Pope: Ten Commandments our path to God

(Vatican Radio) – “Ten Squares for the Ten Commandments”, is an initiative organized by Renewal in the Spirit movement, sponsored by the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization. The event was launched in Rome, Saturday, Sept. 8, 2012, in Piazza del Popolo, and will run throughout the Year of Faith from 2012 to 2013 involving ten other Italian cities: Naples, Verona, Turin, Palermo, Bari, Cagliari, Florence, Genoa, Milan and Bologna. Emer McCarthy reports Listen:

A public square – or ‘piazza’ – of each of these cities will host an evening of reflection, through readings poetry, song and interventions from well-known public figures, believers and non-believers, as well as theologians centered on one of the Ten Commandments and there relevance in everyday life.

On Saturday, the gathering in Piazza del Popolo centered on the theme "I am the Lord your God", and at 22:07 video message of greeting from the Holy Father was broadcast.

Below we publish a Vatican Radio translation of the Holy Father’s message. Original text in Italian.


Dear brothers and sisters!

I am pleased to extend a cordial greeting to all of you who are taking part in this catechesis in various Italian cities on the Ten Commandments and adhere to the initiative "When Love gives meaning to your life ...". In particular I greet and thank the members of the Ecclesial Movement Renewal in the Holy Spirit, who organized this laudable initiative, with the support of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization and the Italian Episcopal Conference.

The Decalogue brings us back to Mount Sinai, when God enters in particular into the history of the Jewish people, and through this people, the history of all humanity, gifting them the "Ten Words" that express His will, and which are a kind of “ethical code " to build a society in which the relationship of covenant with God, Holy and Just, enlightens and guides the relationships between peoples. And Jesus comes to fulfill these words, raising them and summarizing them in the double commandment of love: " You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind…You shall love your neighbor as yourself. "(cf. Mt 22:37-40).

But let us ask ourselves: what meaning do these Ten Commandments have for us, in the cultural context in which secularism and relativism risk becoming the criteria of every choice and this society of ours that seems to live as if God did not exist? We answer that God gifted us the commandments to educate us to true freedom and true love, so that we can be truly happy. They are a sign of the love of God the Father, of his desire to teach us the correct discernment of good from evil, truth from falsehood, of right from wrong. They are understandable to all, because they set fundamental values ​​in concrete rules and regulations, by putting them into practice man can walk the path of true freedom, safe on the path that leads to life and happiness. In contrast, when man lives ignoring the commandments, not only does he alienate himself from God and abandon the alliance with Him, but he also distances himself from life and lasting happiness. Man left to himself, indifferent to God, proud of his absolute autonomy, eventually ends up following the idols of selfishness, power, domination, polluting the relationship with himself and with others and taking paths that do not lead to life, but death. The sad experience of history, especially of the last century, are a warning to all humanity.

"When Love gives meaning to your life ...". Jesus brings to fulfillment the path of the Commandments with his Cross and Resurrection; he radically overcomes selfishness, sin and death, with the gift of Himself for love. Only by welcoming the infinite love of God, by trusting Him, by following the path that He has laid down, can we give deeper meaning to life and open up a future of hope.

Dear friends, I hope that this initiative will inspire a renewed commitment to witnessing that the path of love laid down by the Commandments and perfected by Christ is the only one that can make our lives, the lives of others and of our communities fuller, better and happier. May the Virgin Mary accompany this journey, as I impart my Blessing.