 for the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit. So as you recall, team Grace, for the Lenten season, we are walking through the Ten Commandments. And of course you know these commandments, they are gifts given to us. Oftentimes in our fallenness, we cannot discern or know what is right or what is wrong. Or in our fallenness, we purposely blur them. We compromise, adjust, rationalize, we're willing to twist and turn in order to not know what is right and what is wrong. So God's law is a gift to us, it is clear, unchanging. This is right, this is wrong. To we, the children of God, to each of us, we know that again this is a gift. The law of God, His moral law serves as a lamp to our feet in the midst of the darkness. We do not have to question or ask, we do not have to be confused, we do not have to fall into uncertainty into what we are called to do, what we are called to avoid as the children of God. The moral law helps us to know exactly how we are called to live as God's children. We talked about how the Ten Commandments are divided into two tablets. The first tablet, the first three commandments, our relationship with God. The second tablet, the fourth commandment to the tenth commandment, our relationship with one another, with our neighbor. Last week we spoke about that first commandment, you shall love the Lord your God with all your mind, all your strength, all your soul. Powerful. Today we're going to pick up from that first tablet and discuss the second and the third commandment. The second commandment to honor the holy name of God. Many of us who are older, we remember when in our society that name was revered, even in broader society, even among unbelievers. There was an acknowledged boundary, a line that was not crossed. Some of you recall that I grew up as an army brat. I can tell you through my father and his friends in the military, I think I learned every possible profane word, okay, in every variation of that word. But there was always an understood boundary. I could not on one single occasion think of my father or any of the other soldiers who passed to our home on visits, ever using God's name in vain. It was an acknowledged boundary. You just didn't go there. Almost everything else was free reign, but you just didn't go there. That was our society. That is gone. Total sensitivity to the name of God is gone. Now the holy name of God is just simply one more profane word that is regularly used in the mouths of unbelievers in the midst of our society. I know it has become so desensitized because even when I'm out and about in society, in my Roman collar, people will use the name of God in vain and not even flinch, not even think twice. Because it has no more distinction, it has no sense of sacred anymore. But that's the broader society. My fear is that within the household of faith, among believers, have we also lost that sensitivity? Do we speak as the unbeliever or as the children of God? Do we guard, honor, and protect the name of our Father and of our Lord? Are we willing to stand for what is right and to speak what is true and to speak it in a noble fashion? We believers have to understand that of all the words given to us in Revelation, one that stands out in particular is that God would give us His name, a clear sign that He wants us to know who He is. He wants to have a personal relationship with us. He wants us to be able to call out to Him. He wants a certain intimacy with us. He has given us His name. And as the children of God, we are called to honor that name, to not use it capriciously or casually, certainly not to use it in a profane manner, but also to avoid what we listen to, that we will not allow those around us to profane the name of God. That means whether in our entertainment or in our friendships. It is time for the people of God to find their voice. I find in society there are so many zealots for masks, so willing to yell out in the scream about wearing masks, which in some environments can be appropriate, or Planned Parenthood shoving their garbage down our throats with the Equality Act very near being passed this coming week, which will completely strip the Church of all privileges or protections. They are zealous about their message. We have been taught to shut up, to privatize our faith, to no longer stand and defend what is good and true and noble. It's time for us to find our voice to your friends. And you must begin with the name of God. I pray that you have the conviction in your heart, the love for God's name, the love for God in your heart, that when you find among your friends that someone is profaneting that name that you will stand up and say, hey, we can use their language. That makes me uncomfortable, right? That's disrespectful. Do you realize how offensive you're being to stand up for that name in what we speak and what we listen to in the language that we permit from those around us? We have to find our voice and we have to stand up for God's holy name because this is a gift given to us that we can address him. And this is a great honor that we should not take casually. But let's look at this second commandment. The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes certain offenses to the second commandment that we have to be particularly attentive that we avoid. First, the abuse of God's name. We've spoken about that. Again, so many people who are willing to just casually use God's name, we avoid all that. And certainly any abusive