Lesson 31: No Other God
Guide Questions
Do the Ten Commandments reflect God's love?
Is the Natural Law contained in the 10 Commandments?
How can we sin against the first Commandment?
What is the teaching of the church on superstition?
What is presumption?
What are modern forms of idolatry?
What is sacrilege?
When we venerate images of Our Lady and the saints are we indulging in idolatry?
What are the acts of the virtue of religion?
What are the types of worship?
1. The Ten Commandments
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 2066) says:
The division and numbering of the Commandments have varied in the course of history. The present catechism follows the division of the Commandments established by St. Augustine, which has become traditional in the Catholic Church. It is also that of the Lutheran confessions. The Greek Fathers worked out a slightly different division, which is found in the Orthodox Churches and Reformed communities.
1.1 Exodus 20:2-17
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; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.
Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
You shall not kill.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor's.
1.2 Deuteronomy 5:6-21
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 take the name of the LORD your God in vain:...
Observe the sabbath day, to keep it holy...
Honor your father and your mother...
You shall not kill.
Neither shall you commit adultery.
Neither shall you steal.
Neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbor.
Neither shall you covet your neighbor's wife...
You shall not desire... anything that is your neighbor's.
1.3 A Traditional Catechetical Formula
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.
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.
1.4 Following Jesus requires observing the Commandments (the Decalogue) and Beatitudes
The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCCC, 434; cf also CCC, nos 2052-2054, 2075-2076) recalls the young man who asked Jesus what he had to do to have eternal life.
To the young man who asked this question, Jesus answered, 'If you would enter into life, keep the commandments,' and then he added, 'Come, follow Me' (Matthew 19:16-21). To follow Jesus involves keeping the commandments. The law has not been abolished but man is invited to rediscover it in the Person of the divine Master who realized it perfectly in himself, revealed its full meaning and attested to its permanent validity.
This explanation refutes the position of those who think that Jesus Christ came with a new plan which does not require the observance of the Ten Commandments. They say that Jesus taught the Beatitudes in place of the Commandments. Yet, if we examine the Eight Beatitudes closely we find that these (the Beatitudes) cannot be put into effect without the Commandments. Thus, they do not replace the Commandments. They do not render the Commandments "old-fashioned." In fact, they REQUIRE the Commandments. And they REINFORCE the Commandments and MAKE FURTHER DEMANDS.
3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. 8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 10 "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 "Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:3-12)
Saint Gregory of Nyssa (a mystic from Asia Minor who lived around 380 AD) defined "beatitude" as
a possession of all things held to be good, from which nothing is absent that a good desire may want. Perhaps the meaning of beatitude may become clearer to us if it is compared with its opposite. Now the opposite of beatitude is misery. Misery means being afflicted unwillingly with painful sufferings.
1.5 The Decalogue is an organic whole
As we all know, the first three Commandments speak about our duties towards God, and the last seven about our duties towards our neighbour (cf CCC 2067). The first three take priority, because God deserves to be loved above everything else. This means that at all times and in all circumstances we need to give God our best TIME and EFFORT.
Nonetheless, there is a unity between the two parts of the Commandments. As the CCC (2069) teaches:
One cannot honor another person without blessing God his Creator. One cannot adore God without loving all men, his creatures. The Decalogue brings man's religious and social life into unity.
The CCCC (439) adds that the Decalogue constitutes an ORGANIC UNITY.
The Ten Commandments form an organic and indivisible whole because each commandment refers to the other commandments and to the entire Decalogue. To break one commandment, therefore, is to violate the entire law.
1.6 The Commandments are understood in the context of the Covenant
The CCCC (437; CCC 2058-2063, 2077) teaches:
The Decalogue must be understood in the light of the Covenant in which God revealed himself and made known his will. In observing the commandments, the people manifested their belonging to God and they answered his initiative of love with thanksgiving.
Point 2060 of the CCC explains further:
The gift of the commandments and of the Law is part of the covenant God sealed with his own. In Exodus, the revelation of the 'ten words' is granted between the proposal of the covenant [cf Exodus 19] and its conclusion -- after the people had committed themselves to 'do' all that the Lord had said, and to 'obey' it [cf Exodus 24:7]. The Decalogue is never handed on without first recalling the covenant ('The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.') [Deuteronomy 5:2]
This point needs to be understood in order to accept, embrace and fulfil the Commandments.
Furthermore, the Commandments are not addressed to a crowd, but to each one of us. The CCC (2063) explains that
The covenant and dialogue between God and man are also attested to by the fact that all the obligations are stated in the first person ('I am the Lord') and addressed by God to another personal subject ('you'). In all God's commandments, the SINGULAR PERSONAL PRONOUN designates the recipient. GOD MAKES HIS WILL KNOWN TO EACH PERSON in particular, at the same time as he makes it known to the whole people ....
