CHAPTER SEVEN Love for God

God, who is Love, has given every creature the greatest gift of all, his Son, Jesus Christ. Nothing More to Give

Theological Virtues Faith – enables us to believe in God and what the Church proposes for our belief Hope – leads us to desire heaven and eternal life through trust in God and the graces of the Holy Spirit Charity – the greatest of all virtues; enables us to love God above all things and our neighbor as ourselves.

Keeping the Commandments covenant The strongest possible pledge and agreement between two parties

Keeping the Commandments The 10 Commandments Often called the Decalogue Means 10 words

Keeping the Commandments Love of God I am the Lord your God: you shall not have strange Gods before me. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in Vain. Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day.

Keeping the Commandments Loving Neighbor Honor your father and mother 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 wife. You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.

Church Tradition The Decalogue is a unity. Each commandment refers to each of the others and to all collectively. To break one of the commandments is to break the whole Law. Keeping the Commandments

You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve. This commandment teaches us to accept the one true God of love. This means we must worship God. The theological virtues enable us to relate to God and carry out this command. The First Commandment and the Theological Virtues

Faith This virtue empowers us to say “yes” to God. It enables us to believe everything God has revealed to us. The First Commandment and the Theological Virtues

Faith Ways to strengthen faith:  Prayer  Read the Bible  Celebrate the sacraments  Study your faith  Associate with and listen to people of faith  Put your faith into action  Avoid temptations and sin that threaten to destroy the gift of faith The First Commandment and the Theological Virtues

Faith Avoid these temptations and sin that threaten to destroy the gift of faith: voluntary doubt – the decision to ignore or a refusal to believe what God has revealed or what the Church teaches. incredulity – a mental disposition that either neglects revealed truth or willfully refuses to assent to it. heresy – outright denial by a baptized person of some essential truth about God and faith that we must believe. apostasy – The total rejection of Jesus Christ (and the Christian faith) by a baptized Christian. schism – refusal to submit to the pope’s authority or remain in union with members of the Catholic Church The First Commandment and the Theological Virtues

Hope We trust that God controls the future and is watching out for us. Hope gives us confidence that God keeps all his promises Ways to violate the virtue of hope: Despair – losing hope that God can save us Presumption – we can save ourselves without God’s help or God will automatically be merciful if we don’t repent. The First Commandment and the Theological Virtues

Charity ♥Agape – selfless, giving love ♥Agape love is the type of love Jesus has for us, and the kind of love we should show others. ♥ Latin word for love, caritas, means “holding someone close to one’s heart.” ♥Charity involves: ♥Reverence ♥Sacrifice ♥Beginning ♥Rooting out sin: ♥Indifference ♥Ingratitude ♥Lukewarmness or spiritual laziness ♥Hatred of God The First Commandment and the Theological Virtues

Living the First Commandment The First Commandment and the Theological Virtues Acts of Religion Adoration Prayer Sacrifice

Avoiding Offenses Against the First Commandment The First Commandment and the Theological Virtues Idolatry (the worship of false gods) Superstition, divination (attempts to unveil what God wants hidden by calling up demonic powers, consulting horoscopes, the stars, or mediums, palm reading, etc.), and magic

Avoiding Offenses Against the First Commandment The First Commandment and the Theological Virtues Atheism (denies God’s existences) and agnosticism (claims ignorance about God’s existence claiming it cannot be proved.) Irreligion – tempting God, sacrilege (profane or unworthy treatment of the sacraments, other liturgical actions, and persons, places, and things consecrated to God.), and simony (the buying or selling of spiritual goods.)

Avoiding Offenses Against the First Commandment Forms of non-belief in God: Humanism – a belief that defies humanity and human potential to the exclusion of any belief in or reliance on God. Freudianism – claims belief in God is mere wishful thinking Materialism – a belief that the physical, material world is the only reality, and that spiritual existence, values and faith are illusions. The First Commandment and the Theological Virtues

Avoiding Offenses Against the Second Commandment Breaking promises made in God’s name Blasphemy (hateful, defiant, reproachful thoughts and words, or acts against God, Jesus, his Church, the saints, or holy things.) The Second Commandment

Avoiding Offenses Against the Second Commandment The Second Commandment Taking the Lord’s name in vain: swearing (misuse of God’s name in making false promises, cursing other people, or using God’s name frivolously), perjury (when one fails to keep a promise sworn under oath or when one takes an oath with no intention of keeping it.), obscenity (indecent, lewd, or offensive language, behavior, appearance, or expressions), cussing (an informal word that means the same thing as cursing, the calling down of evil on someone), and vulgarity (tasteless or coarse behavior or language).

Why We Go to Mass We go to Mass to give as well as receive. Jesus wants us to come together to experience him in the Eucharist, his scriptural word, and in each other. As a community of believers, we thank God together through the Eucharist. The Third Commandment

Vocabulary Faith Hope Charity Covenant Decalogue Voluntary doubt Incredulity Heresy Apostasy Schism Despair Presumption Agape Caritas Idolatry Divination Sacrilege Simony Humanism Materialism Blasphemy Swearing Obscenity Cussing Vulgarity