Our Catholic Faith
Living What We Believe
CHAPTER 9
Christian Moral Life:
The Beatitudes and Ten Commandments
 Guidance
 Called to Happiness
 Love God: The First Three Commandments
 Love Your Neighbor: The Fourth through
Tenth Commandments
Chapter 9 Christian Moral Life:
The Beatitudes and Ten Commandments
Guidance
Good laws, rules, and regulations are formed in
part to help keep us safe
 We violate the Ten Commandments at our
own risk
 In the Beatitudes, Jesus offered a deep
examination of the Christian life of love
and service to others
Chapter 9 Christian Moral Life:
The Beatitudes and Ten Commandments
Called to Happiness
Does God really want us to be happy?
 Yes, God wants us to be happy
 Only God’s goodness and love can satisfy our hunger
for true happiness
 From the beginning of creation, God desired humans to
share in his divine nature
 Jesus left us a “blue-print”
for happiness: we are to keep
his commandments and live
the Beatitudes
Chapter 9 Christian Moral Life:
The Beatitudes and Ten Commandments
Called to Happiness
The Beatitudes
 The Beatitudes complete the
promises that God made to
Abraham
 They show us how to fulfill our
desire for happiness
 They teach us how we should live
in order to reach our eternal
destiny of union with him
Chapter 9 Christian Moral Life:
The Beatitudes and Ten Commandments
Called to Happiness
The Beatitudes
Blessed are they who mourn, for
they shall be comforted.
Jesus blesses those who
mourn over injustices
and evils committed against
God’s people in need.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for
theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
Jesus wants us to recognize our
spiritual poverty – everything we
are and everything we have are
gifts from God.
Blessed are they who hunger
and thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be satisfied.
Jesus blesses those who know
that only God’s righteousness
can fulfill us.
Blessed are the meek, for
they shall inherit the land.
Jesus treated others with
gentleness and compassion –
we too should be patient with
the weaknesses of others.
Chapter 9 Christian Moral Life:
The Beatitudes and Ten Commandments
Called to Happiness
The Beatitudes
Blessed are the clean of
heart, for they will see God.
A person with a clean heart
has a single-minded commitment
to God.
Blessed are the merciful,
they will be shown mercy.
Our forgiveness of others,
especially our enemies, is a
sign to the world of a merciful
God who loves everyone.
Blessed they who are persecuted
for the sake of righteousness, for
theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Suffering for faith in Jesus is
a great sign of love for him
and if we remain faithful to
him, he will reward us with
eternal happiness in Heaven.
Blessed are the
peacemakers, for they will
be called children of God.
Christians are, and must
be, peacemakers.
Chapter 9 Christian Moral Life:
The Beatitudes and Ten Commandments
Love God: The First Three Commandments
First Commandment: I, the Lord, am your God.
You shall not have other gods besides me.
• Make God the top priority in our
lives by practicing the theological
virtues
• Worship God and share our
faith with others
• Practice the virtue of religion
• Prayer
Violations
• Heresy
• Apostasy
• Superstition
• Idolatry
•
Divination
• Schism
•
Sorcery
• Presumption
•
Irreligion
• Despair
•
Sacrilege
• Ingratitude
•
Simony
• Spiritual
laziness
• Atheism
Chapter 9 Christian Moral Life:
The Beatitudes and Ten Commandments
Love God: The First Three Commandments
Second Commandment: You shall not take the
name of the Lord, your God, in vain.
• Honor God’s name through praise,
reverence, and adoration
• Our names are also holy
• Forbids the wrong use of God’s name
or the names of Jesus, Mary, or any
saint
• Keep promises and vows and always
be true to our word
Violations
• Perjury
• Blasphemy
• Swearing an oath with
an intention to break it
• Use of swearing,
cursing, vulgar language
Chapter 9 Christian Moral Life:
The Beatitudes and Ten Commandments
Love God: The First Three Commandments
Third Commandment: Remember to keep holy
the Sabbath day.
• The purpose is to praise God for his
works of creation and to thank him
Violation
• Willfully missing Mass
• God gives this commandment to all people
for them to have a day of rest and recreation
• We acknowledge the one we are totally dependent on
• Jesus brought new meaning to the Sabbath observance – we
worship, praise, and thank God for the gift of the Son
• Catholics are obliged to go to Mass on Sundays and
Holy Days of Obligation
Chapter 9 Christian Moral Life:
The Beatitudes and Ten Commandments
Love Your Neighbor: 4th – 10th Commandments
Forth Commandment: Honor your father and
your mother.
• Family is the domestic Church
• Parents should: respect children,
educate them in the Catholic faith,
loving home, unconditional love
Violation
• Societal laws that conflict
with God’s will or God’s law
• Behaviors from children: thankfulness, respecting, obey, meeting
the physical and spiritual needs of aged parents, treat siblings with