use of the name, the name of God, the name of our Lord, the name of any of the holy ones from our Lady Attorney Saint, should be told our evangelical fellow believers, they surpass us in this. I saw one car, the bumper sticker, Jesus Christ is the Lord of humanity, not a word of profanity. We guard that name. We do not speak of it in a passing manner. We do not abuse the name of what is holy, God, our Lord, or any of the holy ones. With that, we have to be careful about promises we make. We spoke about that last week. If we make a promise, God expects us to fulfill it. This is why the Lord tells us, do not make promises casually. Cautiously, should we make promises? Because every promise we make, God expects us to fulfill. And if we call upon God's name in making a promise, then we particularly have to fulfill it because if we violate it, not only do we break a promise, we have called God to witness a lie. So we should be very cautious, attentive to the promises we make. We have to be careful of blasphemy. Blasphemy is one step above. There can be a casual, abusive use of the holy name, but then there's direct, intentional use of the name in a sacrilegious manner. Listen to how the Catechism of the Catholic Church defines blasphemy. It consists in uttering against God, inwardly or outwardly, words of hatred, reproach or defiance, and speaking ill of God and failing in respect toward Him in one speech, in misusing God's name. We have to be careful of this blasphemous use of God's name and of the name of the holy ones. We also have to be careful of oaths. If we are taking on a responsibility of performing a function that requires an oath, an oath made is an oath expected to be fulfilled. Again, especially if it calls upon the name of God. So we must be attentive to the oath that we are taking, understand clearly what is being asked of us and what duties we are taking upon ourselves. Second commandment also expressly forbids any use of God's name in a magical, in a way within magic or divination. We see even this in our society, of course they think it's funny. Our fallen world thinks it's cute to use God's name even in the midst of magic. We don't do that. That's taking God's holy name and just running it right through mayer. We don't use God's name in such a way. That is extreme sacrilege. We also avoid false oaths. We don't use God's name when we don't have to. Someone asks us and we say, yes, that's true, on, on, on, swear to God. Don't do that. It's unnecessary. We do not use God's name in a casual sidewalk manner. It is guarded and protected. When it's used, it's used with deference and great reverence. So we avoid any false oaths of God's name. We also have to be careful of perjury, dear friends. Perjury under oath when truth is necessary in order for justice to be well administered. If we are under oath and we lie, calling God to witness that lie, and then justice is not exercised and someone does not receive what is their due, not only have we offended our neighbor by depriving him or her of justice, we have also committed a great sin of perjury against God. Dear friends, that one is so severe you should abstain from holy communion until you have sufficiently repented. We do not perjure ourselves. As Christians, when we take oaths or promises, we clearly understand what we are undertaking and we fulfill what we have promised, we fulfill the oaths that we have taken. This is the second commandment just to help you in the course of salvation history to understand how sacred this name is. In the old covenant, the holy name was only spoken once a year. The high priest on the Feast of Atonement would go into the holy of Holies, he would whisper the holy name of God and it was considered so bold that they would actually tie a rope around his ankle so that if God should strike him dead for uttering the holy name of God, they could drag him out of the holy of holies. This is the deference, the homage, the reverence that we should give to the holy name of God. We are his children, we are disciples of the Lord Jesus. Even as the world falls back into its barbarism and its disrespect and its sacrilege to God, we must be the difference. We do not speak as the unbeliever, we do not take false oaths or false promises as the unbeliever. We are the children of God and we dwell on the path of truth and we honor his name. That's the second commandment and that leads us into the third commandment to honor God's Sabbath. This is so important because look how much God loves us, that he is fatherly taking care of us, that he's telling us every seven day, take a break, relax. God is actually commanding us to relax. Look at the fatherhood of our God and how much he loves us. And yet we live in an age in which even the command to rest is willfully being disobeyed. Again, I remember a time as a child when the Sabbath was observed even by secular society. As I mentioned growing up as an army brat, for part of that we were in Catholic Bavaria. And I remember on one occasion my father was changing the oil of our family car and the politics I came and gave him a citation because it was illegal to work on the Sabbath. But that's all gone now. Or we have small residues that is more the point of mockery rather than true homage. But among the people of God have we lost the Sabbath? Has it simply become just one more day where we have to go to mass, got to get that out of the way? Is that what the Sabbath has become? Because the Sabbath