Q554
What special duties toward parents are prescribed by the Fifth Commandment, under the general phrase of honoring them?
Not only Christians, but all people, are called by God: (1) to act respectfully toward their parents; (2) to obey them while living under their tutelage; (3) to support and comfort them in sickness and old age; and (4) after their death, as during their lives, to pray for the salvation of their souls (2Ma 12:43–44; see Q040, Q376), and faithfully to fulfill their last wishes, so far as these are not contrary to the law of God or of the land (cf. Jer 35:18–19, God’s blessing on the sons of Rechab).
