Act of Consecration to Jesus Lord Jesus Christ, I consecrate myself today anew and without reserve to your divine heart. I consecrate to you my body with all its senses, my soul with all its faculties, my entire being. I consecrate to you all my thoughts, words, and deeds, all my sufferings and labors, all my hopes, consolations, and joys. In particular I consecrate to you this poor heart of mine so that it may love only you and may be consumed as a victim in the fire of your love. I place my trust in you without reserve and I hope for the remission of my sins through your infinite mercy. I place within your hands all my cares and anxieties. I promise to love you and to honor you till the last moment of my life and to spread, as much as I can, devotion to your most Sacred Heart. Do with me what you will, my Jesus. I deserve no other reward except your greater glory and your holy love. Take this offering of myself and give me a place within your divine heart forever. Amen.

Activity Book, p. 5 1) What is the First Commandment? - The First Commandment is: I am the Lord your God: you shall not have other gods before me. 2) What does this commandment require and why? - This commandment requires all men to recognize or acknowledge God as the one true God and to worship and adore him. This is because he is God and we are his creatures. We are entirely dependent upon him. 3) In what must we believe? - We must believe in God and in all that he has revealed to us.

Activity Book, p. 5 4) Do we have any excuse for not knowing about God and his revelation? - No. 5) What does this commandment forbid? - The commandment forbids heresy, apostasy, voluntary doubt, deliberate ignorance of God’s truth, despair, presumption, idolatry, indifference to God, hatred of God, superstition, and irreligious behavior. 6) Define heresy, apostasy, superstition, and culpable ignorance. - Heresy is the willful denial of a truth of Faith; apostasy is the rejection by a baptized person of the Christian Faith; superstition is the belief that creatures have supernatural powers, and culpable ignorance is not knowing something that one ought to know.

Lesson Two: Idolatry

The Golden Calf Exodus 32:1-4: “When the people saw that Moses was delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for that man Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.” Aaron replied, “Take off the golden earrings that your wives, your sons, and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He received their offering, and fashioning it with a tool, made a molten calf. Then they cried out, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.”

Moses’ Reaction https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id6oS3L-D9A …don’t commit idolatry.

“Strange gods” Not having strange gods means not taking any creature and elevating it to a divine level, worshiping/adoring it This doesn’t just mean “direct” idolatry, e.g. worshiping a statue This also means “indirect” idolatry, e.g. loving money more than God in your actions

Romans 1:26-32 Therefore, God handed them over to degrading passions. Their females exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the males likewise gave up natural relations with females and burned with lust for one another. Males did shameful things with males and thus received in their own persons the due penalty for their perversity. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God handed them over to their undiscerning mind to do what is improper. They are filled with every form of wickedness, evil, greed, and malice; full of envy, murder, rivalry, treachery, and spite. They are gossips and scandalmongers and they hate God. They are insolent, haughty, boastful, ingenious in their wickedness, and rebellious toward their parents. They are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know the just decree of God that all who practice such things deserve death, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

God > Money Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Hebrews 13:5, “Let your life be free from love of money but be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never forsake you or abandon you.”

God > Possessions Mark 10:17-23, “ As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good?* No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother.’” He replied and said to him, “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.” Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to [the] poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”

God > Family Luke 14:26, “If any one comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” “Matthew 10:37, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross* and follow after me is not worthy of me.” John 12:25, “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.”

Homework Activity Book, p. 6

Act of Consecration to Jesus Lord Jesus Christ, I consecrate myself today anew and without reserve to your divine heart. I consecrate to you my body with all its senses, my soul with all its faculties, my entire being. I consecrate to you all my thoughts, words, and deeds, all my sufferings and labors, all my hopes, consolations, and joys. In particular I consecrate to you this poor heart of mine so that it may love only you and may be consumed as a victim in the fire of your love. I place my trust in you without reserve and I hope for the remission of my sins through your infinite mercy. I place within your hands all my cares and anxieties. I promise to love you and to honor you till the last moment of my life and to spread, as much as I can, devotion to your most Sacred Heart. Do with me what you will, my Jesus. I deserve no other reward except your greater glory and your holy love. Take this offering of myself and give me a place within your divine heart forever. Amen.