1.7 Natural Law, the Old Law and the New Law
In Lesson 26 we have already spoken about this topic. The Decalogue (Divine Positive Law) is an explicit statement of what the Natural Law requires of us. Hence, it covers not only Catholics or Christians, but all men. Jesus Christ confirms the commands of the Old Law but reveals more demands:
'Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to destroy, but to fulfill.' (Matthew 5:17)
He makes it more exacting! It is not enough to be "decent" or "nice" or "good": one has to be holy.
'For I say to you that unless your justice exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.' (Matthew 5:20).
'You therefore are to be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect.' (Matthew 5:48)
Jesus clearly speaks about the higher standards that the New Law sets. He points out the contrast between the old and the new, then and now.
'You have heard that it was said to the ancients ... But I say to you that ...' (Matthew 5:21-22; 27-28; 31-32; 33-34; 38-39; 43-44)
As Pope John Paul II's Encyclical Veritatis Splendor (no 15) teaches:
Jesus shows that the commandments must NOT BE UNDERSTOOD as a MINIMUM LIMIT not to be gone beyond, BUT rather as a PATH involving a moral and spiritual journey TOWARDS PERFECTION, at the heart of which is love (cf Colossians 3:14).
This is why Pope John Paul II, in his Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte (no 31), states:
To ask catechumens, 'Do you wish to receive Baptism?' means at the same time to ask them: 'Do you wish to become holy?'
When one understands this, then his attitude towards less virtuous or outrightly sinful actions is not that of one who asks, "WHY CAN I NOT DO IT?" but rather of the one who asks, "WHAT NEED DO I HAVE OF IT?" The Encyclical Veritatis Splendor (no 18) thus teaches:
Those who live 'by the flesh' experience God's law as a BURDEN, and indeed as a DENIAL or at least a RESTRICTION of their own freedom. On the other hand, those who are impelled by love and 'walk by the Spirit' (Galatians 5:16), and who desire to serve others, find in God's Law the fundamental and necessary way in which to practise love as something freely chosen and freely lived out. Indeed, they feel an INTERIOR URGE -- a GENUINE 'NECESSITY' and NO LONGER A FORM OF COERCION -- NOT TO STOP AT THE MINIMUM DEMANDS OF THE LAW, but TO LIVE THEM IN THEIR 'FULNESS.' This is a still uncertain and fragile journey as long as we are on earth, but it is one MADE POSSIBLE BY GRACE, which enables us to possess the FULL FREEDOM of the children of God (cf Romans 8:21) and thus to live our moral life in a way worthy of our sublime vocation as 'sons in the Son.' [emphasis is mine]
1.7 How grave are the obligations spelled out in the Decalogue?
The Decalogue spells out some (1) grave duties, and also (2) some obligations which are light by nature, but which could also be grave, depending on the intention (or motive) of the doer or, also, on circumstances. These points are explained in nos 2072 and 2073 of the CCC.
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.
Obedience to the Commandments also implies obligations in matter which is, in itself, LIGHT. Thus abusive language is forbidden by the fifth commandment, but would be a grave offense only as a result of circumstances or the offender's intention.
1.8 Humanly impossible task
The goal of the Christian life is far beyond the reach of our wounded nature. The requirements are EXTREME. That is because the love with which God loved us is extravagant; it is extreme. Hence, the response would have to be similarly extreme. From the human point of view, it is an impossible dream. This is why Jesus Christ teaches us that we have to count on Him and on His grace.
"Apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5)
"With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God." (Mark 10:27)
God's extravagant love for us should be repaid with a similar love. How can we do that? Our resources are limited. God Himself comes to our help, and LENDS US those very resources that we need. Where can we find these RESOURCES? In the SACRAMENTS and in PRAYER.
We have to constantly beg for God's assistance in PRAYER. And God, out of His great mercy and undying love for each of us, will surely answer our petition. This is why Saint Augustine says that we are "daily beggars, daily debtors" (cotidie petitores, cotidie debitores).
We need to receive the SACRAMENTS more frequently, particularly that of CONFESSION (RECONCILIATION) and HOLY COMMUNION. Weekly confession and daily communion, when received with the right dispositions, are God's means for turning us from sinners to saints. God's grace, which comes to us through these Sacraments, capacitates us to do things that we would have never been able to do by our meager human strength. He gives us the Love with which we can repay His Love.
