YOUCAT Lesson 355
YOUCAT the catechism
for Catholic youth
355 “You shall not have strange gods before
me.” What does that mean?
This commandment forbids us:
--to adore other gods and pagan deities or to worship an
earthly idol or to devote oneself entirely to some earthly good (such as:
money, influence, success, beauty, youth, and so on);
--to be superstitious, which means to adhere to esoteric,
magic, or occult or New Age practices or to get involved with fortune telling
or spiritualism, instead of believing in God’s power, providence, and
blessings;
--to provoke God by word or deed;
--to commit a sacrilege;
--and, to acquire spiritual power through corruption and to
desecrate what is holy through trafficking (the sin of simony). [2110-2128,
2138-2140]
Jesus Tempted by Satan, painting by
Carl Heinrich Bloch 1834-1890. …..355
Sacrilege (from Latin sacrilegium=plundering of a temple):
the theft, profanation, or desecration of something sacred.
[2110-2128, 2138-2140]
2110 The first commandment forbids honoring gods other than the one Lord who has revealed himself to his people. It proscribes superstition and irreligion. Superstition in some sense represents a perverse excess of religion; irreligion is the vice contrary by defect to the virtue of religion. –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition
Superstition
2111 Superstition is the deviation of religious feeling and of the
practices this feeling imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer the
true God, e.g., when one attributes an importance in some way magical to
certain practices otherwise lawful or necessary. To attribute the efficacy of
prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance, apart from
the interior dispositions that they demand, is to fall into superstition.( Compare Matthew 23:16-22.)41 –CCC
2112 The first commandment
condemns polytheism. It requires man neither to believe in, nor to
venerate, other divinities than the one true God. Scripture constantly recalls
this rejection of "idols, [of] silver and gold, the work of men's hands.
They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see." These empty
idols make their worshippers empty: "Those who make them are like them; so
are all who trust in them."( Psalm 115:4-5, 8;
compare Isaiah 44:9-20; Jeremaiah 10:1-16; Daniel 14:1-30; Baruch 6; Wisdom 13:1-15:19.)42God, however, is the "living God"(Joshua 3:10; Psalm 42:3; etc)43 who gives life and intervenes in
history. –CCC
2113 Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a
constant temptation to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God.
Man commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God,
whether this be gods or demons (for example, satanism), power, pleasure, race,
ancestors, the state, money, etc. Jesus says, "You cannot serve God and
mammon."( Matthew 6:24.)44 Many
martyrs died for not adoring "the Beast"(Compare Revelation 13:14.)45 refusing
even to simulate such worship. Idolatry rejects the unique Lordship of God; it
is therefore incompatible with communion with God.( Compare Galatians 5:20; Ephesians 5:5.)46 CCC
2114 Human life finds its unity in the adoration of the one God. The
commandment to worship the Lord alone integrates man and saves him from an
endless disintegration. Idolatry is a perversion of man's innate religious
sense. An idolater is someone who "transfers his indestructible notion of
God to anything other than God."( Origen, Contra Celsum 2,40:Patrologia
Graeca 11,861.)47 –CCC
2115 God can reveal the future to his prophets or to other saints. Still, a sound Christian attitude consists in putting oneself confidently into the hands of Providence for whatever concerns the future, and giving up all unhealthy curiosity about it. Improvidence, however, can constitute a lack of responsibility. –CCC
2116 All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to
Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to
"unveil" the future. ( Compare Deuteronomy 18:10; Jeremiah 29:8. )48 Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm
reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and
recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in
the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden
powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God
alone. –CCC
Irreligion
2118 God's first commandment condemns the main sins of irreligion: tempting God, in words or deeds, sacrilege, and simony. –CCC
2119 Tempting God consists in
putting his goodness and almighty power to the test by word or deed. Thus Satan
tried to induce Jesus to throw himself down from the Temple and, by this
gesture, force God to act.( Compare Luke 4:9. )49 Jesus
opposed Satan with the word of God: "You shall not put the LORD your God
to the test."( Deuteronomy 6:16.)50 The
challenge contained in such tempting of God wounds the respect and trust we owe
