March 21, 2013 – Catechism 2214 – 2220

We see that there are three different things owed to parents at different times: Obedience, Respect, and Honor.  It says pretty clearly, that obedience stops when a child grows up and leaves the home.  Respect and Honor are a little grayer.  It actual says that you are suppose to always Respect your parents, but the commandment says that we are to honor them.  There seems to be a difference between the two.  Honoring someone seems a much higher thing than showing them respect.  Honoring someone means that you are holding them up as a model and someone that should be an ideal to strive for.  Respect means you understand that they stand in a place that deserves special treatment because of something they have done or a title they have.

I respect the President because of the title, but I would not choose to honor him because of what he believes and the things he has done.  Notre Dame honored him, went beyond respect, when they invited him to speak.  By doing so, they propped him up as a model, whether they claimed they were or not, that is what honor accomplishes.  I am required to respect my father-in-law because of who he is, the father of my wife, but I don’t feel I have to honor him because of what he stands for and the life he lives.  But how does that look.  How do I live that and how does that influence my children.  How do you show respect and not honor.  That is my struggle with this commandment and these paragraphs.