2. The First Commandment Calls for Faith, Hope and Charity
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; cf Deuteronomy 5:6-9]
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; quoted in CCC 2086]
We shall now examine the virtues that the First Commandment bids us to do. Let us start with the three theological virtues. We have already talked about Faith in Lesson 3. We shall examine here the moral aspects concerning Faith and the other two theological virtues of Hope and Charity.
Point 442 of the CCCC asks, "What is implied in the affirmation of God: 'I am the Lord your God' (Exodus 20:2)?" The reply is as follows:
This means that the faithful must guard and activate the three theological virtues and must avoid sins which are opposed to them. FAITH believes in God and rejects everything that is opposed to it, such as, deliberate doubt, unbelief, heresy, apostasy, and schism. HOPE trustingly awaits the blessed vision of God and his help, while avoiding despair and presumption. CHARITY loves God above all things and therefore repudiates indifference, ingratitude, lukewarmness, sloth or spiritual indolence, and that hatred of God which is born of pride.
2.1 Faith
The CCCC (no 386; cf CCC 1814-1816; 1842) explains what the virtue of faith is.
Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and all that he has revealed to us and that the Church proposes for our belief because God is Truth itself. By faith the human person freely commits himself to God. Therefore, the believer seeks to know and do the will of God because 'faith works through charity' (Galatians 5:6).
What does the First Commandment oblige us to do in respect to Faith?
The CCC (no 2088) teaches:
The first commandment requires us to NOURISH and PROTECT our faith with PRUDENCE and VIGILANCE, and to reject everything that is opposed to it.
A good number of people have the mistaken notion that NOURISHING the faith means trying to get good feelings about God. As we have seen in previous lessons, Faith is not in feeling, but in knowing. To know more, one has to
INQUIRE more. It is good to ASK QUESTIONS. We are children who are interested in knowing more and more about our Father God. We can never come to the end of asking, because God is infinite. There is always more to discover about Him. So we need to ask Him to tell us more about Himself. We need to ask Him in prayer. We can also seek the help of a spiritual director, who can accompany us in discovering the answers to the many questions that cross our mind. An ever deeper knowledge of God helps us grow in trust and abandonment.
STUDY more. It is not enough to ask questions. We have to LOOK FOR THE CORRECT ANSWERS (not just any answer), and we need to look for these correct answers among reliable sources. Scientists check the trustworthiness of evidence they gather. We need to be scientific, too, in our approach to Faith. We need to make sure that the materials we study are not just the invention of some people who call themselves "experts." We need to go to those sources who preserve and transmit the true teaching of Jesus Christ. There are all sorts of books on the Faith and documents of the Church that are worth reading. Our spiritual director should be able to help us choose the books that are appropriate for us and that we can use for SPIRITUAL READING.
LISTEN more. We have to listen more to Jesus Christ who speaks to us in the Gospels. We have to listen more to the Pope, who continues to teach us as Christ's representative on earth. And then we have to consider in God's presence those things we have heard.
In what way does one sin against Faith?
The CCC (no 2088 and 2089) tells us that we can sin against Faith through doubt and incredulity. Under Incredulity can come in the form of heresy, schism or apostasy.
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.'
[Code of Canon Law, canon 751].
2.2 Hope
The CCCC (no 387; CCC 1817-1821; 1843) says
Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire and await from God eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit to merit it and to persevere to the end of our earthly life.
The CCC (no 2090) adds that hope includes
the fear of offending God's love and of incurring punishment.
What does the First Commandment oblige us to do in respect to Hope?
It commands us to trust God's promise not only of ETERNAL LIFE (the END of man's life) but also of the SUPERNATURAL MEANS that we need to attain it.
Trusting in those means is shown in frequent reception of the SACRAMENTS and assiduous PRAYER, as these are the means to obtain God's assistance.
It also obliges us to STRUGGLE against our sins and our defects. As Saint JosemarĂa says in Christ is Passing By (Homily "The Interior Struggle," nos 76 & 77)
Let's not deceive ourselves: in our life we will find vigour and victory and depression and defeat. This has always been true of the earthly pilgrimage of Christians, even of those we venerate on the altars. Don't you remember Peter, Augustine, Francis? I have never liked biographies of saints which naively--but also with a lack of sound doctrine--present their deeds as if they had been confirmed in grace from birth. No. The true life stories of christian heroes resemble our own experience: they fought and won; they fought and lost. And then, repentant, they returned to the fray. ...
