“If you love me, you will keep my commandments”
Which Commandments is Jesus talking about? Jesus is speaking of all that He taught and commanded the Apostles to do. This includes all that His Father had taught them and their predecessors. Jesus preached the Commandments of God saying, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the prophets.” [1]
Do we follow the Old Commandments or the New? Jesus does not change any of the Old Commandments; rather he is the realization of all that was prophesized of old. Remember that Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.” [2] He fulfills the laws of the Old Testament by revealing the depth of the Commandments. An examples of this occurs during the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not kill.’…But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment.” [3] Jesus does not retract the Commandment not to kill, but explains the full extent and beauty of it. God does not want us simply to refrain from killing others, he desires that we not even allow the thoughts of anger against our brother to grow inside of us. We are called to follow the spirit of the law, not simply the letter of the law. This is a great challenge for us to examine the spirit of our actions. Why am I doing this thing? Am I doing it for the attention I will receive? Am I acting out of jealousy or envy? Do I have a pure intention or ulterior motive?
Why do we follow these commandments? God is the Author of all creation, which means that He created us and He has made us with a purpose. God made us to be in Heaven with Him for all of eternity. Heaven is our end goal, so all of our actions should be directed towards that end. How do we attain Heaven? In last week’s Gospel we heard Jesus say, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” We attain Heaven and life with the Father by going through His Son, Jesus. How do we follow the way of Christ? Today we hear Jesus say, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” We keep Christ’s Commandments so we can be in Heaven with God forever!
The other reason for following God’s Commandments is that when we do, we actually become more human. Since we are made for Heaven, there must be a way for us to achieve that unity with God. We become united with God when we follow the Way of His Son and conform our lives to the example that He gave us. God gave us His Commandments for our own good and as a result of His great Love for us. These commands help to keep us safe, secure, and happy when we follow them with a true desire to love and obey God. God endowed us with the ability to choose whatever actions we want during our earthly life, this is called free will. However, St John Paul II reminds us that, “Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.” [4]
At the age of 19, Tajci became a superstar in Central Europe when she electrified an international TV audience, estimated at over a billion people, in the Eurovision Song Contest. The release of her recording of “Hajde da ludujemo” (“Let’s Go Crazy”), coupled with the fall of the Berlin Wall, sparked a wave of optimism and an adulation for the attractive, engaging teenager – much like the “Beatlemania” phenomena the West had experienced thirty years earlier. As thousands of people of all ages jammed Taj?i’s concerts, her records achieved Platinum and Diamond sales. There was a Taj?i doll, newborns were named after her, and the European magazines and tabloids filled their pages with Taj?i stories and photos. When she was 21 and at the height of her career, she left Croatia and the whirlwind of her pop superstardom behind to come to New York, where she studied musical theater, learned to speak English fluently, and sought to bring new meaning to her life through her newfound Catholic faith. [5] As Taj?i was moving from a worldly life of glamour and wealth into the life of Christ, a life of detachment from the things of the world and humility she hit a down time in her life, a time of depression. It was during this time that wished that God would show Himself to her, that He would make it easy, for example just give her 10 ways or a list to follow Him. Remember she had grown up in Communist Yugoslavia, where the faith was suppressed under the reign of Atheistic belief. It was during this time, after her prayer that she walked by a Church in New York that had a sign that was advertising a series on “The 10 Commandments.” She had never heard of these and it was through this sign, an answered prayer that she grew deeper in her faith. The 10 Commandments are not a burden, but rather a blessing, a sign of God’s love for us. He would not ask us to do something if He did not believe and trust in us.
How do we prove our love for God? By following God’s commandments, we prove our love for God as Christ told us. We prove love by our everyday actions. When we love, we obey God and we have the grace to reveal Him to our neighbors. God is love and Jesus boiled down the Commandments to love of God and love of neighbor. The first three Commandments deal with love of God and the other seven, love of neighbor. We must show love in all of our actions. We are called to know, love, and serve God; this is the meaning of life. This vocation to love is found in the 10 Commandments as well. The first three commandments help us to know and love God, the last seven show us how to serve God and serve others. Saint John wrote, “Children, our love must be not just words or mere talk, but something active and genuine. This will be the proof that we belong to the truth.” [6] These actions show we are following and keeping His commandments. We must follow these commandments in humility and love.
What motivates us to live according to the Commandments? There are three things that might motivate us to live according to the Commandments. All three are found in one of the Church’s most common prayers, the Act of Contrition. “O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because I fear the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who art all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve with the help of Thy grace to sin no more and to avoid the near occasion of sin. Amen." [7] First, we might obey because we are afraid of going to Hell, which would be the just punishment for the sins we commit. This fear might be a motivating factor, but we can’t stay in this state of fear because we “have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but [we] have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” [8] Secondly, we may be motivated by the desire for the reward of heaven. We should be living our lives to attain Heaven, however, we can’t stop here either. The greatest motivation for obeying God is love. The best reason for us to obey and live according to the Commandments is out of love for God. Why do we love God? Simply because he is all good and deserving of our love.
How does this relate to other areas of our life? Think of school. We can do well in school because we fear meriting an “F.” We can do well in school because we desire to receive straight “As.” Both these motivations, the fear of failure and the desire to succeed can be done without a love for school, a love for learning. The greatest motivation is simply to love and trust in the justice and mercy of God.
