The Homily of Father Jose  - May 17, 2020

Sixth Sunday of Easter  -  The Ten Commandments

Are they outdated?  A great majority of people even Catholics, those who are by name only think that the Ten Commandments are a thing of the past.  Some people think that the State should forbid teaching about the Ten Commandments. For many, the commandments are out of fashion because they are against our culture (the culture of death); while for others God’s commandments do not include all ten of them.  They take some of them out for their convenience in order to follow their own lifestyle.  This is why many Catholics have left the Church to join other denominations, which do not talk about the commandments, sin, judgment or hell.

My dear people, the Ten Commandments are loving directions to attain the heavenly kingdom, where we can see God face to face, the Beatific vision.  In today’s Gospel, Jesus says:  “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14, 15).  If we love God, we do our best to please Him. These commandments tell us how to love God and our neighbors.  The first three commandments teach us how to love God, and the next seven teach us how to love our neighbors.

The Ten Commandments make it perfectly clear that we should not fall in love with idolatry, impiety, disobedience, sensuality, stealing, dishonesty, covetousness, etc.  So we need to follow the commandments to love God.  As the late Pope John Paul II has written: “the Ten Commandments save man from the destructive force of egoism, hatred and falsehood.  They point out all false gods that draw him into slavery”.  “Almighty God, thank you for giving us your laws which are your loving directions to attain the eternal happiness.“  

                                                                                   Amen