by Barbara Schoeneberger

Created on: January 03, 2010   Last Updated: January 07, 2010

Called the "Commandments of the Church" or the "Precepts of the Church", these five observances require all Catholics to act according to laws that make them more Christ-like in mind and heart.  They are:

Attend Mass and abstain from servile work on Sundays and holy days of obligation. Fast and abstain on the days appointed. Confess sins at least once a year. Receive Holy Communion during Easter time. Contribute to the support of the Church.

What appears simple on the surface is actually spiritually deep and closely connected with salvation history. We need to understand what the precepts are, why the Church commands Catholics to observe them, and how they help to deepen a person's relationship with Christ if we are to gain great spiritual benefit from them.

What the precepts are and what they do

According to Canon #49 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, "An individual precept is a decree directly and legitimately enjoining a determined person or persons to do or omit something, especially concerning the urging of the observance of a law."  The precepts of the Church require all Catholics (determined persons) to do certain actions which lead to observing the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20: 1-17, Deut. 5: 6-21) and the Two Great Commandments (Deut. 6:4 and Lv. 19:18) which are the essence of Judeo-Christian tradition culminating in the imitation of Christ.  Jesus enjoined all of his followers to live the Two Great Commandments in Matt. 22: 35-40.

The Baltimore Catechism, decreed by the Third Council of Baltimore, became the first episcopal-approved Catholic catechism for widespread use in the United States of America in 1885.  Forming the foundational understanding of the Catholic faith until the 1960s, it remains in use today. The catechism addresses the two-fold obligation implied in the precepts this way:

     What must we do to love God, our neighbor, and ourselves?

To love God, our neighbor, and ourselves we must keep the commandments of God and of the Church, and perform the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.

"My dear children, let us not love in word, neither with the tongue, but in deed and in truth." (I John 3:18)

Likewise, it is no accident that the Catechism of the Catholic Church, revised by Pope John Paul II in 1997, places its discussion of the precepts of the Church in the "Life in Christ" section because they act as a guardrail keeping Catholics focused on Christ and following the narrow highway to heaven. 

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