Wednesday, 10/31/12
Reminding us of the commandment that we honor our fathers
and mothers, Paul added the phrase, “in the Lord.” To honor our parents in
the Lord means that we accept their authority as coming from the Lord.
In the second chapter of Genesis when God looked at his
first human he immediately said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.” With
that statement he was telling us that he created us as social animals. We can
only survive by working in union with one another. From that it flows that when
differences of opinions arise, as they inevitably will, someone must have the
right to speak decisively. So, we can say that God established roles of
authority at the moment of his creation of our race.
We might not like what our parents or our bishops, or our
bosses on the job decide on. We might not even like them, but we must go along
with their directives because their authority comes from God. As Paul put it in
Chapter Thirteen of his Letter to the Romans, “There is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been
established by God. Therefore, whoever resists authority opposes what God has
appointed.”
The wording of the commandment requires us to honor
our parents. Specifically, to honor means to put the kindest interpretation on
their behavior the way we naturally give the kindest judgment on our own
actions.
As for when we are excused from obeying, it is safe to
follow the old rule that “We must obey in
all things but sin.”
1 comment:
Father, I believe St. Paul is also talking about the authority of our elected officials in Chapter 13 of Romans. Even if we did not vote for someone, there is a reason why they are there. God bless, Theresa Longino
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