Day 279: False Oaths (2025)

Discovering our identity and God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is day two hundred and seventy-nine. We are reading paragraphs twenty-one fifty to twenty-one fifty-five. As always, I am using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes the foundations of the faith approach, but you can follow along with any recent version of the catechism.

Catechism of the Catholic Church. You can also download your own catechism in a year reading plan by visiting Ascension Press.com/slash CIY, and you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates. And daily notifications today is day two seventy nine. We're continuing to talk about the Lord's name and the holiness of the Lord's name. Yesterday we talked about the fact that God's name is holy and that we have to be incredibly careful when when it comes to

anything involving the Lord's name when it comes to blasphemy, when it comes to respect for the Lord's name, when it comes to promises, and i and even so going so far as to the abuse of God's name, all of those things are so important for us to we absolutely have to, have to avoid them.

And have to always treat the Lord's name not just with respect, but as it truly is, is it compl as it is is holy. Now today we're talking about taking the name of the Lord in vain. And we're looking at this. We're looking at uh how the second commandment Forbids false oaths.

We recognize that perjury is a can be an abuse of God's name or taking the Lord's name in vain. But we can actually, in some ways, in in some contexts, we can make oaths that we can invoke the Lord's name when we intend to tell the truth. But We are never obliged. We are never obliged to take the Lord's name in vain. Right. So just a quick thing to get out of the way. Um when someone says, you know, I I said the name of God without meaning it.

And I didn't say it in vain, I just said it like without meaning it. I'm like, okay, that's kind of what in vain means. In vain i implies or e indicates. Taking the Lord's name without meaning it, or like we are talking we're going to talk about today, which is taking a false oath. So calling upon the Lord's name and not intending to follow through with whatever I promise, or not fall intending to follow through with what I'm

Oathing, for lack of a better phrase. Anyways, as we launch into today, let's call upon the Lord's name and in in prayer Ask for him to send us his Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth, to continue to guide us into all truth, to open our hearts and our minds, that we may know his will and to do it with all our hearts.

We pray, Father in heaven, in the name of your Son Jesus Christ, we ask you to please send your Holy Spirit, send your Holy Spirit into our lives and into the lives of those we love. Lord God, may your name always be glorified in our speech, may your name always be glorified in our actions, may everything that we say and everything that we do be. Reveal you as you are, and not serve to obscure your goodness, not serve to obscure your holiness.

Not serve to obscure obscure who you are. Help every word we speak. Help every action that we choose to accomplish or Act in this in this world, in this life, in this day, before your glory, and for the salvation and sanctification of the

of all of our brothers and sisters. We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Once again it's day two seventy nine. We're reading paragraphs twenty one fifty to twenty one fifty five.

Taking the name of the Lord in vain. The second commandment forbids false oaths. Taking an oath or swearing is to take God as witness to what one affirms. It is to invoke the divine truthfulness as a pledge of one's own truthfulness. An oath engages the Lord's name. You shall fear the Lord your God, you shall serve him, and swear by his name.

Rejection of false oaths is a duty toward God. As creator and Lord, God is the norm of all truth. Human speech is either in accord with or in opposition to God who is truth itself. When it is truthful and legitimate, an oath highlights the relationship of human speech with God's truth. A false oath calls on God to be witness to a lie.

A person commits perjury when he makes a promise under oath with no intention of keeping it, or when after promising on oath, he does not keep it. Perjury is a grave lack of respect for the Lord of all speakers. Pledging oneself, by oath, to commit an evil deed is contrary to the holiness of the divine name.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus explained the second commandment. You have heard that it was said to the men of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn. But I say to you, do not swear at all. Let what you say be simply yes or no. Anything more than this comes from the evil one. Jesus teaches that every oath involves a reference to God and that God's presence and his truth must be honored in all speech.

Discretion and calling upon God is allied with a respectful awareness of his presence, which all our assertions either witness to or mock. Following St. Paul, the tradition of the church has understood Jesus' words as not excluding oaths made for grave and right reasons, for example, in court. The Code of Canon Law states an oath, that is, the invocation of the divine name as a witness to truth, cannot be taken unless in truth, in judgment, and in justice.

The holiness of the divine name demands that we neither use it for trivial matters, nor take an oath which on the basis of the circumstances could be interpreted as approval of an authority unjustly requiring it. When an oath is required by illegitimate civil authorities, it may be refused. It must be refused when it is required for purposes contrary to the dignity of persons or to ecclesial communion.

