Saints Light
The Commandments · Lesson 5 of 12

The Fourth Commandment: Honor Your Father and Mother

Love and respect your parents, obey them while you are young, and care for them when they are old. Parents in turn must love and form their children, and no one may command us to sin.

This is a summary of Lesson 5 of The Ten Commandments. The full lesson takes about 3 minutes in the Saints Light app.

Moses Presenting the Tablets of the Law, a painting by Philippe de Champaigne
Moses Presenting the Tablets of the Law, Philippe de Champaigne, c. 1648

What this lesson teaches

  • Honor means respect and gratitude always, and obedience while a child lives at home.
  • Grown children are called to care for their parents in old age, sickness and need.
  • Parents have duties too: to love, educate in faith and respect their children's vocations.
  • Honoring a parent never requires staying in danger or obeying a command to sin.

Catechism paragraphs this lesson cites

  • CCC 2197-2200
  • CCC 2214-2220
  • CCC 2221-2231
  • CCC 2234-2240

CCC means the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Saints Light teaches it in its own words and never quotes it. Look up any paragraph in a printed copy or at vatican.va. See every lesson by paragraph in the Catechism index.

Scripture read in this lesson: Exodus 20:12; Ephesians 6:1-4.

A sample question from this lesson

What does the fourth commandment ask of adult children?

  1. Total obedience in every decision for life
  2. Nothing, since it applies only to young children
  3. Respect and care for their parents, especially in old age and need
  4. Living in the same house as their parents
Show the answer

Respect and care for their parents, especially in old age and need. Obedience belongs to childhood at home, but respect and care continue throughout life (CCC 2217-2218).

The lesson in the app has three questions, each with an explanation.

Words to know

Filial piety
The grateful love and respect children owe to their parents.

More terms in the Catholic glossary. More passages in the Scripture index.

Read the full lesson in the app

"The Fourth Commandment: Honor Your Father and Mother" is lesson 5 of The Ten Commandments. In Saints Light you get the whole teaching, the Scripture quoted in full, all three questions and a step to live it this week.

Download on theApp StoreGet it onGoogle Play

Every course is open free for your first 14 days. After that, one payment of $14.99 unlocks every course. There is no subscription.

Related lessons