Second Commandment
“You shall not
take the name of the Lord your God in vain” (Ex 20:7, Duet
5:11).
“You have heard
that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not swear
falsely…But I say to you, Do not swear at all’” (Mt 5:33-34).
Why is the name of Lord so
important? Is it so important that is deserves a whole
commandment? (CCC 2142-2146)
The name of the Lord
itself is sacred, and therefore, it deserves our utmost respect.
It is so sacred that He did not reveal it immediately, and the
Jews honored it so much that they did not consider themselves
worthy to pronounce it, much less abuse it. When we call someone
by name, it implies an intimacy, for a name reveals who a person
is. We can see this on a very natural level. Imagine if someone
began using the name of your parents in a very unbecoming way.
It would naturally arouse anger in us. How much more so with
God, for the Lord’s name is holy. We should only use the name of
the Lord to bless, praise, and glorify it. Respecting His name
is part of respecting God Himself, and we should have the sense
that it is sacred. If not, we lack the proper respect for God,
and we should plead with God to increase this in us. The more we
are aware of His presence, the more we will have respect for Him
and His name.
What are some other ways in which
people commonly take the Lord name’s in vain? (CCC 2147-2155)
Breaking Promises
– When we make a promise in God’s name, we are invoking God’s
honor, faithfulness and truthfulness and authority. This is not
a light matter, and if we are not faithful to the promise, we
have misused God’s name and made Him a liar.
Blasphemy –
This is when we abuse the name of the Lord by uttering (out loud
or in our heads) words of hatred, disrespect, defiance, or
negativity. This not only applies to God, but it includes words
against the Church, the saints, and sacred things, for these are
an extension on His Body. As well, we should never use God’s to
commit a crime. Blasphemy is a grave sin.
False
Oaths – In taking an oath, a person is calling God as a
witness to their truthfulness. If you are lying, you are asking
God to be a witness to a lie.
Perjury –
Perjury occurs when a person makes a promise under oath with no
intention of keeping it or after making it, they do not keep it.
When
Jesus says, “Do not swear at all…Let what you say be simply
‘Yes’ or ‘No’”, isn’t He forbidding oaths of any kind? Are we
even allowed as Catholics to take oaths? (CCC 2153-2155)
Here is Jesus is
teaching that any oath, whether made explicitly in God’s name or
not, makes reference to God. For God is Truth itself. Therefore,
in our speech we should always honor truth and speak it. A
simple “yes” should always move us to honor our promise because
we are always called to the truth, regardless of whether we
invoke the Lord’s name.
Second, following
the tradition of St. Paul (“But I call upon God as witness, on
my life, that…I have not yet gone to Corinth” – 2 Cor 1:23), the
Church allows us to swear oaths for grave and right reasons, for
example in the courts. If an oath is required by an illegitimate
civil authority or if it will violate justice or the dignity of
the human person, we may refuse to take it.
Are our names sacred as well,
or does this commandment only have to do with God? (2146,
2156-2159)
Each person’s name
represents the person, and therefore, it is sacred. When we were
baptized, we were given a name in the name of the “Father, Son
and Holy Spirit.” Our name should signify something about us.
This is a tradition that has been quite lost in modern times.
However, when we read the Bible, people’s names always signified
who and what they were. They were not simply a word that sounded
good to the ear. The Church has not lost this tradition, and
teaches, “Parents, sponsors, and the pastor are to see that a
name is not given which is foreign to Christian sentiment”
(Canon 855). The book of Revelation also speaks of names and
their longevity and importance. (Rev 2:17, 14:1).
