Daily Prayers

Prayer is Love, I want to Love

The Ten Commandments

Jesus’ Life: Chapter 5 – The Sermon On The Mount

The TEN Commandments were given to Moses (ca. 1400-1500 BC) on Mount Sinai and Jesus had this to say about them:

Sign: No Sin

“Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever obeys them and teaches others to do so will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

Keeping the commandments is an expression of our love for God and our neighbour. It is central to living our Catholic faith. Knowingly or willingly violating them is a grave sin but don’t forget, seek the grace of the Holy Spirit to help in times of temptation.

Often the Ten Commandments are presented alongside the Precepts of The Church. The Precepts are:

  1. Attend Mass on Sundays and on Holy Days of obligation.
  2. Confess your sins at least once a year.
  3. Receive the sacrament of the Eucharist at least during the Easter season.
  4. Observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church.
  5. Help to provide for the needs of the Church. (Matthew 5:17-20, Luke 16:16-17)
Thought

A few years ago, saying prayers with my children took on a completely new meaning.

I was visiting a rural Church in a very poor area of Asia; no prayer books, no big screens. At the end of Mass, everyone knelt down to pray together. They loudly recited many of our common Church prayers. Among them was the Ten Commandments.

Reflection

The TEN Commandments:

1. I am the Lord your God; you shall not have strange gods before Me.
2. You shall not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain.
3. Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day.
4. Honour your father and your mother.
5. You shall not kill.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
7. You shall not steal.
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
9. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife.
10. You shall not covet your neighbour’s goods.

Prayer: Come Holy Spirit

Come Holy Spirit,
fill the hearts of your faithful
and kindle in them the fire of Your Divine Love.
Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created,
and You shall renew the face of the earth.

O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit
instructed the hearts of the faithful.
Grant, that by the same Spirit we may be truly wise
and ever rejoice in His consolation.
We ask this through Christ Our Lord. Amen.