You should respect and honor your parents with the filial love of a
Christian daughter. Such is the precise meaning of the precept given
you by God in their regard: _Honor thy father and thy mother!_
Relative to you they hold God's place, who is the source of all
paternity in heaven and upon earth. Nothing can dispense you from
this respect which God requires for them, and which nature ought to
render easy to you; for, even when your parents would suffer by a
criminal negligence the image of God to be deteriorated in their
souls; they always remain His representatives for you, because they
are always, no matter what they may do, the instruments that God
employed to give you existence.
The faults of your parents should never diminish in your heart the
respect and honor that you owe them; and in certain painful and
delicate circumstances, you should imitate the example of the two
sons of Noah in order to escape the malediction that fell upon Cham
for his impudent strictures of his father's faults. You should
carefully draw the mantle of charity over any fault of your parents
that might tend to weaken your respect for them.
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