We can fall into the sin of presumption when we think we are pretty good people, that we will be saved just because of who we are (i.e. Catholic). It is easy to become “culturally Catholic,” to begin to think that because we go through all the right steps (i.e. attend Mass, receive all the Sacraments, etc), we will be saved. We can also shift the responsibility off of ourselves by thinking that others will take care of our salvation or that we will be saved because of the righteousness of our priests, our families or friends. For example, if Grandma keeps praying her Rosary, then all her grandkids are safe. Presumption comes from the Latin praesumere, which means to suppose or take for granted. “It is a result of pride…It also leads one to expect graces from God without doing anything to obtain them, and even when acting the opposite, as when sinning, the person presumes that forgiveness is assured.” [9]
Will Catholics have a special favor or get off easier than others just because they are Catholic?No. In fact the Church says Catholics will be held more accountable. We have been given so much, it is a graver sin if Catholics fall into the sin of presumption and take God’s Grace for granted. “He is not saved, however, who, though part of the body of the Church, does not persevere in charity. He remains indeed in the bosom of the Church, but, as it were, only in a ‘bodily’ manner and not ‘in his heart.’ All the Church's children should remember that their exalted status is to be attributed not to their own merits but to the special grace of Christ. If they fail moreover to respond to that grace in thought, word and deed, not only shall they not be saved but they will be the more severely judged.” [10]
Jesus says in the Gospel of the Mass, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” There are two verbs in this statement, “love” and “will keep.” The Church in the Vatican II document above reinforces the words of Christ by saying that we must “persevere in charity.” We cannot just be Catholic in “body” but both in “body” and “in his heart.” We must pray to follow not just in a bodily way, but also with the heart. “Send into our hearts the spirit of the Gospel, that we may walk in the way of your commandments, today and for ever.” [11] We follow the Commandments in order to try and live in right accord with God, but we do it out of a hunger and thirst for righteousness, not from pride and selfishness. [12] It is the heart that “loves” and the body that “does.” We have heard the phrase in sports and other areas of life, “Put your heart into it.” This is what both Christ and the Church are also saying, but it is important to remember that we do not put a prideful, selfish heart into what we do but rather a heart filled with the “spirit of the Gospel.”
Activity – Memorizing the 10 Commandments
Sadly, many Catholics cannot name even half of the 10 Commandments. The Church has always acknowledged the importance and significance of the Decalogue, or 10 Commandments. [13]
This is a fun video to help teach yourself or a group of people how to remember the 10 Commandments and in the correct order. This video was created by the author of the book “Zak and the Three Tree.” This video only has up to the 5th commandment, but the video does give the complete rhyme which helps in the memorization of the Ten Commandments.
To purchase the book please click here
You can either read the book or come up with your own story. It would be good to begin by asking how many people do know the 10 Commandments by heart in the correct order. There will probably not be many. At the end of this activity ask three people who did not know the Commandments by heart previously to volunteer to say them in order. There will be three volunteers, send two volunteers out of the room, so they don’t hear the first volunteer give the Commandments. After the first volunteer is done, bring in the second and then the third. If you choose to make up your own story, start out by giving a story of a young boy or girl (doesn’t matter) and give them a name. For this example I will give the young girl the name “Clare.” Always start each commandment with the Rhyme, then give the short story, and then explain the commandment and how it relates to the story. You may also feel free to change the script to fit your audience the best.
What is the difference between the Catholic list of 10 Commandments and the Protestant list? It is important to know that there are two lists in the Bible; one is found in Exodus 20 the other in Deuteronomy 5. In regards to the Exodus 20 list, “traditionally among Catholics verses 1-6 are considered as only one commandment, and verse 17 as two.” [14] The Protestants have the first commandment as “You shall have no other gods besides me,” and the second commandment as “You shall not carve idols.” Catholics combine these two into one since they are similar. Protestants combine commandments 9 and 10 into one, “Thou shall not covet your neighbors wife or goods.”
Why is there a difference? One reason might be because at the beginning of the Protestant Reformation one of the “protests” against the Catholic Church was the use of icons, statues, relics, and other things alike. Many times Catholics are accused of treating icons, statues, and relics as idols and even to this day Protestants do not use these sacramentals. It is also important to not just lump together commandments 9 and 10 because they are very different in nature. To covet your neighbors watch or car is very different than coveting their wife, who is a person not an object. The fact that Catholics have commandments 7 (do not commit adultery) and 9 (do not covet your neighbors wife), reveals the foundation for much of the Church’s teaching on sexual ethics and morals. Do Catholics or Protestants have a right to make a “list” of Commandments? Yes. In scripture there is no “list,” just 17 verses. A “list” helps us summarize or learn the 17 verses. How we make our list says a lot about our beliefs as Catholics and Protestants.
[1] Matthew 22:37-40
[2] Matthew 5:17-18
[3] Mt 5:21-22
[4] Pope St. John Paul II, 1995 Homily in Baltimore, MD
[5] http://tajci.net/
[6] 1 John 3:18
[7] Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church; Appendix A; Act of Contrition
[8] Romans 8:15
[9] Modern Catholic Dictionary pg. 437
[10] Lumen Gentium; Section 14
[11] Liturgy of the Hours; Fourth Week of Easter, Tuesday, Morning Prayer, Intecessions
[12] Magnificat Vol. 13, No. 3/ May 2011
[13] CCC 2064
[14] Footnote in the NAB