Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Fr. Barron on the 10 Commandments. Do YOU Know Them?

Father Robert Barron, of Catholicism Series fame, released a great, short talk on that center of the moral life - the Ten Commandments.



Knowing the Ten Commandments by heart and understanding them more fully, as Father Barron lays them out for us, is a great guideline for living the Christian life, indeed living the moral life. Of course, we can't live by that which we don't know, that which we can't remember. If you happen to not know the 10 Commandments by heart I highly recommend Kevin Vost's book Memorize the Faith! (and Most Anything Else): Using the Methods of the Great Catholic Medieval Memory Masters (purchasing through these links will support the blog at no cost to yourself!):


In this great book, Vost unlocks the secrets men like St. Thomas Aquinas used to memorize important truths of our Faith, including the Ten Commandments, the Stations of the Cross, the Choirs of the Angels, the Seven Deadly Sins and Seven Lively Virtues, and gives you the skills to apply these techniques to anything else - Catholic or otherwise. Forget "Googling" everything. Imagine instead carrying around the details of our Faith in your own head. Want to meditate on the Last Words of Christ? Need to recall Thomas' Five Ways of Demonstrating the Existence of God? Getting ready for confession and need to examine your conscience using the Ten Commandments? You can have all that information at your immediate command with this simple and powerful technique. I use this method myself and highly recommend the book. Vost has produced a sequel which I have on my wish list, but haven't picked up yet, Memorize the Reasons!: Defending the Faith with the Catholic Art of Memory which would be perfect for the aspiring apologist.



And if you enjoyed Father Barron's reflections on the Ten Commandments, you might also enjoy his more in-depth analysis on breaking the First Commandment, which is more common than many might think (your love of money, sex, or power can become gods just as easily as ancient Israel's golden calf, which symbolized those self-same things),


And make sure to check out Father Barron's Word on Fire ministry. He is a great force for the New Evangelization.


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