“Ngươi không được kêu tên Đức Chúa, Thiên Chúa của ngươi mà làm điều bất xứng”.
“Anh em còn nghe luật dạy người xưa rằng: Ngươi chớ bội thề, còn Thầy, Thầy bảo cho anh em biết, đừng thề chi cả.”
You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain.
When I was born, my father gave me the name Vũ. As a child, I didn’t know what it meant. One day, I went home from church after listening to the homily described the significant of naming a person. I asked my mother, “Mom, what is the meaning of my name?”
My mom explained that my first name has two meanings. The first meaning of Vũ is dance. In dancing, you require a lot of flexibility and movement. My father wants his son to be a man with a lot of flexibility. The second meaning of Vũ is thunder storm. Have you ever witness a thunder storm? If you had, you know that thunder storm carries within it a very strong wind, lighting, and a lot of rain. It can destroy a house or uplift the root of the oak tree. With this note, my father wants me to be strong as a thunder storm. These two meanings added on to my first name.
As you can see, a name carries all sorts of meaning. Therefore naming someone or something means you have power over it.
Now, imagine that you and your best friend are sitting at the lunch area. Then you get into an argument. You best friend starts call you all sorts of name. He even calls your parents’ name and shouts their name in a disrespectful manner. How do you feel? Do you feel sad because your best friend called your and your parents’ name in vain?
Now, even you can get upset and fee sad when your friend shouted your name and your parents in a disrespectful way. Imagine how God feel when you, the one he died on the cross for and love dearly, call his name in vain? Of course, God is very sad. Probably he even cries every time you call his name in a disrespectful manner.
The second commandment teaches us to show respect for the divine and the holy. It is about how we speak about God, Mary, and the saints. In order to show that we love God, we must honor his name and speak God’s name with love and reverence. We must never say God’s name in anger because when we are angry, all sort of things will come out without us even notice.
Beside of not respecting God when we call his name in vain, it is also a sign of weak and unhealthy spirituality. If we claim that we love God and we want to be in union with Him, we will naturally avoid using God’s name in a disrespectful manner. Just as we would avoid calling our grandparents and parents’ name, we also try not to call God’s name in vain.
Sometimes it is very difficult to refrain ourselves from using God’s name in vain. For instance, instead of hammering the nail, we hammer our fingers. At those moments, we want to shout anything that comes to our mind. It is with those moments that they become a habit to call God’s name in vain.
It is even harder when calling God’s name in vain is considered cool thing to say. Especially, we hear it all the times on television and at school. However, if we claim to be Christian, yet words come out of our mouth include the disrespectful use of God’s name, people are not very impress with our claim to be Christian.
To avoid calling God in vain, we need to concentrate in our task. Most of the times, when we are not focused, we tend to make mistake. From our mistake, we tend to call God’s name in vain.
The second way to avoid calling God in vain is through practice. If we know that we habitually call God’s name, we need to remind ourselves by saying:
I will not call God’s name in vain.
I will not call God’s name in vain.
I will not call God’s name in vain.
OrI will not show disrespect toward God. (repeat it three times)
Third, if incase we call God’s name in vain. As we shout it out loud, the first word – God, we can still alter the calling into praising God.
For example: instead of God, Mary, …… we can alter, God, I love you. God, I am hurt…
Lastly, during your morning or evening prayers, include one of your prayers is to ask God for strength and help not to call his name in vain.
Lord Jesus, I love you. I want to show respect and reverence when I call you name. Please help me not to call your name in vain or shout your name in a disrespectful manner.
Our speech speak a lot about how much we God and honor his name. This commandment teaches us to show respect and reverence when it comes to God’s name. Since God is holy and good, one way of showing respect toward God is not to use God’s name in vain or in a thoughtless manner. When we speak God’s name, instead of shouting or calling, we need to praising God.
Since God loves us and died for us so we can become God’s children, we must show respect to God by not misusing God’s name.
One way to show that we honor God’s name is when we praise Him. As a way to honor God’s name, we can pray together as a group The Divine Praises.
Blessed be God.
Blessed be his holy name.
Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true man.
Blessed be the name of Jesus.
Blessed be his most Sacred Heart.
Blessed be his most precious Blood.
Blessed be Jesus in the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.