FIRST & SECOND COMMANDMENTS

Lesson 8

THE FIRST COMMANDMENT:

I AM THE LORD, YOUR GOD, YOU SHALL NOT HAVE

OTHER GODS BESIDE ME. (EX. 20: 2 – 6)

By the first commandment we are commanded to offer to God alone the supreme worship that is due Him. It embraces faith, hope & love, and by adoring Him & praying to Him.

1. Faith- confidence or trust in a person, thing, deity

or in the doctrines or teachings of a religion or view.

- it can also be a belief that is not based on proof

In order to be able to follow the first commandment, our obligation in is to profess our faith to God in words & in deeds, never doubt His presence & love to us.

Sins against faith:

a. Voluntary doubt – the faith disregards or refuses to hold

as true what God has revealed and the Church proposes for belief.

b. Involuntary doubt- hesitation in believing, difficulty in

overcoming objections connected with the faith, or also anxiety aroused by its obscurity. If deliberately cultivated doubt can lead to spiritual blindness.

c. Incredulity - the neglect of revealed truth or the willful

refusal to assent to it.

d. Heresy- the obstinate post – baptismal denial of some

truth w/c must be believed w/ divine & catholic faith.

e. Apostasy – total repudiation of the Christian faith.

f. Schism – refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or

of communion w/ the members of the Church subject

to him.

2. Hope- the unwavering trust in the grace &

blessings of God.

- the state which promotes the belief in good outcomes related to events and circumstances in one's life.

Sins against hope:

a. Despair - to lose all hope or confidence

- contrary to God’s goodness, to His justice

b. Presumption – an attitude or belief dictated by probability

2 Kinds of Presumption

A. Either man presumes upon his own capacities, (hoping to be able to save himself without help from on high), or

b. He presumes upon God's almighty power or His

mercy (hoping to obtain his forgiveness without

conversion and glory without merit).

3. Charity / Love – a word derived from the Latin, & love is a word derived from Anglo – Saxon, & both have the same meaning Charity means love. Love is not a mere

affection or emotion. It is an act of the will & it may not be

associated w/ affection or emotion. Love is actively

disposed to becoming an enduring thing, a habit, a virtue.

But affections & emotions are, of their nature, passing.

2 Kinds of Love

1. Love of concupiscence

– (concupiscence has no evil meaning here: it means desire)

tends to the possession of the object (person/thing)

beloved.

2. Love of benevolence

– tends to seek the welfare of the object beloved.

* The first seeks to win or have its object; the second seek to do good to its object.

The Duty of Love

“A man is bound to love his neighbor as himself.”

This ethical principle expresses a law of nature, a law of natural charity. It means that every individual man is in duty bound to love every other man, even his enemy, with the love of benevolence.

Duties Consequent Upon Love

We fulfill the duty of love towards our neighbor by acts of humanity, beneficence & gratitude.

We fulfill the duty of love towards our neighbor by acts of humanity, beneficence & gratitude.a. Humanity – expressed in such acts of kindness

as are easily performed, & of w/c the refusal would be a monstrous meanness.

b. Beneficence – finds expression in the giving of alms, the

lending of active aid or assistance w/c requires more effort

or self – sacrifice, the works exacted by humanity.

c. Gratitude – or thankfulness is the due & equal recognition & return for benefits bestowed.

Some offenses against charity / love

a. Indifference – neglects or refuses to reflect on divine

charity; it fails to consider its prevenient goodness and

denies its power.

b. Ingratitude – fails or refuses to acknowledge divine charity & to return him love for love.

c. Lukewarmness – is hesitation or negligence in responding to divine love; it can imply refusal to give

oneself over to the prompting of charity.

d. Acedia or Spiritual Sloth goes so far as to refuse the joy that comes from God and to be repelled by divine goodness.

e. Hatred of God comes from pride. It is contrary to love of God, whose goodness it denies, and whom it

it presumes to curse as the one who forbids sins and inflicts

punishments.

Acts of Virtue of Religion

1. Adoration – an act of external worship, is an exterior manifestation of subjection to the divine excellence.

– the normal external expression of acknowledgement of

God’s supreme control of the universe.

2. Prayer – the elevation of the mind to God to praise Him, to ask forgiveness, to thank Him, & to ask His blessings

– either mental or vocal, according as it is perfected in the

mind w/o exterior signs or expressed in words.

Methods in Praying (ACTS)

Adoration

Confession / Contrition

Thanksgiving

Supplication

3. Sacrifice – an external act by w/c a bodily object is

offered to God.

– it is a sign of adoration & gratitude supplication &

communion

Promises (to God)

– Baptism & Confirmation, Matrimony & Holy Orders always

entail promises.

– Out of personal devotion, the Christian may also promise

to God: prayer, alms – giving, pilgrimage

Vows (to God)

– A deliberate & free promise made to God concerning a

possible & better good w/c must be fulfilled by reason of

the virtue of religion.

The First Commandment forbids the following:

1. Superstition – the deviation of religious feeling of the practices this feeling imposes

2. Idolatry – not only refers to false pagan worship, it remains a constant temptation to faith. Consists in divinizing what is not God.

3. Divination & Magic – contradicts the honor, respect & loving fear that we owe to God alone.

4. Irreligion – tempting God consists in putting His

goodness & almighty power to the test by word or deed

– the vice contrary by defect to the virtue of religion.

5. Sacrilege – consists in profaning or treating unworthily

the sacraments & all consecrated to God.

– a grave sin especially when committed against the

Eucharist

6. Simony – the buying or selling of spiritual things

7. Atheism – rejects or denies the existence of God

– a sin against the virtue of God

8. Agnosticism – refrains from denying God

– postulates the existence of a transcendent being w/c is

incapable of revealing itself & about w/c nothing can be

said.

– God’s existence is impossible to affirm or deny

THE SECOND COMMANDMENT:

YOU SHALL NOT TAKE THE NAME OF THE LORD, YOUR

GOD IN VAIN. (EX. 20:7)

“Promises made to others in God’s name engage the divine honor, fidelity, truthfulness, and authority. They must be respected in justice. To be unfaithful to them is to misuse God’s name and in some way to make God out to be a liar.”

THE SECOND COMMANDMENT FORBIDS THE FOLLOWING:

a. Blasphemy - (Greek blaptein, "to injure", and pheme,

"reputation") signifies etymologically gross irreverence towards any person or thing worthy of exalted esteem.

- Directly opposed to the second commandment

- Consists in uttering against God – inwardly and outwardly

- words of hatred, reproach or defiance; in speaking ill of God; in failing in respect toward him in one’s speech; in misusing God’s name.

b. False Oaths- Taking an oath or swearing is to take God as

witness to what one affirms. It is to invoke the divine truthfulness as a

pledge of one's own truthfulness. An oath engages the Lord's name.

c. Perjury

- A person commits perjury when he makes a promise under oath with no intention of keeping it, or when after promising on oath he does not keep it. Perjury is a grave

lack of respect for the Lord of all speech. Pledging oneself by oath to commit an evil deed is contrary to the holiness of the divine name.

“The holiness of the divine name demands that we neither use it for trivial matters, nor take an oath which on the basis of the circumstances, could be interpreted as approval of an authority unjustly requiring it. When an oath is required by illegitimate civil authorities, it may be refused.”

REFERENCES:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_am_the_Lord_thy_God

http://atheism.about.com/od/tencommandments/a/commandment01.htm

http://www.catholicity.com/baltimore-catechism/lesson16.html

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02595a.htm

http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c1a2.htm

Religious Education 3: Christian Morality, 2013