bad behavior, they give them trouble, and bring disgrace upon them, or otherwise grieve them, or put them in a passion; 3. When they do not assist them in their need or old age; 4. When they do not bear with their failings; and 5. When they do not pray for their parents, whether living or dead.
'He that striketh his father or mother shall be put to death. He that curseth his father or mother shall die the death' (Exod. xxi. 15, 17). 'Son, support the old age of thy father, and grieve him not in his life; and if his understanding fail, have patience with him, and despise him not when thou art in thy strength; for the relieving of the father shall not be forgotten' (Ecclus. iii. 14, 15).
9. When do children sin against the obedience due to their parents?
They sin against the obedience due to their parents, 1. When they obey them badly, or not at all; 2. When they do not willingly listen to their admonitions; and 3. When they offer resistance to their corrections.
'If a man have a stubborn and unruly son, who will not hear the commandments of his father or mother, and being corrected, slighteth obedience, they shall take him, and bring him to the ancients of the city, and shall say to them: This our son is rebellious and stubborn, he slighteth hearing our admonitions, he giveth himself to revelling, and to debauchery and banquetings: the people of the city shall stone him, and he shall die; that you may take away the evil out of the midst of you, and all Israel hearing it may be afraid' (Deut. xxi. 18-21).
10. What have those children to expect who do not fulfil their duties towards their parents?
In this life they have to expect the curse of God, disgrace, and ignominy; and in the life to come, eternal damnation.
'Cursed be he that honoreth not his father and mother, and all the people shall say: Amen' (Deut. xxvii. 16). 'Remember thy father and thy mother, lest God forget thee, and thou wish that thou hadst not been born, and curse the day of thy nativity' (Ecclus. xxiii. 18, 19). — Examples: Cham, Absalom, the Sons oi Heli the High-Priest.
