The Catholic Church teaches that “the dignity of the human person is rooted in his creation in the image and likeness of God” (from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1997). Catholics therefore wish to live a life that is worthy of this honor — a moral life, a life of dignity. God gave us the Ten Commandments through Moses, and they remain a sound basis for a good Catholic life. They are incorporated into the Catholic Catechism, which expounds on their virtue. Moreover, Christ gave us through his followers both moral examples and commandments to achieve that ideal life.

The Practice of Charity

Charity is that virtue that disposes us to love God above all else and to include our neighbors as part of that love. It knits us into our community and is meritorious of eternal life. The Church teaches that if a parishioner helps a person in need, the act actually achieves a supernatural state (according to Jesus' pronouncement that each good deed done for the benefit of another person is also done for Christ). That is because the friend or neighbor or homeless person you helped is considered a child of God.

Another way of saying this is what the Church calls the “vocation to beatitude,” which is a duty of each Catholic person. (Vocation is a “call” and Catholics are called to help others.) The Catechism explains that the beatitudes portray Christ's charity (see Chapter 2). Beautiful and paradoxical, the beatitudes are precepts meant to comfort believers and inspire them to practice the charity for the meek, the poor, the hungry, and disenfranchised, that Christ spoke for so eloquently in his Sermon on the Mount.

The Catholic Catechism teaches that “the love of our Lord must always be made accessible, so that anyone can see that all the works of perfect Christian virtue spring from love and have no other objective than to arrive at love.” To that end, the monastic orders have been instrumental since the Middle Ages in helping to educate the poor, feed the hungry, comfort the sick, and aid those suffering from injustice.

The modern Catholic Church has hundreds of agencies and associations, founded by activist priests or the Christian laity, that address specific needs or minister to particular groups, either at home or elsewhere in the world. And, of course, Catholics are encouraged to behave with charitable feelings toward those around them.

The Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue, have great significance in the Catholic Church. The first three commandments are those God gave for appropriate worship of him. The next seven attest to the behavior of a good Catholic toward his or her neighbors. The basic obligations of religion and morality are as follows.

• I am the Lord your God. You shall not have strange gods before me.

• You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain. [Oaths, perjury, and blasphemy are forbidden.]

• Keep the Sabbath holy. [The Church interprets this commandment to mean that attendance at Mass on Sunday is expected, and that on this day a good Catholic should not turn his or her mind to other distractions, like work. The Sabbath is a day of worship.]

• Honor your father and your mother.

• You shall not kill.

• You shall not commit adultery.

• You shall not steal.

• You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

• You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.

• You shall not covet your neighbor's goods.

The Catholic Church teaches that sinful humanity needed the revelation of these commandments to help them acquire a moral life and, by proper observance, to achieve a state of grace. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that the commandments “express man's fundamental duties.”

Proclaiming the Scriptures

The Scriptures — including both the Old and the New Testament — should be an integral component of each Catholic's daily life. Although in the past the Catholic laity was discouraged from reading the Bible, the importance of studying the Holy Book both in church and at home has been emphasized ever since Vatican II.

In the past, the Church worried that evil might come from the laity studying the Scriptures because they would be in danger of misinterpreting biblical passages, and they decreed that scripture may be interpreted by those ordained in the Church. Today, however, reading and understanding the Bible does not seem the daunting task it may once have been. In fact, the Church has recently noted growing enthusiasm and interest in the Bible among the Catholic laity, who form study groups and gather informally to read and discuss the Scriptures.