respect and love
• Respect and obedience is due all proper Church and other
authority figures
Chapter 9 Christian Moral Life:
The Beatitudes and Ten Commandments
Love Your Neighbor: 4th – 10th Commandments
Fifth Commandment: You shall not kill.
• Human life is sacred from the
first moment of conception until
natural death
Violations
• Direct abortion
• Intentional euthanasia
• We show respect for God’s gift
• Suicide
of life by eating healthy, getting
• Scandal
proper exercise and rest, avoiding
•
Immoral medical procedures
harmful substances, etc.
• Any direct and intentional killing of a human being is a violation
• Killing in self-defense is morally permissible as a last resort
Chapter 9 Christian Moral Life:
The Beatitudes and Ten Commandments
Love Your Neighbor: 4th – 10th Commandments
Sixth and Ninth Commandments: You shall not
commit adultery. You shall not covet your
neighbor’s wife.
Violations
• Lust
• God gave us the gift of sexuality so that
married couples can share their love and
• Masturbation
cooperate with God in bringing forth new life • Fornication
• Exercise the virtues of chastity, purity,
• Pornography
and modesty
• Prostitution
• Married couples should be faithful to
• Rape
each other
• Homosexual activity
• Chastity requires lifelong self-control
• Adultery
Chapter 9 Christian Moral Life:
The Beatitudes and Ten Commandments
Love Your Neighbor: 4th – 10th Commandments
Sixth and Ninth Commandments: You shall not
commit adultery. You shall not covet your
neighbor’s wife.
Further Violations
 Both commandments support • Adultery
• Divorce
the institution of marriage
•
Polygamy
 Sexual intercourse in marriage
has two purposes: unitive and
procreative
 Children are a gift of marriage
Chapter 9 Christian Moral Life:
The Beatitudes and Ten Commandments
Love Your Neighbor: 4th – 10th Commandments
Seventh and Tenth Commandments: You shall
not steal. You shall not covet anything that
belongs to your neighbor.
• God created the goods of creation for everyone
• Do not become too attached to belongings
• Justice calls us to respect the property of others
and to share our things
•Jesus teaches that poverty of spirit is the way to
combat sinful attitudes
• Keep promises and do not break contracts
Violations
• Greed
• Avarice
• Envy
Chapter 9 Christian Moral Life:
The Beatitudes and Ten Commandments
Love Your Neighbor: 4th – 10th Commandments
Seventh and Tenth Commandments: You shall
not steal. You shall not covet anything that
belongs to your neighbor.
Types of justice
Legal justice
concerns our duties as citizens
and what we owe the government
Social justice
applies the teachings of Christ
and the Church to political,
economic, and social orders
Commutative justice
regulates relations between
individuals
Distributive justice
deals with the obligations the
community has to its citizens
Chapter 9 Christian Moral Life:
The Beatitudes and Ten Commandments
Love Your Neighbor: 4th – 10th Commandments
Eighth Commandment: You shall not bear false
witness against your neighbor.
• Teaches that truth-telling is a matter of
justice
• We respect other people, their
reputations, their right to privacy
• Governments and entertainment
industries are to use the media
responsibly and not for propaganda or
to promote immoral behavior
Violations
• Lying
• False witness
• Perjury
• Rash judgment
• Detraction
• Calumny
Chapter 9 Christian Moral Life:
The Beatitudes and Ten Commandments
VOCABULARY
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Heresy (239)

Apostasy (239)

Schism (239)
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Presumption (239) 
Despair (239)
Superstition (239) 
Idolatry (239)

Divination (240)

Sorcery (240)

Irreligion (240)

Sacrilege (240)
Simony (240)

Atheism (240)

Humanists (240) 
Communists

(240)
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Agnostic (240) 
Oath (241)

Perjury (241)
Blasphemy (241) 
Cursing (241)

 Murder (245)
Abortion (246)
Euthanasia (246)
Chastity (247)
Modesty (247)
Lust (247)
Perjury (254)
Rash judgment
(254)
Detraction (254)
Calumny (254)
Matthew 25:31-40
Chapter 9 Christian Moral Life:
The Beatitudes and Ten Commandments
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels
with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations
will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one
from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are
blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from
the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me
food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you
welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me,
in prison and you visited me.‘ Then the righteous will answer him
and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or
thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and
welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or
in prison, and visit you?‘ And the king will say to them in reply,
'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least
brothers of mine, you did for me.’”