Chapter Two: The First Commandment in Our Own Day

Chapter Two: The First Commandment in Our Own Day

Lesson One: First Commandment

Psalm 1391 You have searched me, Lord,

and you know me.2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.

5 You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

Psalm 1397 Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,10 even there your hand will guide me,

your right hand will hold me fast.11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

Psalm 13913 For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place,

when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;

all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God! How vast is the sum of them!

18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand—

when I awake, I am still with you.

Psalm 13919 If only you, God, would slay the wicked! Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!

20 They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.

21 Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?

22 I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.

23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.24 See if there is any offensive way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting.

Read Paragraph 1-3

Reverence at Mass

• Reverence – to be respectful toward God and his holy people, places, and things, and to be loving in our thoughts, words and deeds.

• We have a duty to learn God’s laws, and to obey them. We must learn about God to believe in him, to have hope in his teachings, and to live these teachings in love.

Superstition

• Superstition is placing our trust in something other than God. In today’s society, there are many ways that people show they do not trust in God:

1. horoscopes

2. psychics

3. numerology

4. tarot cards

5. Ouija boards

Superstition

• Some people willfully worship the devil, through witchcraft and Satanism. These are dangerous abominations before God.

Definitions

• Heresy – to deny a truth of the Faith

• Apostasy – to deny or reject the true religion of Catholicism.

• Schism – to deny the authority of the Church, as it was entrusted by Jesus Christ.

Chapter Two: The First Commandment in Our Own Day

Lesson Two: Idolatry

Exodus 32: 1-2832 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods[a] who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”

2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods,[b] Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.” 6 So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.

Exodus 32: 1-28 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’

9 “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”

Exodus 32: 1-2811 But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’” 14 Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

Exodus 32: 1-2815 Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. 16 The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.

17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, “There is the sound of war in the camp.”

18 Moses replied:

“It is not the sound of victory, it is not the sound of defeat; it is the sound of singing that I hear.”

Exodus 32: 1-2819 When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. 20 And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.

21 He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?”

22 “Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil. 23 They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ 24 So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”

Exodus 32: 1-2825 Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies. 26 So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me.” And all the Levites rallied to him.

27 Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.’” 28 The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died.

Questions:• Why did they make a calf?

• Did they not trust God?

• How did God respond?

• What was their punishment?

• What should we learn from this story?

• What are some of our “golden claves” today?

Read Paragraph 4-7

Stewardship

• Even though God created many good things, we must never place these things before God. The good use of created things is called stewardship.

• Through stewardship we give glory to God.

Stewardship

• Example Food:• Food is a great gift from God. It keeps us alive, it

tastes wonderful (what is your favorite food?)

• We can place food before God by choosing to break appointed day and times of fast and abstinence

• We can glorify God through food, by thanking him for it, sharing it with those who do not have it, using it well, etc.

Other Bad Things

• Occult – the worship of things other than the one true God.

• The practice of these superstitious beliefs is not only sinful, but very dangerous. Those who participate in the occult are consenting to cooperate and sometimes even belong to Satan and his demons. Television and movies sometimes glorify the occult, making it appear harmless or even beneficial. This is a lie and an offense against God and his truth.

Homework

• Using magazines, newspaper or internet pictures.

• Find images of things that we often put before God.

• Need at least five images with a description of what they are and how we place them above God.

Chapter Two: The First Commandment in Our Own Day

Lesson Three: Rich Young Man

“Rich Young Man”Mark 10: 17-22

17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’[a]”

20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”

21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

“The Rich Young Man”

“Rich Young Man”

① Did the rich young man keep the commandments?② Did he know about God?③ Did he use his things well? (Love them more than God)④ Why was the rich young man sad?⑤ Do we work hard for the things we have? Do we deserve

them?⑥ Are our possessions a gift from God?⑦ Is it hard to give up our possessions? Why?⑧ Did the rich young man love God? How much?⑨ What is detached love? How can we have a detached love for

our possessions?

Matthew 6: 24-30“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Do Not Worry25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]?

28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?

Matthew 6: 24-30

① What does it mean not to serve two masters?

② Should we worry about our material things?

③ How should we trust in God?

Tithing

• The process of returning our riches to God in service for the poor and the Church.

• Tithing is an act of love for God.

• Tithing is giving 1/10 of your income.

Chapter Two: The First Commandment in Our Own Day

Lesson Four: Due Worship

Read Paragraph 11-15

Original Sin

• Because of this sin, man could not make up for his sin and be reconciled with God.

• The sin of Adam had closed the gates of heaven.

• The Hebrews offered worship and sacrifices to show their sorrow for sin, but the offense against God was so great that no offering of man could make up for it.

Sacrifice• sacrifice – the act of completely giving

something back to God.

• God, in his great love for us, became man in the Divine Person of Jesus Christ, so that he could be the perfect sacrifice by dying on the Cross.

The End