like God's name is a gift given to us. Again it's an expression of the fatherhood of God and of his care for each one of us. So let's look at the Sabbath first and foremost it is for worship. Not exclusively exclusively but first and foremost for worship. And let's apply that to our state of affairs today. Now we know that there's a dispensation by apostolic authority. That's for those who are seriously ill, who are vulnerable, who have great fear. I respect that. There's no judgment for those who are within those categories. But we also know, let's speak openly friends, that there are many people who are riding the dispensation, who are doing everything else in the midst of society except coming to worship. Look how much they hate God. They find God so detestable and the worship of God so offensive that they are hiding behind a dispensation because they just don't want to worship God. They just don't want to come to mass. And we see the state of so many hearts. We know that the dispensation is applied to those for whom it applies. But for those who are hiding behind the dispensation, God is no fool. The church is no fool. Well the church knows that people are riding the dispensation, but she cares for those who are truly vulnerable and she will not suspend the dispensation. But to those who are purposely violating that dispensation, and they know in their hearts, as does God, they need to clearly understand that they are violating the second commandment, the third commandment. They are not honoring God's name, they are not worshiping. And they will answer for that. Dear friends, the reason why God calls us to worship is as human beings, we are hardwired for worship. If we don't worship God, we end up worshiping something else. And oftentimes it's ourselves. So we come before this altar, we place our entire lives before the living God, we repent of our sins, we offer him everything, and we ask his blessing. And we do that at least once a week on the Sabbath, on the Lord's day. And that's by divine command. Did you hear in our first reading today all the blessings that God was able to bestow upon Abram? Because he obeyed his command. So we know that we are called to worship. Now it's not simply just coming to mass, dear friends, uh-uh, no, no, no, no, no. The command to worship on the Sabbath means we have to prepare for worship. If you come to mass and you have not yet read the readings, and you think you're going to pick them up from the proclamation, you're fooling yourselves. We don't live in such an age. And after mass, if you're not taking the time in order to reflect upon what you have received, then your worship is lacking. So we have to prepare for mass. I think that might be one of the blessings that we all have to come so early in order to get a seat, right? Although there are still people who sit here for 20, 25 minutes and instead fuel their frustration rather than catching on and thinking, maybe I should bring a devotional or the Bible. We must prepare for worship, we must worship, and we must allow the effects and the grace of worship to enter into our hearts. Let's talk about worship itself. Some people are waiting for them to pick up on the memo from the old commandment, from the Ten Commandments, that we come before God, we put on our best. How is it that we can be in the middle of a pandemic? Not everyone who wants to worship is given the opportunity. We still have to regrettably turn people away, and some people still come dressed as bums. You are observing the Sabbath of the living God. You, sinner, fallen, dare to approach the altar of God. And you do not prepare yourself in a nice and worthy manner to wear your best? Have we even forgotten that that the Christian home no longer speaks about the Sunday best? And don't don't even try to hide behind the poor because the poor are the ones who dress the best for God. I remember as a child going with my mother the good will because when we went before God we wore our best, we were not wealthy. And I had found that the poorer families in our parish are the ones who dress the best because they understand the sovereignty of God. Oftentimes it's the wealthy among us, and it's easier for a camel to get to the eye of a needle than for the wealthy to get into heaven because they think that they have such security in their wealth. They don't have to dress up for God. They don't have to wear their best. Dear friends, be aware and make sure that you have heard how we are to present ourselves before God. Also during the worship itself, during the Mass, we should be making the responses, participating in singing. We should be spiritually participating by placing our hearts here what's happening at the altar. When we come, we do not speak in this sacred place. We make sure that we observe all of the customs that show that God is the first thing on our hearts. How is it that some Catholics have forgotten to genuflect or to bow if they are unable to genuflect? When we come for worship, it is an active sport, and we have to be ready, properly dressed, properly attired, and with proper dispositions of heart. Now that's the heart of the Sabbath worship, but it doesn't end there. The whole day is the Sabbath. From worship, we know that it then flows into time with family. And by the way, I think it's a powerful practice. If someone is working and they're not able to keep up with spiritual reading or for extensive prayer, that throughout the Sabbath they would observe that. If they work throughout the week and they have that time an hour or two in order to do spiritual reading of the scriptures or some devotional. But from our time in worship and prayer, we are called by God to spend time with our family. Turn off the TV. Get off the computer. Don't worry about the sports. That will die with us. And get off the golf course. Spend time with your family. God has commanded it and his children will obey him. Imagine that God has to tell us to spend time with the people who are most important to us. Spend time with your family. Make sure you have a meal together on the Sabbath. Play board games. Play outside. Do whatever you must. But you spend time with your family on the Sabbath. There's some people that's the only day they have because of their work or the demands of their life in order to spend time with their children. The Sabbath is about worship. It's about family. It's about rest. We have to make sure that we allow ourselves that mental and bodily rest on the Sabbath. Oftentimes, I'll get a few questions. People will say, wait a minute, Father, what if I like the garden? It's really relaxing for me. Can I do that on the Sabbath? Is it authentically a hobby? Yes. Very refreshing for me. Are you able to still stay within the circle of your family? Oh yeah, put them all to work. That's acceptable. Sometimes people will say, Father, what if I have to work? I have to work on the Sabbath to provide for my family. Mother Church grants a concession. If someone sincerely cannot work, they have attempted to get different hours other than the Sabbath. But their employer demands that they work in order and they have to provide for their family. The Church allows it. That's the primacy the Church gives to family. But they must still make it to worship. But if they must, they have to work. But they have to be sincere in their efforts to not work on the Sabbath. But get this, there's a flip commitment. If someone has to work in our parish and say it's a fellow Catholic, the Mother Church calls on me to call them. Anyone in my congregation or Catholic employer of one of my personers, I am called to call them and to exhort them to obey the commands of God. Because as Catholics, we do not make people work on the Sabbath. That's a grave violation. If you employ people, you make them work on the Sabbath, you must repent before God. Because I only have you broken the Sabbath. You have let others to break the Sabbath. Let them go and worship God. Let them be with their families. We do not force work on the Sabbath. Incidentally, if the person is exhorted and they refuse to change, Mother Church tells them they should abstain from Holy Communion. Because they have forced a violation of the Sabbath upon another. You see in the examples given to us by the church and the exceptions given, how seriously the church takes and how seriously God takes the Sabbath. We should not take this lightly, but clearly understand what God is seeking to give to us. That once every seven days we worship, we spend time with family, we rest. Incidentally, in Salvation History, there was a time when God allowed His people to be taken into captivity by the Babylonians, literally picked up from the promised land and taken to a foreign land. The scriptures tell us that God permitted that because of violations of the Sabbath. For every Sabbath that was violated, it matched the number of the time of captivity in Babylonia. God said to His people, okay, you don't want to obey me, you don't want to rest, you don't want to worship, I will ship you of worship, I will ship you of rest, I will take you, I will permit you to be held in a land where you are practically slaves. We are human beings dear friends, we are not human doers. If we seek to violate the Sabbath, God will bring upon discipline upon His children. I suspect that the reason why some families are suffering from financial or relational difficulties is because they refuse to observe the Sabbath. Conversely, I've seen powerful miracles, marriages saved, families reconciled, because they reclaimed the Sabbath in their home. When we do what God asks, He is able to bless us. Today, the Lord Jesus takes Peter, James, and James, and John, and He manifests His glory to them. Dear friends, that is the glory that awaits each of us. And God's grace in this earth is to prepare us to make us fit for that glory. And part of receiving that glory means that we must obey His moral law. We must follow the path that He has given to us, that He has paved the path that He enlightens for each of us. Today, we have concluded the first tablet of the Ten Commandments, God's sovereignty, God's name, and God's Sabbath. I pray that this has helped you in your own reflection and examination. The Lenten season is an opportunity for us to evaluate our hearts, to understand where we are, where our families are, to repent of any faults, to make amendments, as well as to acknowledge where there are points of strength, what we are doing right, and then what we need to change. I pray that if you have found any of these violations in your heart or your home, that you will repent before God. Go to confession. And that in all things, through these three commandments, to hold the moral law, in all ways you will find in your heart the strength to love God with everything you have. With all that is in your being, to worship Him, to love Him, with all your strength, all your mind, with all your soul.