The First Commandment: Worship of God and how we define Liturgy

Published by Published on

1. “The first commandment embraces faith, hope, and charity” (CCC 2086). In what way does the First Commandment express each of these? Why do each of these matter both individually and collectively?

Faith is most concretely related to the first commandment insofar as it is the means by which we believe God: His existence, His commands, His Church, etc.[1] It is thereby our understanding of all reality because God is the uncaused causality of reality. If one should be aware of the first commandment and still break it, it would be a rejection of truth. God is the only true god, the “others” are abstractions of the true god. If we lose sight of who God truly is, we also lose hope. There is no good and saving God but our God.[2] If we subject ourselves to a god who does not save, what hope do we have hope of eternal life or likewise meaning? The true God makes “all things work for the good of those who love” Him.[3] If we refuse God’s love and mercy, how can we know what love is?[4] All of the theological virtues are ordered to help us live in relationship to God.[5] Without the first commandment (God as Lord of one’s life); faith loses its goal, hope has no source, and love becomes irrelevant and unnecessary.

2. “You shall have no other God before me.” Summarize the teaching of the Catechism on the things God here prohibits. Are temptations to these forms of false worship easily avoided? Why or why not?

The Church teaches that God prevents artificial religion and deserting of man’s religious longing in His saying “You shall have no other God before me.” In all related cases, man seeks false autonomy.[6] Superstition, idolatry, divination, magic, simony, sacrilege, atheism and its products, and loss of interest in truly knowing God are those which the Church claims are violations of this commandment.[7] In each of these, man’s view of God is insufficient, and man moves to replace God with his own perception. This is problematic, because what is man without God? What is a creation without its Creator? Self-governance, self-invention, and disobedience to authority are man’s most seductive vices.[8] From the first sin, man has sought to make himself god, even though God already wishes to deify man.[9] This is the fundamental quality to all mortal sin, thus man does not easily avoid this temptation.

3. Chapter 3 in Rebuilding Catholic Culture discusses some defects in our understanding of liturgy. What factors do they identify? Do you agree or disagree with their analysis? Why or why not? 

Topping recognizes six of the twelve aspects identified by Rt. Rev. Prosper Guéranger, O.S.B. as anti-liturgical heresies.[10] These heresies are a result of a secularizing view of the liturgy.[11] Secular pragmatism has been undermining the devotion inherent to the Mass: the desire for using vernacular language, attempting to regress the liturgical development through history, shortening liturgy, failure to recognize the proper distinction between ordained and laity, excluding the frequent invocation of saints, etc. These, according to Topping, are caused by a fundamental misunderstanding of the word “liturgy”, the reduction of Mass participation to external movements, loss of understanding that the Mass has Jewish heritage, and poor catechesis on the real presence. I agree with his analysis, although not completely. I feel it is easy to derive these trends from the differences between the pre- and post-council masses. I feel there are likely more causes for the improper view of liturgy than those which he examines. However, his points remain significant and help restore a proper understanding of liturgy. I don’t feel that things were perfectly understood prior to the liturgical movement.
FN:

  1. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. (Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference, 1994), 1814.
  2. New American Standard Bible, Isaiah 45:21.
  3. New American Standard Bible, Romans 8:28
  4. New American Standard Bible, John 15:12 cf. New American Standard Bible, 1 John 4:8.
  5. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1812.
  6. Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2126.
  7. Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2110-2128.
  8. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 398.
  9. Ibid.
  10. Ryan N.S. Topping, Rebuilding Catholic Culture (Sophia Institute Kindle Edition) p. 71.
  11. Ibid.

I am a Theology major attending Holy Apostles College and Seminary. I am a Knight of Columbus and a Newman Ambassador for Pius XII Newman Center.

Most Viewed Posts

Psychological Therapies and Catholic Anthropology: A Comparative Analysis

Published by Published on
Image
Psychological therapy often faces stigma, to the point are some people are skeptical about its value or concerned it contradicts their faith. However, therapy is a powerful tool for addressing mental and emotional struggles, offering healing that goes beyond just the mind. While secular therapies, such as Freud's psychoanalysis, Adlerian therapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy, can provide practical solutions, they often do not fully align with the Christian understanding of the human person. Catholic anthropology, which views humanity as a unified being of body, soul, and spirit in relationship with God, provides a more complete framework for healing. Secular therapies may help with emotional pain, but they typically overlook the spiritual and redemptive dimensions of human life. True healing, from a Catholic perspective, involves recognizing both our current struggles and our ultimate destination in communion with God. As Scripture teaches, authentic freedom is intertwined with...
Click Here to Continue Reading This Post

Law & Virtue: Freedom Refined for True Goodness

Published by Published on
Image
The Seven Virtues, Piero and Antonio Pollaiuolo and Botticelli Depicted from left-to-right: Fortitude ~ Temperance ~ Faith ~ Charity ~ Hope ~ Justice ~ Prudence If you have ever observed a significant amount of rhetoric on any contentious issue, then you would have observed an attempt to frame an objective reality subjectively, some ad hominem attacks, and even some conclusions/premises posed without evidence. This comes largely from the cultural inability to either form arguments or a disbelief in objective reality. However, more fundamentally, there is hardly ever a common definition of freedom. What is freedom, and do we have it? True freedom is the aspect of rational man to choose the good (according to the nature of a thing, in that it is some way desirable and that it has its essence in completeness or in that an action contributes or derives from the completeness of an act, thus an act not completely good is evil and it correspond to an imperfection in the actor and lacks being ...
Click Here to Continue Reading This Post

The Deeply Biblical Celebration: Part 1-The Start of Mass

Published by Published on
Image
The Mass is as old as the Eucharist itself. Extending back arguably to the feeding of the thousands, but definitely and sacramentally, to the Last Supper which is intimately united with Our Lord's Passion, Death, and Resurrection. Therefore/Thereby, the Mass is not only Biblical but is a living and perpetual extenuating of the essential/substantial nature of what scripture is and does. The next few posts will discuss not only the significance of the parts of the Mass and the words they use but also their intensely Biblical roots. In this post, let us look specifically at the first parts of the Mass. The Introductory Rites, as we call them, draw us to be one i.e the One Church, but most importantly one with God, and this movement is deeply scriptural. NOTE: the point of posts like this is to give you a guide to enter in Biblically into this mystery not so much to reveal a mystery but point toward it in a way that will allow the reader to be able to intentionally enter into it in a n...
Click Here to Continue Reading This Post