All right, there we have it, paragraphs twenty one fifty to twenty one fifty five. You know, again, as I said at the very beginning of this episode. There are some times when taking the Lord's name in vain is simply taking the Lord's name without meaning it, right? Without, without respect for the sacredness, the holiness. that again the sanctity of the divine name. But there's also these other ways. And taking it in vain, meaning I'm taking this name, the name of the Lord.

With no intention of following through on my oath, here my no intention of following through on my promise. So here paragraph twenty one fifty and twenty-one fifty-one talks about this. So there is the forbidding of false oaths. So explains this. Taking an oath or swearing is to take God as witness to what one affirms.

As it is to invoke the divine truthfulness as a pledge of one's own truthfulness. Again, isn't that that kind of idea of so help me God, right? It's I'm invoking saying, okay, God is the God of all truth. God is the God of all truthfulness. Therefore, when I invoke his name, I'm taking that as an approval, as a pledge, as a promise.

of my f my truthfulness. So it goes goes on to say, An oath engages the Lord's name. And quotes this from Deuteronomy chapter six, verse thirteen. It says, You shall fear the Lord your God, you shall serve him, and swear by his name. So We have a duty, a a a ri a complete duty as Christians. To reject false oaths is not

That is something we have to, right? Because here is the God. He here is our God who is the God of truth. He is truth itself. And so our speech is either in accord with that truth or in opposition to that truth. So You know, I don't know if we talked about this here in the catechism. But I will usually kind of present to our students a very

Quick, simple? Everything I say is simple. Not all quick, but everything I say is pretty simple. And it's be because I'm trying to get to the the kernel of the issue. So if you're asking the question, what's what's the kernel? What's the most simple way you can express the definition of truth. I will always say truth is simply can be defined in two words.

Truth is what is. That's it. Truth is simply what is. So a statement is either true or false to the degree that it conforms to what is, right? To to the degree that it conforms to reality. So here is God Himself. And so if God himself is truth, he is he who is, right? Even think of the sacred name of God, I am who am. So here is truth, what is, here is God who is truth, right? He who is, or as he's revealed his name, I am who am.

we recognize that everything we say is either in conformity to truth, what is, which is therefore in conformity to God, who is I am who am, Or it is not in conformity. It is an opposition to what is, or in opposition to, or or is obscuring what is. Rec it right. So it's either in conformity to what is, or it's in opposition to, or obscuring what is. Therefore, All of our words, all of our words have to be in line with the God who is truth. And that's why false oaths are

so, so deadly is we're calling upon God to witness a lie, right? That's what a false oath is. I'm calling upon God to witness a lie. Therefore, someone who takes an oath to tell the truth commits perjury, right? Because they make a promise under oath. with no intention of keeping it or, after promising that oath, doesn't keep it.

So sometimes people have a premeditated idea that yep, I will take the name I'll invoke the Lord's name and say, I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God. And maybe they intend to do it. to do that, but then they don't. Again, that's perjury. Or they have this plan. They know they're not gonna tell the truth, and yet they do invoke the Lord's name. So This is a grave sin, right? Because it's a grave lack of respect for the Lord of all speech.

So pledging oneself to this go paragraph twenty one fifty two highlights. Pledging oneself by oath to commit an evil act is contrary to the holiness of the divine name. So think of any number of, you know, revenge movies where someone says, you know, I will have essentially I'll have my revenge and they invoke the Lord's name, you know, so help me God, you know, or by God I will do such and such, you know, this evil thing.

That once again, that is contrary to the holiness of the divine name. Now, keep this in mind. So even though Deuteronomy chapter six, verse thirteen, does say this you shall fear the Lord your God, you shall serve him, and swear by his name. Jesus, twenty in paragraph twenty one fifty three. says okay, what what about when Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount

Explains the second commandment in saying that yeah you've heard it was said to men of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn. But then Jesus says, But I say to you, remember in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says all these here's what you've heard it was said, here's what I say to you. He says, Do not swear at all. Let what you say simply be yes or no, anything more than this comes from the evil one. So Jesus in this

teaches that every oath involves a reference to God and that God's presence and his truth must be honored in all speech. Therefore we have to have this incredible, incredible discretion. Incredible discretion because we also recognize that St. Paul clarifies our understanding of what Jesus is saying when he says what he says in Matthew's gospel in the Sermon on the Mount. Because St. Paul talks about this. Talk St. Paul talks about the fact that there are Good and right reasons.

for making an oath. In fact, St. Paul himself makes an oath. In second Corinthians chapter one verse twenty three references that Galatians chapter one verse twenty. So we recognize that scripture helps us understand. They hear a Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's gospel.

