Irreverence

One

What’s Important and What Isn’t

To live a decent, rightly ordered life, people need to be able to distinguish what’s important from what isn’t.

There’s no algorithm or formula for making the distinction between important and unimportant

For instance, a job offer for one person could be a huge deal, and totally irrelevant to someone else.

But for everyone, there has to be both the important and the unimportant

Certain things we can take lightly, not worry about, even laugh and joke about

Other things simply have to matter.

And the thing that matters most, is God.

Which is why it’s a sin to take holy things lightly. It’s a sin, and a violation of the second commandment, to take God’s name in vain.

Two

The Evil of Acting as Though Nothing is Unimportant

Sometimes teenagers and certain really irresponsible comedians will act as though they don’t think anything’s important. 

They act as though nothing is sacred.

Like every sin, this is an attack on human goodness, on human nature.

Because when you act like nothing really matters, that means you’re robbing life of all its ultimate meaning. 

All human life – all the pain, all the heroism, all the beauty and the love – becomes a big joke. 

We need our lives to have significance if we’re going to be happy. We need certain things to matter. Certain things have to be serious. Certain things have to be important.

And the only way to preserve a sense of the importance of human life is to preserve a sense of the importance, the grandeur, the infinite dignity, and majesty of God.

Because if God isn’t important, then nothing is important. If God doesn’t matter, then we certainly don’t. 

And if we don’t matter – if nothing we care about, or experience, or love matters – then there’s nothing worthwhile about our existence.

And that is the essence of despair.

Three

Our Need to Recognize God’s Greatness

Each of the ten commandments is about protecting and promoting our happiness, and our flourishing

And that goes for the Second Commandment too: “You shall not take the name of the Lord Your God in Vain.”

God’s existence isn’t diminished if we don’t respect Him – but ours is. 

God doesn’t lose His sense of self-worth if we speak of Him irreverently – but we will. 

Our dignity, and our sense of human importance – that’s all predicated on God’s dignity and importance

We only exist because He has shared His existence; we only have dignity because Our Heavenly Father has shared His dignity with us, His adopted children

And our lives only have meaning and significance and purpose insofar as we are related to Him

So to undermine our sense of His greatness is to undermine any hope of living a life that matters.

Four

Irreverence: Speaking like God doesn’t matter

Blasphemy is, of course, the worst sin against the second commandment. But the commandment doesn’t just forbid saying evil, hateful, horrible things about God. 

It condemns speaking about God in vain – as though God were insignificant.

And this is a fault that nearly everyone – atheists and Christians – manifest throughout the English-speaking world

We use the word “God” or even the name “Jesus,” as a form of punctuation, or as a way of expressing mild surprise or aggravation. 

This must not be. You can’t really act as though God is the most important thing there is when you’re constantly talking as though God is completely unimportant. 

Our words and thoughts and actions all go together. The name of God is holy. 

And what is holy is touched and spoken of with reverence – or it is not to be touched or spoken of at all. 

For without the holy, without the sacred – without the supremely important and the foundation of significance for every human life – without that, we will descend into meaninglessness. 

Five

Speaking of God as though He’s watching you.. which He is

The Catechism says, “The Lord’s name is holy. For this reason man must not abuse it. He must keep it in mind in silent, loving adoration. He will not introduce it into his own speech except to bless, praise, and glorify it.”

St. John Henry Newman points out that we all talk about people differently depending on whether they’re present or not

When people aren’t present, we speak about them less respectfully, we’re more likely to be dismissive, and sometimes even insulting

So, Newman says, remember that God is present whenever you speak of Him. He hears how you use His name, and how you talk about Him

So before you say His name, remember that He’s there. Remember, one day You’ll see Him has He is – King and Ruler of the Universe, Infinite Creator, and Final Judge

He is all those things now. And He hears what you’re saying. So don’t say anything irreverent. Don’t take His name in vain.