our Creator and Lord. It always harbors doubt about his love, his providence,
and his power.( Compare 1
Corinthians 10:9; Exodus 17:2-7; Psalm 95:9..)51 –CCC
2120 Sacrilege consists in profaning or treating unworthily the sacraments and
other liturgical actions, as well as persons, things, or places consecrated to
God. Sacrilege is a grave sin especially when committed against the Eucharist,
for in this sacrament the true Body of Christ is made substantially present for
us.( Compare Codex Iuris Canonici, cann. 1367; 1376.)52 –CCC
2121 Simony is defined as the buying or selling of spiritual things.( Compare Acts
of the Apostles 8:9-24.)53 To Simon the magician, who wanted to
buy the spiritual power he saw at work in the apostles, St. Peter responded: "Your
silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain God's gift with
money!"( Acts of the Apostles 8:20)54 Peter
thus held to the words of Jesus: "You received without pay, give without pay."( Matthew 10:8; compare already Isaiah 55:1.)55 It
is impossible to appropriate to oneself spiritual goods and behave toward them
as their owner or master, for they have their source in God. One can receive
them only from him, without payment. –CCC
2122 The minister should ask nothing for the administration of the
sacraments beyond the offerings defined by the competent authority, always
being careful that the needy are not deprived of the help of the sacraments
because of their poverty." (Codex Iuris Canonici, can. 848.)56 The
competent authority determines these "offerings" in accordance with
the principle that the Christian people ought to contribute to the support of
the Church's ministers. "The laborer deserves his food."( Matthew 10:10; compare Lk 10:7; 2
Cor 9:5-18; 1
Tim 5:17-18.)57 –CCC
2123 "Many . . .
of our contemporaries either do not at all perceive, or explicitly reject, this
intimate and vital bond of man to God. Atheism must therefore be regarded as
one of the most serious problems of our time."( Gaudium et Spes 19 § 1.)58 –CCC
2124 The name "atheism" covers many very different
phenomena. One common form is the practical materialism which restricts its
needs and aspirations to space and time. Atheistic humanism falsely considers
man to be "an end to himself, and the sole maker, with supreme control, of
his own history."( Gaudium et Spes 20 § 2.)59 Another
form of contemporary atheism looks for the liberation of man through economic
and social liberation. "It holds that religion, of its very nature,
thwarts such emancipation by raising man's hopes in a future life, thus both
deceiving him and discouraging him from working for a better form of life on
earth."( Gaudium et Spes 20 § 2.)60 –CCC
2125 Since it rejects or denies the existence of God, atheism is a
sin against the virtue of religion.( Compare Romans 1:18.)61 The
imputability of this offense can be significantly diminished in virtue of the
intentions and the circumstances. "Believers can have more than a little
to do with the rise of atheism. To the extent that they are careless about
their instruction in the faith, or present its teaching falsely, or even fail
in their religious, moral, or social life, they must be said to conceal rather
than to reveal the true nature of God and of religion."( Gaudium et Spes 19 § 3.)62 –CCC
2126 Atheism is often based on a false conception of human autonomy,
exaggerated to the point of refusing any dependence on God.( Compare Gaudium et Spes 20 § 1.)63 Yet,
"to acknowledge God is in no way to oppose the dignity of man, since such
dignity is grounded and brought to perfection in God. . . . "(Gaudium et Spes 21 § 3.)64 "For
the Church knows full well that her message is in harmony with the most secret
desires of the human heart."( Gaudium et Spes 21 § 7.)65 –CCC
2127 Agnosticism assumes a number of forms. In certain cases the agnostic refrains from denying God; instead he postulates the existence of a transcendent being which is incapable of revealing itself, and about which nothing can be said. In other cases, the agnostic makes no judgment about God's existence, declaring it impossible to prove, or even to affirm or deny. –CCC
2128 Agnosticism can sometimes include a certain search for God, but it can equally express indifferentism, a flight from the ultimate question of existence, and a sluggish moral conscience. Agnosticism is all too often equivalent to practical atheism. --CCC
IN BRIEF
2138 Superstition is a departure from the worship that we give to the true God. It is manifested in idolatry, as well as in various forms of divination and magic. –CCC
2139 Tempting God in words or deeds, sacrilege, and simony are sins of irreligion forbidden by the first commandment. –CCC
2140 Since it rejects or denies the existence of God, atheism is a sin against the first commandment. --CCC
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