Living the Ten Commandments Each Day
In an age where all morality seems relative, is there still a place for the Ten Commandments? Can their unrelenting insistence that some things are right and some are wrong still teach us anything today?
Jesuit Father Max Oliva thinks so. And he has given us a wonderful new appraisal of the Ten Commandments for today. Ten Commandments for Everyday Life tells us how each of God’s commandments given to Moses can still be surefire moral guides for our own lives.
You might remember Fr. Oliva from one of his earlier books, Beatitudes for the Workplace. This became a best-seller for us and Fr. Oliva travelled far and wide helping those of us navigate our way through the shoals and hazards of modern corporate life.
His newest book is, in a way, a continuation of his apostolate of outreach beyond the parish walls. Fr. Oliva is a firm believer that the Bible is not an anachronism, not some out-of-date relic whose only interest to us today is as an artifact of the past. No, he argues, God continues to speak to us every day through scripture, if only we would take the time to listen.
But Fr. Oliva is not given to proof-texting, finding pithy aphorisms to hurl at us in times of need. Rather, he draws out each commandment, illustrating its power today through true stories of people he has met in his own life. Some are high-flying corporate executives, some are parish workers. Others are moms and dads, sons and daughters, neighbours and relatives. In all cases, they are going through life, trying to do the right thing.
In each case, Fr. Oliva finds in one commandment or another, a life lesson that is well worth learning. You, too, will find wisdom and hope in this most ancient list of rules, guided by Fr. Oliva’s unerring ability to connect our most revered traditions with modern times.
-Joseph Sinasac, Publishing Director