We must convince ourselves that the worst enemy of a rock is not a pickaxe or any other such implement, no matter how sharp it is. No, its worst enemy is the constant flow of water which drop by drop enters the crevices until it ruins the rock's structure. The greatest danger for a Christian is to underestimate the importance of fighting skirmishes. The refusal to fight the little battles can, little by little, leave him soft, weak and indifferent, insensitive to the accents of God's voice.
In what way does one sin against Hope?
One can sin against hope in two ways that seem to be in opposite extremes: despair and presumption (CCC points 2091 and 2092).
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.
There are two kinds of PRESUMPTION. Either man [1] presumes upon his own capacities, (hoping to be able to save himself without help from on high), or he [2] presumes upon God's almighty power or his mercy (hoping to obtain his forgiveness without conversion and glory without merit).
These two extremes seem to be completely opposite to each other, and yet the end result of both is the LACK OF PERSONAL STRUGGLE TO BE HOLY.
2.3 Charity
The CCCC (no 388; cf CCC 1822-1829, 1844) says:
Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God. Jesus makes charity the new commandment, the fullness of the law. 'It is the bond of perfection' (Colossians 3:14) and the foundation of the other virtues to which it gives life, inspiration, and order. Without charity 'I am nothing' and 'I gain nothing' (I Corinthians 13:1-3).
What does the First Commandment oblige us to do in respect to Charity?
Faith in God's love encompasses the call and the obligation to respond with sincere love to divine charity. The first commandment enjoins us to love God above everything and all creatures for him and because of him [Deuteronomy 6:4-5]. (CCC 2093)
Note that the CCC says that we ought to love because it is our RESPONSE to God who has "first loved us" (I John 4:19).
Note, too, that love for others is motivated by this same reason, that God has already loved us, and not because others have loved us. Even if they have not shown their love for us, we ought to give them the love that we have already received from God.
In what way does one sin against Charity?
The CCC 2094 lists offenses against Charity:
- INDIFFERENCE neglects or refuses to reflect on divine charity; it fails to consider its prevenient goodness and denies its power.
- INGRATITUDE fails or refuses to acknowledge divine charity and to return him love for love.
- LUKEWARMNESS is hesitation or negligence in responding to divine love; it can imply refusal to give oneself over to the prompting of charity.
- ACEDIA or SPIRITUAL SLOTH goes so far as to refuse the joy that comes from God and to be repelled by divine goodness.
- HATRED OF GOD comes from pride. It is contrary to love of God, whose goodness it denies, and whom it presumes to curse as the one who forbids sins and inflicts punishments.
3. The First Commandment also requires the Virtue of Religion
3.1 Definition and Acts of the Virtue of Religion
What is the virtue of religion?
The virtue of religion is a special kind of justice. The CCCC (no 381) defines "justice" as
the firm and constant will to give to others their due. Justice toward God is called 'the virtue of religion.'
The CCC 2096 follows up by stating that
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.
Thus, no 443 of the CCCC asks, "What is the meaning of the words of our Lord, 'Adore the Lord your God and worship Him alone' (Matthew 4:10)?" And it affirms:
These words mean to ADORE God as the Lord of everything that exists; to render to him the INDIVIDUAL and COMMUNITY WORSHIP which is his due; to PRAY to him with sentiments of praise, of thanks, and of supplication; to OFFER him SACRIFICES, above all the spiritual sacrifice of one's own life, united with the perfect sacrifice of Christ; and to KEEP the PROMISES and VOWS made to him.
These are called the ACTS of the virtue of religion are as follows:
ADORATION (CCC 2096 & 2097)
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 [Luke 4:8; cf Deuteronomy 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 Luke 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 (CCC 2098)
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' [Luke 18:1].
SACRIFICE (CCC 2099 & 2100)
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 civitate 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....' [Psalm 51:7] The prophets of the Old Covenant often denounced sacrifices that were not from the heart or not coupled with love of neighbor [cf Amos 5:21-25; Isaiah 1:10-20]. Jesus recalls the words of the prophet Hosea: 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice' [Matthew 9:13; 12:7; cf Hosea 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 Hebrews 9:13-14]. By uniting ourselves with his sacrifice we can make our lives a sacrifice to God.
PROMISES AND VOWS (CCC 2101 & 2102)
In many circumstances, the Christian is called to make promises to God. Baptism and Confirmation, Matrimony and Holy Orders always entail promises. Out of personal devotion, the Christian may also promise to God this action, that prayer, this alms-giving, that pilgrimage, and so forth. Fidelity to promises made to God is a sign of the respect owed to the divine majesty and of love for a faithful God.
