📖Overview

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, The Ten Commandments, or Decalogue, were revealed by God to Moses on Mount Sinai and express the fundamental duties of humanity toward God and neighbor. Jesus Himself affirmed their permanent validity: "If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments" (Matt 19:17). The Commandments are a privileged expression of the natural law, made known by reason and revelation, and they state grave obligations. The first three commandments concern the love of God: having no other gods, not taking God's name in vain, and keeping the Lord's Day holy. The remaining seven commandments concern love of neighbor: honoring one's parents, not killing, not committing adultery, not stealing, not bearing false witness, and not coveting one's neighbor's spouse or goods. The Decalogue forms an organic unity; to transgress one commandment is to infringe all the others. The Commandments are not arbitrary rules but express the truth about the human person and the conditions for authentic freedom and flourishing. They are gifts of God that light the way to true happiness and reveal what is pleasing to God. The Church has always recognized the Decalogue as having a privileged place in the moral instruction of the faithful, and it serves as the foundation for Catholic moral teaching, understood in light of Christ's teaching on love and the Sermon on the Mount.

💡Key Points