CATHEDRAL OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
Diocese of St. George's in GRENADA, CARIBBEAN
​THE TEN COMMANDMENTS YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND"
(Deut 6:4-7; Matthew 22:37- 40; Mark 12:30-31; Luke 10:27)
THE FIRST COMMANDMENT
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them. (Ex 20:2-5; cf. Deut 5:6-9) It is written: "You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve." (Mt 4:10)
I. "YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD AND HIM ONLY SHALL YOU SERVE"
God makes himself known by recalling his all-powerful loving, and liberating action in the history of the one he addresses: "I brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." The first word contains the first commandment of the Law: "You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve him. . . . You shall not go after other gods."( Deut 6:13-14) God's first call and just demand is that man accept him and worship him. The one and true God first reveals his glory to Israel. (Ex 19:16- 25; 24:15-18).
The revelation of the vocation and truth of man is linked to the revelation of God. Man's vocation is to make God manifest by acting in conformity with his creation "in the image and likeness of God": There will never be another God, Trypho, and there has been no other since the world began . . . than he who made and ordered the universe. We do not think that our God is different from yours. He is the same who brought your fathers out of Egypt "by his powerful hand and his outstretched arm." We do not place our hope in some other god, for there is none, but in the same God as you do: the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (St. Justin, Dial. cum Tryphone Judaeo 11,1:PG 6,497)
For many Sundays to come, we will be publishing on our Sunday Bulletin the Articles of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) on THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. Each Sunday will take a brief part and will be easy to read. Please do not miss any.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND"
(cf Deut 6:4-7;Matthew 22:37-40;Mark 12:30-31;Luke 10:27)
THE FIRST COMMANDMENT I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them. (Ex 20:2-5; cf. Deut 5:6-9) It is written: "You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve." (Mt 4:10)
I. "YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD AND HIM ONLY SHALL YOU SERVE"
God makes himself known by recalling his all-powerful loving, and liberating action in the history of the one he addresses: "I brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." The first word contains the first commandment of the Law: "You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve him. . . . You shall not go after other gods."( Deut 6:13-14) God's first call and just demand is that man accept him and worship him.
The one and true God first reveals his glory to Israel. (Ex 19:16-25; 24:15-18). The revelation of the vocation and truth of man is linked to the revelation of God. Man's vocation is to make God manifest by acting in conformity with his creation "in the image and likeness of God": There will never be another God, Trypho, and there has been no other since the world began . . . than he who made and ordered the universe. We do not think that our God is different from yours. He is the same who brought your fathers out of Egypt "by his powerful hand and his outstretched arm." We do not place our hope in some other god, for there is none, but in the same God as you do: the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
( THE TEN COMMANDMENTS "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND"
(cf Deut 6:4-7;Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31;Luke 10:27)
"The first commandment embraces faith, hope, and charity. When we say 'God' we confess a constant, unchangeable being, always the same, faithful and just, without any evil. It follows that we must necessarily accept his words and have complete faith in him and acknowledge his authority. He is almighty, merciful, and infinitely beneficent. Who could not place all hope in him? Who could not love him when contemplating the treasures of goodness and love he has poured out on us? Hence the formula God employs in the Scripture at the beginning and end of his commandments: 'I am the LORD.'" Roman Catechism 3,2,4.
Faith
Our moral life has its source in faith in God who reveals his love to us. St. Paul speaks of the "obedience of faith" Rom 1:5; 16:26 as our first obligation. He shows that "ignorance of God" is the principle and explanation of all moral deviations. Cf. Rom 1:18- 32. Our duty towards God is to believe in him and to bear witness to him.
The first commandment requires us to nourish and protect our faith with prudence and vigilance, and to reject everything that is opposed to it. There are various ways of sinning against faith: Voluntary doubt about the faith disregards or refuses to hold as true what God has revealed and the Church proposes for belief. Involuntary doubt refers to 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. Incredulity is the neglect of revealed truth or the willful refusal to assent to it. "Heresy is the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with divine and catholic faith, or it is likewise an obstinate doubt concerning the same; apostasy is the total repudiation of the Christian faith; schism is the refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him." CIC, can. 751: emphasis added.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND"
(cf Deut 6:4-7;Matthew 22:37-40;Mark 12:30-31;Luke 10:27)
THE SECOND COMMANDMENT II
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"HIM ONLY SHALL YOU SERVE" The theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity inform and give life to the moral virtues. Thus charity leads us to render to God what we as creatures owe him in all justice. The virtue of religion disposes us to have this attitude.
