352 GOD IS ALMIGHTY, MERCIFUL, AND INFINITELY BENEFICIENT

YOUCAT Lesson 352

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

Chapter One:  “ You Shall Love the Lord Your God with All Your Heart, and with All Your Soul, and with All Your Mind”

The First Commandment: I am the Lord, your God.  You shall not have strange Gods before me.

352  What is the meaning of the commandment, “I am the Lord, your God” (Exodus 20:2)?

Because the Almighty has revealed himself to us as our God and Lord, we must not place anything above him or consider anything more important or give any other thing or person priority over him.  To know God and to serve and worship him has absolute priority in our life.  [2083-2094, 2133-2134]

God expects us to give him our full faith; we should place all of our hope in him and direct all the strength of our love toward him.  The commandment to love God is the most important of all commandments and the key to all the others.  That is why it stands at the beginning of the Ten Commandments.

“Where God is made great, men and women are not made small: there (also) men and women become great and the world is filled with light.” Pope Benedict XVI September 11, 2006

“By ‘praying’ I do not mean the recitation of prayers that have been learned by heart, but rather simple worship, with or without words; remaining at God’s feet for the purpose and with the intention of worshiping him.”--Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881)

[2083-2094, 2133-2134]

SECTION TWO
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

CHAPTER ONE 
"YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND"

2083 Jesus summed up man's duties toward God in this saying: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind."( Matthew 22:37; compare Luke 10:27:". . . and with all your strength.")¹ This immediately echoes the solemn call:"Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God is one LORD."( Deuteronomy 6:4)² –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

God has loved us first. The love of the One God is recalled in the first of the "ten words." The commandments then make explicit the response of love that man is called to give to his God. –CCC

ARTICLE 1
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.( Exodus 20:2-5; compare Deuteronomy 5:6-9.)³ –CCC

It is written: "You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve."(  Matthew 4:10)⁴  --CCC

"YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD AND HIM ONLY SHALL YOU SERVE"

2084 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."( Deuteronomy 6:13-14)⁵ God's first call and just demand is that man accept him and worship him. –CCC

2085 The one and true God first reveals his glory to Israel.( Compare Exodus 19:16-25; Ex 24:15-18.)⁶ 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": --CCC

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:Patrologia Graeca 6,497.)⁷ --CCC

2086 "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.)⁸ --CCC

Faith

2087 Our moral life has its source in faith in God who reveals his love to us. St. Paul speaks of the "obedience of faith"( Roman Catechism 3,2,4.)⁹ as our first obligation. He shows that "ignorance of God" is the principle and explanation of all moral deviations.(  Compare Romans 1:18-32.)¹⁰ Our duty toward God is to believe in him and to bear witness to him. –CCC

2088 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: --CCC

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. –CCC

2089 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."( Codex Iuris Canonici, can. 751: emphasis added.)¹¹ –CCC

Hope

2090 When God reveals Himself and calls him, man cannot fully respond to the divine love by his own powers. He must hope that God will give him the capacity to love Him in return and to act in conformity with the commandments of charity. Hope is the confident expectation of divine blessing and the beatific vision of God; it is also the fear of offending God's love and of incurring punishment. –CCC

2091 The first commandment is also concerned with sins against hope, namely, despair and presumption: --CCC

By despair, man ceases to hope for his personal salvation from God, for help in attaining it or for the forgiveness of his sins. Despair is contrary to God's goodness, to his justice - for the Lord is faithful to his promises - and to his mercy. –CCC

2092 There are two kinds of presumption. Either man presumes upon his own capacities, (hoping to be able to save himself without help from on high), or he presumes upon God's almighty power or his mercy (hoping to obtain his forgiveness without conversion and glory without merit). –CCC

IN BRIEF

2133 "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your strength" (Deuteronomy 6:5). –CCC

2134 The first commandment summons man to believe in God, to hope in him, and to love him above all else. --CCC

351 THE 10 COMMANDMENTS ARE GRAVE OBLIGATIONS

YOUCAT Lesson 351

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

351 Aren’t the Ten Commandments outmoded?

No, the Ten Commandments are by no means the product of a particular time.  They express man’s fundamental obligations toward God and neighbor, which are always and everywhere valid.  [2070-2072]

At the end of her life Jeralean Talley  of Inkster, Michigan was America’s oldest living person. Jeralean affirmed that “Everything comes from God .”  Here Jeralean is assisted by a deacon of the New Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church.  Jeralean was born May 23, 1899 and died June 17, 2015. …..351

The Ten Commandments are commandments of reason just as they are also part of the binding revelation of God.  They are so fundamentally binding that no one can be dispensed from keeping these commandments.

