Course 2, Chapter 29: Of union with our Lord, the new Adam, by charity. The Fourth Commandment

1. Which is the fourth commandment?

Honor thy father and thy mother.

2. What are the objects of the fourth command ment?

The fourth commandment has for its objects the duties of children to their parents, and of parents to their children. It regulates the duties also of other superiors and inferiors. This commandment is the first having reference to our neighbor. 17*

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3. What are we commanded by the fourth commandment V

We are commanded to honor our father, mother, and other superiors. This honor supposes respect, love, obedience and service.

4. In what consists the respect which children owe their parents?

It consists in following humbly their advice, in speaking to them with deference and submission, and evincing towards them, both in public and private, all those marks of affection which are due them.

5. In what consists the love which children owe their parents?

The love which children owe their parents consists in desiring and doing for them all the spiritual and temporal good which God requires; this love should be supernatural and constant.

6. What ought to be the obedience of children to their parents?

The obedience of children to their parents should be simple, prompt, universal. Children must obey their parents in all that is not contrary to the laws of God and the Church.

7. What assistance do children owe their parents?

Children owe their parents both corporal and spiritual assistance. Corporal, they are bound to succor their parents in poverty, sickness and old age; spiritual, they are bound to pray for them; to obtain for them the benefits of the sacraments when sick; and when they are dead, to pray for them, and have prayers offered up for the repose of their souls.

8. What recompense has God promised to those who fulfil this commandment?

God has promised those who fulfil this command ment a long and happy life.

9. What are the duties of parents to their children?

Parents are bound to provide their children with food and raiment; to instruct them; to correct them j

to give them good example, and watch over them with vigilance. They cannot unjustly oppose their vocation, because their children owe a higher obligation to God than they do to their parents.

10. Who are our other superiors?

Our other superiors are the pope, the bishops, and priests of the Church; our god-fathers and godmothers; magistrates, masters, mistresses, and the aged. We should respect them, love them, obey them, for they are appointed by God to command and guide us.

11. Wrhat are the duties of superiors in general?

Superiors having received their authority from God, are bound to devote themselves entirely to the spiritual and temporal welfare of their inferiors.

12. To what are masters and mistresses in particular obliged?

Masters and mistresses in particular are obliged to instruct their domestics, or have them instructed; to see that they observe the commandments of God and of the Church; to watch over their conduct; to admonish and correct them; to furnish them suitable and sufficient food and clothing, and faithfully pay them their wages, when hired.

13. What are the advantages of the fourth commandment?

The advantages of the fourth commandment are: 1st, to secure the peace of states and families, by causing superiors to be respected; 2d, to make authority wise and paternal; 3d, to render obedience pleas ant, filial and constant, by teaching the inferior that it is God whom he obeys in obeying his superiors; 4th, to make us all live for one another.

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