Adoration
Adoration is the first act of the virtue of religion. To adore God is to acknowledge him as God, as the Creator and Savior, the Lord and Master of everything that exists, as infinite and merciful Love. "You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve," says Jesus, citing Deuteronomy. Lk 4:8; Cf. Deut 6:13 To adore God is to acknowledge, in respect and absolute submission, the "nothingness of the creature" who would not exist but for God. To adore God is to praise and exalt him and to humble oneself, as Mary did in the Magnificat, confessing with gratitude that he has done great things and holy is his name. Cf. Lk 1:46-49. The worship of the one God sets man free from turning in on himself, from the slavery of sin and the idolatry of the world.
Prayer
The acts of faith, hope, and charity enjoined by the first commandment are accomplished in prayer. Lifting up the mind toward God is an expression of our adoration of God: prayer of praise and thanksgiving, intercession and petition. Prayer is an indispensable condition for being able to obey God's commandments. "[We] ought always to pray and not lose heart." Lk 18:1
Sacrifice
It is right to offer sacrifice to God as a sign of adoration and gratitude, supplication and communion: "Every action done so as to cling to God in communion of holiness, and thus achieve blessedness, is a true sacrifice. "St. Augustine, De civ Dei 10,6:PL 41,283. Outward sacrifice, to be genuine, must be the expression of spiritual sacrifice: "The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit. . . . "Ps 51:17. The prophets of the Old Covenant often denounced sacrifices that were not from the heart or not coupled with love of neighbor. Cf. Am 5:21-25; Isa 1:10-20. Jesus recalls the words of the prophet Hosea: "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice. "Mt 9:13; 12:7; Cf. Hos 6:6 The only perfect sacrifice is the one that Christ offered on the cross as a total offering to the Father's love and for our salvation. Cf. Heb 9:13-14. By uniting ourselves with his sacrifice we can make our lives a sacrifice to God.)
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(To be Continued) ​​​​
We are in November - the Month specially dedicated to prayers for our departed loved ones. The following article, culled from “Catholic Answers”, refreshes our understanding of this sacred duty.
PRAYING FOR THE DEAD
First, it isn’t only Catholics who pray for the dead. Except in the Protestant community, prayer for the dead is universal among Christians. Further, prayer for the dead has been practiced by Jews since before the time of Christ and continues to be practiced by them today.
In Scripture, Judah Maccabee and his men were retrieving the bodies of fallen comrades when they discovered the men who had fallen were wearing pagan amulets, and so “they turned to prayer, beseeching that the sin which had been committed might be wholly blotted out” (2 Macc. 12:42).
Protestants may not regard this passage as Scripture, but Catholics do, and it is thus legitimate for them to appeal to it. Whether one regards it as Scripture or not, it constitutes evidence of prayer for the dead among Jews before the time of Christ, and Jews continue to pray for the dead today, particularly using a prayer known as the Mourner’s Kaddish.
The New Testament also contains a plausible instance of prayer for the dead. After praying for the household of a man named Onesiphorus, Paul goes on to pray “may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that Day” (2 Tim. 1:18). Paul twice mentions “the household of Onesiphorus” (2 Tim. 1:16, 4:19), but does not greet him with the rest of his household and speaks of him only in the past tense. Many scholars have concluded that Onesiphorus had passed away and thus Paul was praying for the departed.
Many Protestants, too, spontaneously ask God to bless their departed loved ones. Thus the Protestant apologist C.S. Lewis writes: “Of course I pray for the dead. The action is so spontaneous, so all but inevitable, that only the most compulsive theological case against it would deter me. . . . At our age the majority of those we love best are dead. What sort of intercourse with God could I have if what I love best were unmentionable to Him?” (Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, 107).
It is a natural human impulse to pray for our loved ones, even when they have passed from this life.
12 Quotes of the Saints on Holy Mass
1. When the Eucharist is being celebrated, the sanctuary is filled with countless angels who adore the divine victim immolated on the altar. ~ St. John Chrysostom
2. The angels surround and help the priest when he is celebrating Mass. ~ St. Augustine
3. The best time to ask and obtain favors from God is the time of the Elevation." ~ St. John Bosco
4. The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the cross. ~ St Thomas Aquinas
5. St. Teresa was overwhelmed with God’s Goodness and asked Our Lord “How can I thank you?” Our Lord replied, “ATTEND ONE MASS.”
6. “My Son so loves those who assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that, if it were necessary He would die for them as many times as they’ve heard Masses.” ~ Our Lady to Blessed Alan.
7. When we receive Holy Communion, we experience something extraordinary – a joy, a fragrance, a well-being that thrills the whole body and causes it to exalt. ~ St Jean Vianney
8. There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us. ~ Saint Jean Vianney
9. Be eager to go to Mass on weekdays also, even if it costs a sacrifice. Our Lord will reward you with His Blessings and make you succeed in your undertakings. ~ Don Bosco
10. When we have been to Holy Communion, the balm of love envelops the soul as the flower envelops the bee. ~ St Jean Vianney
11. It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass. ~ St. Pio of Pietrelcina
12. If we really understood the Mass, we would die of joy. ~ Saint Jean Vianney.