 “We love because he first loved us.”  1 John 4:19

“Where is God?  How can we love him?  It is not enough to say, ‘My God, I love you!’  We love God in this world by giving something up, by giving something away.  Of course I can eat the sugar myself, but I can also give it away.”  Blessed Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)

 “The Ten Commandments teach us the true humanity of man.”--Catechism of the Catholic Church {2070]

 “ What God commands he makes possible by his grace.”--Catechism of the Catholic Church [2082]

[2070-2072]

The Decalogue and the natural law 

2070 The Ten Commandments belong to God's revelation. At the same time they teach us the true humanity of man. They bring to light the essential duties, and therefore, indirectly, the fundamental rights inherent in the nature of the human person. The Decalogue contains a privileged expression of the natural law: --CCC

From the beginning, God had implanted in the heart of man the precepts of the natural law. Then he was content to remind him of them. This was the Decalogue.( St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 4,15,1:Patrologia Graeca 7/l,1012.)³¹ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

2071 The commandments of the Decalogue, although accessible to reason alone, have been revealed. To attain a complete and certain understanding of the requirements of the natural law, sinful humanity needed this revelation: --CCC

A full explanation of the commandments of the Decalogue became necessary in the state of sin because the light of reason was obscured and the will had gone astray.( St. Bonaventure, Comm. sent. 4,37,1,3.)^{32 --CCC}

We know God's commandments through the divine revelation proposed to us in the Church, and through the voice of moral conscience. --CCC

The obligation of the Decalogue

2072 Since they express man's fundamental duties towards God and towards his neighbor, the Ten Commandments reveal, in their primordial content, grave obligations. They are fundamentally immutable, and they oblige always and everywhere. No one can dispense from them. The Ten Commandments are engraved by God in the human heart. --CCC

349 TEN COMMANDMENTS

YOUCAT Lesson 349, April 22, 2015

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

349  What are the Ten Commandments?

1—I am the Lord your God: you shall not have strange gods before me.

2—You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

3—Remember to keep holy the Lord’s day (Sabbath).

4—Honor your father and your mother.

5—You shall not kill.

6—You shall not commit adultery.

7—You shall not steal.

8—You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

9—You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.

10—You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.

My son, Don C. and his father-in-law Rick Pruden. …..349

Love Fulfills the Law.     Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.  The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; you shall not kill; you shall not steal; you shall not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this saying, [namely] “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law. – Romans 13:8-10

The Ten Commandments as printed above are not found precisely in that form in Sacred Scripture; the text is based on two biblical sources: Exodus 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21.  Centuries ago the two sources were summarized for instructional purposes, and the Ten Commandments were presented to the faithful in the present form of the catechetical tradition.

348 IF YOU WOULD ENTER LIFE, KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS

YOUCAT Lesson 348

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

Section Two—The Ten Commandments

348  “Teacher, what…must I do to have eternal life?”  (Matthew 19:16)

Jesus says, “If you would enter life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:17).  Then he adds, “and come, follow me”(Matthew 19:21).  [2052-2054, 2075-2076]

Rhinelander Food Pantry Thursdays' Stocking Crew. …..248

Christianity is more than a correct life and keeping the commandments.  Being a Christian is a living relationship to Jesus.  A Christian unites himself deeply and personally with the Lord and with him sets out on the way that leads to true life.

“Christ does not want admirers but followers.”  Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)

“Most people do not suspect what God could make out of them if they would only place themselves at his disposal.”  St. Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556)

[2052-2054, 2075-2076]

PART THREE
LIFE IN CHRIST

SECTION TWO
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

"Teacher, what must I do . . .?"

2052 "Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?" To the young man who asked this question, Jesus answers first by invoking the necessity to recognize God as the "One there is who is good," as the supreme Good and the source of all good. Then Jesus tells him: "If you would enter life, keep the commandments." And he cites for his questioner the precepts that concern love of neighbor: "You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother." Finally Jesus sums up these commandments positively: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."( Matthew 19:16-19.)¹ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

2053 To this first reply Jesus adds a second: "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."( Matthew 19:21.)² This reply does not do away with the first: following Jesus Christ involves keeping the Commandments. The Law has not been abolished,( Compare Matthew 5:17.)³ but rather man is invited to rediscover it in the person of his Master who is its perfect fulfillment. In the three synoptic Gospels, Jesus' call to the rich young man to follow him, in the obedience of a disciple and in the observance of the Commandments, is joined to the call to poverty and chastity.( Compare Mt 19:6-12,21,23-29.)⁴ The evangelical counsels are inseparable from the Commandments. –CCC

2054 Jesus acknowledged the Ten Commandments, but he also showed the power of the Spirit at work in their letter. He preached a "righteousness [which] exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees"( Matthew 5:20.)⁵ as well as that of the Gentiles.( Compare Matthew 5:46-47.)⁶ He unfolded all the demands of the Commandments. "You have heard that it was said to the men of old, 'You shall not kill.' . . . But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment."( Matthew 5:21-22)⁷ –CCC

IN BRIEF
2075 "What good deed must I do, to have eternal life?" - "If you would enter into life, keep the commandments" (Matthew 19:16-17). –CCC

2076 By his life and by his preaching Jesus attested to the permanent validity of the Decalogue. --CCC

347 THE WITNESS OF CHRISTIAN LIFE

YOUCAT Lesson 347

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

 

347  Why is “not practicing what you preach” such a serious deficiency in a Christian?

Agreement between one’s life and one’s witness is the first requirement for proclaiming the Gospel.  Not practicing what you profess is therefore hypocrisy, a betrayal of the Christian duty to be “salt of the earth” and “light of the world”.  [2044-2046]

Stephanie May (center) is an early childhood teacher in Idaho.  She easily connects with kiddos at Goals Beyond The Net in Haiti. Stephanie is my great niece. …..347

Paul was the one who reminded the Church in Corinth: “You show that you are a letter from Christ…written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Corinthians 3:3).  Christians themselves, not the things they say, are Christ’s “letters of recommendation” (2 Corinthians 3:2) to the world.

