9015. 'And anyone striking his father and his mother' means blaspheming the Lord and His kingdom. This is clear from the meaning of 'striking' as injuring by means of falsities, dealt with in 7136, 7146, 9007, but when used in reference to the Lord and His kingdom, blaspheming is meant by it; and from the meaning of 'father' as the Lord, and of 'mother' as His kingdom, dealt with in 8897, where the fourth commandment has been explained. That paragraph shows what 'honouring father and mother' is used to mean in the internal sense, namely loving the Lord and His kingdom, and therefore in the relative sense loving what is good and true. So also 'striking father and mother' in a relative sense means blaspheming what is good and true in the Church.