'A vow is a deliberate and free promise made to God concerning a possible and better good which must be fulfilled by reason of the virtue of religion' [Code of Canon Law, can. 1191 # 1]. A vow is an act of devotion in which the Christian dedicates himself to God or promises him some good work. By fulfilling his vows he renders to God what has been promised and consecrated to Him. The Acts of the Apostles shows us St. Paul concerned to fulfill the vows he had made [cf Acts 18:18; 21:23-24].
3.2 In what way does a person exercise his or her proper right to worship God in truth and in freedom?
Point 444 of the CCCC (cf CCC 2104-2109, 2137) says:
Every person has the right and the moral duty to seek the truth, especially in what concerns God and his Church. Once the truth is known, each person has the right and moral duty to embrace it, to guard it faithfully and to render God authentic worship. At the same time, the dignity of the human person requires that in religious matters no one may be forced to act against conscience nor be restrained, within the just limits of public order, from acting in conformity with conscience, privately or publicly, alone or in association with others.
4. "You Shall Have no Other Gods Before Me": Offenses Against Religion
The CCCC (no 445) asks, "What does God prohibit by his command, 'You shall not have other gods before me' (Exodus 20:2)?" Then it replies (cf CCC 2110-2128, 2138-2140):
This commandment forbids:
POLYTHEISM and IDOLATRY, which divinizes creatures, power, money, or even demons.
SUPERSTITION which is a departure from the worship due to the true God and which also expresses itself in various forms of divination, magic, sorcery and spiritism.
IRRELIGION which is evidenced: in TEMPTING GOD by word or deed; in SACRILEGE, which profanes sacred persons or sacred things, above all the Eucharist; and in SIMONY, which involves the buying or selling of spiritual things.
ATHEISM which rejects the existence of God, founded often on a false conception of human autonomy.
AGNOSTICISM which affirms that nothing can be known about God, and involves indifferentism and practical atheism.
Regarding DIVINATION and MAGIC, points 2116 and 2117 of the CCC clearly state:
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 [Cf. Deuteronomy 18:10; Jeremiah 29:8]. 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.
ALL PRACTICES OF MAGIC or SORCERY, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one's service and have a supernatural power over others - even if this were for the sake of restoring their health - are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion. These practices are even more to be condemned when accompanied by the intention of harming someone, or when they have recourse to the intervention of demons. Wearing charms is also reprehensible. Spiritism often implies divination or magical practices; the Church for her part warns the faithful against it. Recourse to so-called traditional cures does not justify either the invocation of evil powers or the exploitation of another's credulity.
With respect to SACRILEGE, the CCC states in no 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 [cf Code of Canon Law, canons 1367; 1376].
In connection with SIMONY, points 2121 and 2122 of the CCC say:
SIMONY is defined as the buying or selling of spiritual things [cf Acts 8:9-24]. 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 8:20] Peter thus held to the words of Jesus: 'You received without pay, give without pay' [Matthew 10:8; cf already Isaiah 55:1]. 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.
'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' [Code of Canon Law, canon 848]. 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; cf Luke 10:7; II Corinthians 9:5-18; I Timothy 5:17-18].
5. Do Catholics worship idols with their images?
This, in fact, is the question that point 446 of the CCCC (cf CCC 2129-2132, 2141) poses. It asks, "Does the commandment of God, 'You shall not make for yourself a graven image' (Exodus 20:3), forbid the cult of images?"
It replies thus:
In the Old Testament this commandment forbade any representation of God who is absolutely transcendent. The Christian veneration of sacred images, however, is justified by the incarnation of the Son of God (as taught by the Second Council of Nicea in 787AD) because such veneration is founded on the mystery of the Son of God made man, in whom the transcendent God is made visible. This does not mean the adoration of an image, but rather the VENERATION OF THE ONE WHO IS REPRESENTED IN IT: for example, Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Angels and the Saints.
Furthermore, the CCC (2130) explains:
Nevertheless, already in the Old Testament, God ordained or permitted the making of images that pointed symbolically toward salvation by the incarnate Word: so it was with the bronze serpent, the ark of the covenant, and the cherubim [cf Numbers 21:4-9; Wisdom 16:5-14; John 3:14-15; Exodus 25:10-22; I Kings 6:23-28; 7:23-26.]
Many of us love keeping photos and remembrances of people we love. These remind us of those close to our heart. It is not the photograph that we love, but the person who appears in it.
We are human beings whose knowledge comes through the senses. When we see images of the Blessed Trinity, or the Blessed Virgin Mary, the images remind us of them. Thus, instead of leading us away from God, our senses lead us to Him. In this way, we are also able to offer our senses to God for Him to bless and sanctify.
Recommended Reading
Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 434-446
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2052-2141