Respect overlooks an innocent joke at the expense of a parent, when absolutely no malice is intended, when on both sides it is looked upon as a matter of good-natured pleasantry.  It brooks humor.  Not all familiarity breeds contempt.

But contempt, which is directly opposed to respect, is a sin that is never anything but mortal.  It refuses honor, belittles dignity and considers parents beneath esteem.  It is contempt to laugh at, to mock, to gibe and insult parents; it is contempt to call them vile, opprobrious names, to tell of their faults; it is contempt, and the height of contempt, to defy them, to curse them or to strike them.  It is bad enough when this sort of thing is directed against an equal; but when parents are made the objects of contempt, it acquires a dignity that is infernal.

The malediction of Heaven, the almighty wrath of God follows him or her who despises a parent.  We are repeatedly told in Holy Writ that such offenders “shall die the death.”  Scorn of parents is looked upon as a crime almost on a par with hatred of God.  Pagans frequently punished it with death.  Among Christians it is left to the avenging wrath of God who is pledged to defend the dignity of His delegated paternity.

It is not a rare occurrence to see just retribution visited upon parents who in their day were undutiful, unworthy and unnatural children.  The justice of Heaven often permits it to be done unto us as we do unto others.  Our children will treat us as we shall have treated our parents; their hands will be raised against us and will smite us on the cheek to avenge the grandsire’s dishonor and tears, and to make us atone in shame for our sins against our parents.  If we respect others, they will respect us; if we respect our parents, our children will respect us.

CHAPTER LVII.  FILIAL LOVE.

He who has a heart, and has it properly located, will not fail to love that which is good; he will have no difficulty in so doing, it will require neither command nor persuasion to make him do so.  If he proves refractory to this law of nature, it is because he is not like the rest of mortals, because he is inhuman; and his abnormal condition is due, not to nature’s mistakes, but to his own.  And no consideration under heaven will be equal to the task of instilling affection into a stone or a chunk of putty.

That is good which is desirable, or which is the source of what is desirable.  God alone is absolutely good, that is to say, good in Himself and the cause of all good.  Created things are good in the proportion of their furnishing us with things desirable, and are for that reason called relatively good.  They confer benefits on one and not perhaps on another.  When I say:  this or that is good, I mean that it is useful to me, and is productive of comfort, happiness and other desirable things.  Because we are naturally selfish, our appreciation of what is good depends on what we get out of it.