Even Jesus, who is God, saw obedience to His parents’ authority as honoring God’s authority. The catechism says in paragraph 2197, “The fourth commandment opens the second table of the Decalogue. It shows us the order of charity.”
The order of charity means that God wants us to honor and love Him first, and then to honor and love our parents. We honor God by honoring who God has given authority over us.
The fourth commandment is addressed expressly to children in their relationship to their father and mother, because this relationship is the most universal.
But this commandment also means that parents have a responsibility to live in a way that fosters and supports this honoring from their children, and allows their children to experience God through their role as parents.
Up Next in Unit 32 | Honor your Father and Mother
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