ignorance, and will disappear with the coming of knowledge. Others hold that “religion is a manifestation of fear, cowardice, and a desire to escape.” Still others look upon “religion as a sop for failure, an excuse for lack of accomplishment and drive, the opiate of the downtrodden keeping them satisfied with the unsatisfying things of life.” Some even belong to religious sects in which religion can be described as an emotional outburst, satisfying the side of human nature that escapes knowledge. Yes, for some Americans today religion is merely a matter of feeling and as varied and independent as the emotions of each individual (Farrell, III, 297).
When thinking about “the Church,” how often do we consider the fact that Jesus had us in mind some 2,000 years ago when, at Caesarea Philippi, he told Saint Peter, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church…And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 16:18-19)? Do we appreciate that Jesus was actually thinking about us when he stood, in his glorified risen body, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and drew from that same man, Saint Peter, the three-fold repeated profession of love: “Lord, you know that I love you” (Jn 21:15-17)? He then gave Peter supreme authority over his Church (Jn 21:15-17).
Article 144 - Catechism of the Catholic Church Series Paragraphs 1987-2016 As a child, when I insisted on doing something or questioning something that was not in line with our Catholic faith, my mom would often say: “God’s ways are not our ways and our ways are not always God’s.” Little did my mom know that she was quoting from Isaiah 55:8 in the Old Testament when she spoke these words. Perhaps we’ve all heard a variation of them. In any case, they all derive from this passage in the Book of the Isaiah.
Article 143 - Catechism of the Catholic Church Series Paragraphs 1949-1974 We are all familiar with the motto on our coins, “In God We Trust,” and we witness this same faith in God incorporated into presidential speeches. Such public profession of our faith in God goes back to the earliest days of American history. The early pilgrims, for example, who were saved from starvation that first terrible winter of 1620-1621, set aside a day of thanksgiving to God for their survival. This spirit of religious faith was evident everywhere in the early colonies. When we became an independent nation, this same dependence on God was included in our Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights in the Constitution of the United States. To this day, our nation recognizes God and his rights over us. Americans realize that we have to give to God what belongs to him. We understand that religion is a debt which we must, in strict justice, pay to our loving Creator.
Article 140 - Catechism of the Catholic Church Series Paragraphs 1877-1889 COVID-19, otherwise known as the coronavirus, has taken our country and the world by surprise, like nothing ever experienced in the life of anyone living on planet earth today! What began as something considered “worse than the flu” became an outright war against an invisible enemy.
Article 138 - Catechism of the Catholic Church Series Paragraphs 1846-1853 A friend of mine recently introduced me to an English word I had never heard before. The 34-letter word, hyperpolysyllabicsesquipedalianism, refers to the practice of a person who likes to use big words in excess. I couldn’t help but think that people could accuse me of this if I told them often that my first parish assignment as a newly ordained priest was in a town near a lake with a 45-letter name called Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg.