The Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments help us to live our life fully in union with Christ.
Through the Ten Commandments we are able to examine our conscience that will help us make a contrite and sincere confession. Through examination of conscience we seek the truth about ourselves and go to confession knowing how much we need the healing and mercy of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 19:16-17
Now someone approached him and said, "Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?"
Jesus answered him, "Why do you ask me about the good? There is only One who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments."

The Ten Commandments were given to us by our God through Moses on Mount Sinai during Exodus (Exodus 20).

2057 The Decalogue must first be understood in the context of the Exodus, God's great liberating event at the center of the Old Covenant. Whether formulated as negative commandments, prohibitions, or as positive precepts such as: "Honor your father and mother," the "ten words" point out the conditions of a life freed from the slavery of sin. the Decalogue is a path of life:

If you love the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, then you shall live and multiply.

This liberating power of the Decalogue appears, for example, in the commandment about the sabbath rest, directed also to foreigners and slaves: You shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out thence with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm

2059 The "ten words" are pronounced by God in the midst of a theophany (“The LORD spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire."). They belong to God's revelation of himself and his glory. The gift of the Commandments is the gift of God himself and his holy will. In making his will known, God reveals himself to his people.

2060 The gift of the commandments and of the Law is part of the covenant God sealed with his own. In Exodus, the revelation of the "ten words" is granted between the proposal of the covenant and its conclusion - after the people had committed themselves to "do" all that the Lord had said, and to "obey" it. The Decalogue is never handed on without first recalling the covenant (“The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.")  *Catechism of the Catholic Church


We commit venial and mortal sins.
Three things are necessary for a sin to be mortal: 1.) Serious matter 2.) Knowledge or firm belief that the act is seriously wrong prior to committing the act. 3.) Full consent of the will.
Venial sins are not serious enough to be mortal or because the habitual nature of the sin reduces the gravity.
Mortal sins must be confessed, and although it's not required to confess venial sins, it is good and pious practice.
*Below each commandment are just a few examples of mortal and venial sins.

The Ten Commandments:

1.     I, the Lord, am your God. You shall not have other gods besides me. 

- Involvement in occult practices, e.g., witchcraft, ouija boards, seances, palm
reading, tarot cards, hypnotism, divination, astrology, black magic, and sorcery (Mortal sin).

- Involvement in or adherence to New Age or Eastern philosophies, atheism or agnosticism (Mortal sin). 

- Putting faith in superstition, e.g., horoscopes, good luck charms, etc. ( Mortal sin).

- Receiving Holy Communion in the state of mortal sin.

- Failure to pray on a daily basis (Venial sin).

- Not trying to love God with my whole mind, heart, soul and strength (Venial sin).

- Entertaining doubts against the Faith (Venial sin).

2.     You shall not take the name of the Lord God in vain 

- Using God's name intentionally as a curse (Mortal sin).

- Seriously wishing evil upon another (Mortal sin).

- Serious slander or insult of a sacred person or object (Mortal sin).

- Telling a lie or withholding a serious sin in confession (Mortal sin).

-  Using the Lord's name lightly, in surprise or in anger (habitual, not thinking) (Venial sin).

- Using the names of Mary, a Saint, the Pope or other sacred persons irreverently (Venial sin).

- Speaking badly of the Church (Venial sin).

3.     Remember to keep holy the Lord's Day

- Missing Mass on Sunday or a Holy Day of Obligation without serious reason (Mortal sin).

- Doing unnecessary work on Sunday for a long period of time, i.e., more than several hours (Mortal sin).

- Intentional failure to fast or abstain on appointed days (Mortal sin).

- Being irreverent in church (Venial sin).

- Not paying attention or participating at Mass (Venial sin).

- Failing to keep Sunday as a day for family and recreation (Venial sin).

 

4.     Honor your father and your mother 

- Serious failure to care for aged parents (Mortal sin).

- Serious neglect of the duties of one's state in life (Mortal sin).

- Serious disrespect for or disobedience to parents, superiors or authorities (Mortal sin).

- Wishing death or evil on parents (Mortal sin).

- Speaking badly about parents (Venial sin).

- Failure to reach children adequately about God and the spiritual life (Venial sin).

- Lack of gratitude toward parents (Venial sin).

 

5.     You shall not kill 

- Murder, homicide, or manslaughter (Mortal sin).

- Procurement of an abortion (Mortal sin).

- Willfully leading another into serious sin (Mortal sin).

- Sterilization (Mortal sin).

- Pride, arrogance (Venial sin).

- Vanity (Venial sin).

- Prejudice (Venial sin). 

 

6.     You shall not commit adultery

- Adultery (Mortal sin).

- Fornication - intercourse prior to marriage (Mortal sin).

- Masturbation or other impure acts with self (Mortal sin).

- Allowing the heart to stray from one's spouse (Venial sin).

- Lack of custody of the eyes - looking inappropriately at others (Venial sin).

- Treating others as objects (Venial sins).

 

7.     You shall not steal 

- Willfully destroying or defacing another's property (Mortal sin).

- Buying, selling, receiving or concealing items known to be stolen (Mortal sin).

- Excessive gambling (Mortal sin).

- Attachments to persons or things (Venial sin).

- Willful failure to return borrowed items (Venial sin).

- Failing to practice charity or to help the poor (Venial sin).

 

8.     You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor

- False witness (not under oath) or perjury (under oath) (Mortal sin).

- Telling large or premeditated lies (Mortal sin).

- Serious gossip, detraction (revealing the faults of another without serious reason), or calumny (harming the reputation of another by falsities) (Mortal sin).

- Spreading rumors or tale bearing (Venial sin).

- Cheating in games, school, work, etc. (Venial sin).

- Bragging or boasting (Venial sin).

 

9.     You shall not covet your neighbor's wife

- Viewing pornography in books, magazines, movies, the internet, etc. (Mortal sin).

- Reading sexually explicit materials (Mortal sin).

- Dwelling on impure thoughts or fantasies for the purpose of arousal (Mortal sin).

- Telling or listening to impure or vulgar jokes or stories (Venial sin).

- Not trying to control the imagination (Venial sin).

- Curiosity or playing with temptation (Venial sin).

 

10. You shall not covet your neighbor's goods

- Serious and willful greed or avarice (Mortal sin).

- Intention to steal or destroy the goods of another (Mortal sin).

- Envy (sadness or anger at the good fortune of another) (Venial sin).

- Jealousy (desire for the goods of another)(Venial sin).

- Greed, materialism (Venial sin).

- Not trusting that God will provide for all material and spiritual needs (Venial sin).

The Two Greatest Commandments:

You shall love God with your whole heart, your whole soul, and your whole mind.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

An Act of Contrition:
O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended You, and I detest all my sins because of Your just punishment, but most of all because they offend You, my God, Who are all good and deserving of all my love. 
I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasions of sin. Amen