The First Commandment in our own Day

 I am the Lord your God; you shall not have other gods before Me  Exodus 20:2-3  “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”

 Demands:  Worship  Adoration  Belief, and an attempt to learn more about Him  Forbids  Superstition  Impiety: being irreverent or disrespectful of God and His sacred things  Heresy: The denying or disagreeing with a particular truth  Apostasy: Deserting or leaving the true religion

 “No other gods” often interpreted “no strange gods”  Idolatry: Worshipping other gods  Golden Calf episode  Idolatry in the modern age: technology, money, fame  We should not love anything/anyone as much as we love God  We must acknowledge that he is above all else in our lives  We can love other things, but we need to love Him more

 Mark 10:17-22  Man Had many possessions  Wanted to follow Christ  Had many possessions, and wasn’t willing to leave them  Left sad and empty  We need to have a “detached love” for things of this world  We can love them, but need to be willing to let them go if God were to ask

 Worship of the Hebrew people  Sacrificed a valuable animal (often a lamb)  Acknowledged God as more important than their own good  Intended to atone for sin  Could never fully Make up for sin

 St. Anselm: On Why God Became Man  Sin  Offense against God  God is eternal  Eternal Sin, unless there is an eternal remedy  Man is responsible for sin (due to Original Sin), but cannot make an eternal sacrifice  God is eternal, but it is not He who needs to make amends for sin  Need for a person who is both God and man

 Jesus  Both God and man  As God, He is eternal, and can make an eternal sacrifice  As man, He is part of the race whose job it is to make up for sin  The Sacrifice of the Cross  Jesus sacrificed Himself for our sins  Renewed every day in the Mass, when the Eucharist is offered  When we take part in the Mass, we share in His eternal sacrifice

 Highest Possible Act of Worship  Acknowledge God as Creator, Lord, and Master  Thank Him for all He has given us  Ask for the things we need  Offer Christ’s sacrifice to the Father in atonement for our sins