And then here's St. Paul's letter, letters, 2 Corinthians and Galatians, that help us understand, okay, what what does this mean? Is it a complete and absolute exclusion of ever making an oath? And the answer is no. Now paragraph 2155 highlights this.

It says that so keep this in mind, knowing that we can take oaths. The holiness of the divine name demands that we neither use it for trivial matters, obviously for just, you know, of small things. That's what trivial matters means. I knew I know you knew that, but we're just saying it, nor take an oath. which on the basis of the circumstances could be interpreted as approval of an authority unjustly requiring it.

Because of this, if there is an an illegitimate civil authority. So say for example, you're living in underneath a tyrant, right? A despot. You're living in in a in a situation where there is a little bit of a good idea. is an illegitimate civil authority. And you're being asked to uh ascribe some kind of allegiance to that civil authority. You can. You can refuse to do that.

Now, in fact, if that civil authority stands directly against the dignity of persons or ecclesial community, then you must refuse to take that oath. See, this is the the the the whole core of this. There's a story of St. Thomas Moore. as it's recounted to us in the screenplay, A Man for All Seasons, where at one point his daughter Meg, Margaret is her name, but ke in the play he calls her Meg, in the movie he calls her Meg.

that she comes to visit Thomas More in the Tower of London. Now, T Thomas More had been the Lord Chancellor of England, right, the second in command under King Henry VIII. and at one point King Henry the Eighth had divorced his wife, married someone else, and he wanted every eccle ecclesial official, like the bishops, as well as government officials, to acknowledge that

the marriage was valid and that King Henry the Eighth was the was the head of the church in England. And many bishops signed this thing out of fear of their own life. I don't know if any believed it, but they all took this oath, basically, uh, in order to spare themselves, as well as ecli uh natural or civil authorities also took this oath. Now, two people, Bishop John Fisher and Sir Thomas More,

They didn't take the oath. And so here Thomas More finds himself in the Tower of London, and at one point, according to the story at least. King Henry VIII allowed his daughter Meg to come visit him to try to convince him to take the oath. And at one point, Thomas Ware, she's convinced trying to convince him as she's talking to him, saying, Listen, just say the words, but in your heart don't mean them. Like yeah, again, say take the oath.

But in your heart, know that you don't really believe this, you don't really mean this. So let your actions be free of your your intentions. And at one point, Thomas Moore in the play, in the movie, he says, Meg, when when a man takes an oath, It's like he's holding himself, his very self in his hands like water, and he cups his hands like this.

But if your father, if I were I'm paraphrasing, but if your father were to take this oath without meaning it, and he spreads his fingers, he says, Not only would you would you lose your father, I would lose my very self. 'Cause that's the that's the seriousness, the significance of taking an oath that we don't mean. And that's one of the reasons why Christians that we Catholics have to be very, very clear about to whom we belong.

When there's oaths of allegiance, we have to be so clear and so careful about to whom it is that we belong. Do we belong to the Lord or we or do we belong to the the government? Do we belong to our Our our choice of political party. Do we belong to our pet, whatever that thing is? Ultimately, if that thing stands against human dignity, if it stands against ecclesial communion communion, we must never ever take an oath like that. We must refuse taking an oath like that.

Because why? Not only for truth's sake But for the one who is the truth's sake, right? For him whose name we invoke whenever we take an oath. And that's that's the heart of it. Not only truth itself, right? But truth himself. That's one of the reasons why we have to be on guard of how How we speak is in particular We call upon the Lord to witness an action. We call upon the Lord to witness a declaration. We have to be absolutely clear.

and may never ever take a false oath. Hope that makes sense. I think this is just so important. Tomorrow we're gonna talk more about the Lord's name. In fact, it's actually going to be about how we bear witness to the Lord's name by having a Christian name, by being called Christians In the in this world, we are carrying him into this world. And so we have to be careful, not only how we speak, but also in how we live and pray. More on that tomorrow. But right now

for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.