BY JOE SIXPACK
Doc Bracket served as a doctor for years in a small country town, but made little money. That was because Doc was always taking care of poor people who had no money. He’d get up in the middle of the coldest nights and drive twenty miles to care for a sick woman or child, or patch up someone who got hurt.
Everyone knew that Doc’s office was over a clothing store. A sign at the foot of the stairs said: DR. BRACKET — OFFICE UPSTAIRS.
Doc Bracket never married. He was once supposed to marry the town banker’s daughter, but on his wedding day he got a call to go out into the country to take care of a Mexican child. His fiancée, Elvira, angrily called off the wedding. She said that any man who would think more of a Mexican child than of his own wedding was no good. Many of the town’s women agreed, but the parents of the child were very grateful to Doc when the boy recovered.
Doc never turned anyone away. When he was 70, he fell onto the sofa in his office and died. His was the biggest funeral the town had ever seen, and everyone went.
The people talked of raising money for a nice headstone for Doc’s grave as a memorial. The talk lapsed into argument over what should be carved on the stone. The matter dragged along, and nothing was done. Then one day the funeral director said that Doc’s memorial was already over his grave, epitaph and all. He said the Mexican parents of the child from years before had worried about Doc not having a tombstone. Whereas they had no money themselves, they took the sign from the foot of the stairs at Doc’s office and set it over his grave. It read: DR. BRACKET — OFFICE UPSTAIRS.
The two Great Commandments are a summary of the Ten Commandments, and Doc Bracket lived them very well. The first Great Commandment is, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” The second Great Commandment is, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:30-31).
We can practice the two Great Commandments simply by fulfilling the Ten Commandments, which are encompassed by the two Great Commandments. Doc gives us an excellent example of that. The first three Commandments deal with man’s relationship to God. The last seven Commandments deal with both man’s relationship to God and man.
This is an overview to the Ten Commandments, which we will examine over the next several weeks. After all, we spent so much time talking about Confession that it’s only natural that we should take a look at the Ten Commandments.
The Ten Commandments were written with the finger of God (Exodus 31:18). Unlike the commandments written by Moses, the Ten Commandments set forth the natural law.
Natural law is “nothing else than the rational creature’s participation in the eternal law” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae).
“It is therefore called natural law because everyone is subject to it from birth (natio), because it contains only those duties which are deliverable from human nature itself, and because, absolutely speaking, its essentials can be grasped by the unaided light of human reason” (Fr. John Hardon, SJ, Modern Catholic Dictionary).
St. Paul teaches the existence of natural law in Romans 2:14-15: “When gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or perhaps excuse them.”
In other words, natural law is man’s intuitive knowledge of right from wrong, inscribed upon his heart by the Creator. Attorneys are taught about natural law in law school. Until modern times, natural law was taught in law schools as indisputable fact, but now is pooh-poohed by those law professors who prefer to be their own god. When Congress holds confirmation hearings for candidates for the Supreme Court, one of the first questions asked by liberal members of Congress is whether he or she believes in natural law. Why? Because anyone who believes in natural law cannot deny that same-sex marriage, abortion, and euthanasia are wrong.
As stated above, the Ten Commandments, written by God Himself, set forth the natural law. The Ten Commandments are:
I, the Lord am your God. You shall have no other gods besides me.
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day.
Honor your father and mother.
You shall not commit murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Over the next few weeks (at least 10), we’re going to take a look at the Ten Commandments. We won’t examine them in the depth they deserve, but as long as I live and am able to produce this column we will revisit them in great depth…over and over again.
If you have a question or comment you can reach out to me through the “Ask Joe” page of JoeSixpackAnswers.com, or you can email me at Joe@CantankerousCatholic.com.
Hey, how would you like to see things like this article every week in your parish bulletin as an insert? You or your pastor can learn more about how to do that by emailing me at Joe@CantankerousCatholic.com.
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