One popularly transgressed law but is not wittingly considered as so is the express admonition to honor ones father and mother. Many people sin either my omitting to honor or in most cases committing dishonor to ones parents. Human frailty is a common excuse for those who unwittingly disregard respecting their parents. In the course of daily interaction, people tend to forget, albeit unintentionally, according respect to their parents.
While we keep in our consciousness our obligation to honor our parents, we tend at times to follow our own will and volition and without ill intent, fall prey transgressing the divine admonition. While there are no direct imposable sanctions for violating God’s commandment, such sin breaks our connection with God and unknowingly we fall out of His grace.

Many disputes in the family are rooted in the utter failure to observe the fourth commandment. Children asserting their freedom and independence to set the course of their lives often fall into despising the admonitions of their parents or at times choosing to go on a head-on collision course. Options for harmonizing relations and accepting compromises for common positions and directions are often abhorred.

The tendency is shut doors for alternative solutions that would eventually eliminate strains in existing close relationships among members of the family. The strains does not only occur between parents and children but among siblings as well, both being cases transgression to the same commandment. It is so because even if the rift is among siblings, it still is so in contempt of parental love and authority that ought to be honored and respected.

On a different plain, we sometimes see transgressions as motivated by ill will owing to the way parents treated their children. We have witnessed a lot of stories where children purposely fail to give honor and respect primarily because of their parents’ doing or undoing. There is that well accepted adage that requires people to give respect in order to be respected. Reciprocity is the rule the adage posits for people to be guided and to follow. It demands the giving of respect as a precondition to receiving the same respect in return.
This is why many children who feel hurt and live with ill-will, rancor and misgivings from their parents thinks not obliged to give respect and honor. But the premise is clearly misplaced because the commandment is unconditional and is expressly demanding without reciprocation. It may perhaps be unfair but we still ought to follow God’s will and trust in His infinite divine wisdom.

The commandment is boundless that in a sense it extends even when the one to be accorded the honor and respect may have joined our Maker in the great beyond. We still keep intact the respect and honor due our fathers and mothers no matter what. Such is in obedience to the commandment that demands honor for parents not because of who or what they are but simply because of their being parents. We set aside everything we think or feel wrong and allow love, honor and respect to prevail according to God’s will.
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WHILE this is something that we should try our best to avoid, we cannot deny that in spite of our best efforts, we are still capable of betrayal, treachery and infidelity. In fact, every sin that we commit, no matter how small, is already a form of betrayal to God who has given us everything for us to be like him as he wants us to be. Everyone can be and do a Judas Iscariot anytime if we are not careful.

And so, we should not over-react when this thing happens. What we should do is to immediately return to God, asking for forgiveness and also for grace so that we can become more and more like Christ who was ever faithful to the Father in spite of the tremendous cost involved. Christ assured us that forgiveness will always be available.
The example of St. Peter is worthwhile imitating. After he realized what he did when the cock crowed the third time, as Christ predicted, he immediately wept and asked for forgiveness. May we have the same reaction whenever we fall into sin.

Judas Iscariot took time before he realized the evil he had done. He repented and wanted to make up, but he did it in a wrong way. Anyway, it is not for us to make the final judgment on him. That belongs to God alone, and we know that he is all merciful without compromising, of course, the due requirement of justice.

Let’s always remember that God has shared his life and everything that he has with us. And that’s because we are his image and likeness. Things just depend on how receptive we are to what God is sharing with us.

We should just sharpen our awareness of this truth about ourselves in our relation to God. To be sure, we would be filled with joy, peace and hope. Like Christ we would know how to handle temptations.

Yes, there will be effort and sacrifices involved, but all these would be done always in an atmosphere of confidence. We would get the sensation that we are gaining mastery over the erratic urges of our body, the many temptations from the world and the devil himself.
The secret is to channel the very mind of Christ with respect to his relation with the Father. He once said: “I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father who has sent me.” (Jn 6,38) This should be the motto of our life.

Let’s never forget that more than us, it is actually God who directs and shapes our life. And for this, he has given us everything that we need for us to follow his will. We should just be wary of our strong tendency to be ruled simply by our own will.

It’s when we do the will of God in an abiding way that we can even have the very power of God. To the extent that we follow God’s will, we share in his life, nature and powers. That is why saints and some very holy people enjoy some special powers, like curing the sick, the gift of prophecy, etc.

Let’s remember that our true freedom is when we unite our will with God’s will, and our true dignity and power is when we follow God’s will. Only then can we manage to properly tackle any temptation, difficulty, challenges and trials in our life!