“The world is full of people who preach water and drink wine.”  Giovanni Guareschi (1908-1968, Italian author of “The Little World of Don Camillo”)

 [2044-2046]

III. MORAL LIFE AND MISSIONARY WITNESS

2044 The fidelity of the baptized is a primordial condition for the proclamation of the Gospel and for the Church’s mission in the world. In order that the message of salvation can show the power of its truth and radiance before men, it must be authenticated by the witness of the life of Christians. “The witness of a Christian life and good works done in a supernatural spirit have great power to draw men to the faith and to God.”( Apostolicam Actuositatem 6 § 2.)⁸⁸ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

2045 Because they are members of the Body whose Head is Christ,( Compare Ephesians 1:22.)⁸⁹ Christians contribute to building up the Church by the constancy of their convictions and their moral lives. The Church increases, grows, and develops through the holiness of her faithful, until "we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."( Ephesians 4:13; compare Lumen Gentium 39.)⁹⁰ –CCC

2046 By living with the mind of Christ, Christians hasten the coming of the Reign of God, "a kingdom of justice, love, and peace."( Roman Missal, Preface of Christ the King.)⁹¹ They do not, for all that, abandon their earthly tasks; faithful to their master, they fulfill them with uprightness, patience, and love. --CCC

346 NECESSARY MINIMUM IN THE SPIRIT AND MORAL LIFE TO GROW IN LOVE OF GOD AND NEIGHBOR

YOUCAT Lesson 346

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

346  What is the purpose of the precepts of the Church, and how binding are they?

The “Five Precepts of the Church” with their minimum requirements are supposed to remind us that one cannot be a Christian without making a moral effort, without participating personally in the sacramental life of the Church, and without union with her in solidarity.  They are obligatory for every Catholic Christian.  [2041, 2048]

Fr. Ed Hauf, OMI greets parishioners after mass at St. Mary's in downtown San Antonio. ..346

Hypocrisy implies a double standard in the morality that one practices publicly or implicitly.  Externally a hypocritical person advocates goals and values that he does not respect privately.  “Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth”.  1 John 3:18

[2041, 2048]

II. THE PRECEPTS OF THE CHURCH

2041 The precepts of the Church are set in the context of a moral life bound to and nourished by liturgical life. The obligatory character of these positive laws decreed by the pastoral authorities is meant to guarantee to the faithful the very necessary minimum in the spirit of prayer and moral effort, in the growth in love of God and neighbor. –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

IN BRIEF

2048 The precepts of the Church concern the moral and Christian life united with the liturgy and nourished by it. --CCC

And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because the little one is a disciple—amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward." –Matthew 10:42

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 2,  2017

Reading 1 2 KGS 4:8-11, 14-16A

One day Elisha came to Shunem, where there was a woman of influence, who urged him to dine with her. 
Afterward, whenever he passed by, he used to stop there to dine.  So she said to her husband, "I know that Elisha is a holy man of God.  Since he visits us often, let us arrange a little room on the roof and furnish it for him with a bed, table, chair, and lamp, so that when he comes to us he can stay there."  Sometime later Elisha arrived and stayed in the room overnight.

Later Elisha asked, "Can something be done for her?"  His servant Gehazi answered, "Yes!  She has no son, and her husband is getting on in years."  Elisha said, "Call her."  When the woman had been called and stood at the door, Elisha promised, "This time next year you will be fondling a baby son."

Responsorial Psalm PS 89:2-3, 16-17, 18-19

R. (2a) For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

The promises of the LORD I will sing forever,
through all generations my mouth shall proclaim your faithfulness.
For you have said, "My kindness is established forever;"
in heaven you have confirmed your faithfulness.

R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

Blessed the people who know the joyful shout;
in the light of your countenance, O LORD, they walk.
At your name they rejoice all the day,
and through your justice they are exalted.

R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

You are the splendor of their strength,
and by your favor our horn is exalted.
For to the LORD belongs our shield,
and the Holy One of Israel, our king.

R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

Reading 2 ROM 6:3-4, 8-11

Brothers and sisters:  Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.

If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.  We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him.  As to his death, he died to sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God. Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.

Alleluia 1 PT 2:9

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation;
announce the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel MT 10:37-42

Jesus said to his apostles: "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross
and follow after me is not worthy of me.  Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

"Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.  Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward.  And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because the little one is a disciple—amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward."