RCIA 6: The First Three Commandments 6: The First Three - PDF document

9/2/2019 RCIA 6: The First Three Commandments 6: The First Three Commandments Scene from the movie “The Ten Commandments ” 2 6: The First Three Commandments Exodus 20:2-17 3 1

9/2/2019 6: The First Three Commandments God’s Law Introduction • God: author of all law, source of all truth – Physical – Moral – Human (if not contradicting divine) 4 6: The First Three Commandments God’s Law God’s Revealed Law is Help and Instruction • Moral law – Natural law (conscience) – Revealed law • Helps clouded reason, strengthens will to follow conscience 5 6: The First Three Commandments God’s Law The First Commandment is to Acknowledge and Worship the One God • God gave the Israelites “his law so they would recognize him and serve him as the one living and true God, the provident Father and just judge” (CCC 62) • Yet the Israelites fell repeatedly into the worship of false gods 6 2

9/2/2019 6: The First Three Commandments God’s Law The Law Teaches Us our Obligations to God and to Our Neighbor • “If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I am giving you today, loving the LORD, your God, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and ordinances, you will live and grow numerous, and the LORD, your God, will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.” (Deut 30:16) 7 6: The First Three Commandments God’s Law Love of God Cannot be Separated from Love of Neighbor – We cannot truly honor others without blessing God who created them – We cannot rightly adore God without loving his creatures 8 6: The First Three Commandments God’s Law The Revealed Law Cannot by Itself Offer Salvation • Ultimate purpose: leading them to their Savior 9 3

9/2/2019 6: The First Three Commandments God’s Law Jesus Reveals the Law of the Gospel, the New Law of Love • Jesus came to write the new law in our hearts • See the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5-7) and especially the Beatitudes (Mt 5:3-10) 10 6: The First Three Commandments God’s Law Jesus Reveals the Law of the Gospel, the New Law of Love (cont.) • “If you would enter life, keep the commandments” (Mt 19:17) 11 6: The First Three Commandments God’s Law Jesus Reveals the Law of the Gospel, the New Law of Love (cont.) • “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.” (Mt 22:37-40; see Dt 6:5 & Lv 19:18) 12 4

9/2/2019 6: The First Three Commandments God’s Law Jesus Reveals the Law of the Gospel, the New Law of Love (cont.) • The law of the Gospel is the law of love • Faith in Christ is expressed in charity • The Golden Rule: Mt 7:12 • Be perfect: Mt 5:48 13 6: The First Three Commandments God’s Law Jesus Reveals the Law of the Gospel, the New Law of Love (cont.) • Love enemies • Pray for persecutors • Repay abuse with kindness • Forgive wrongs 14 6: The First Three Commandments God’s Law The Ten Commandments Are Unchangeable Obligations for All Christians • Grave obligations for Christians always and everywhere • No one can excuse us from them • Supplemental rituals eliminated by Jesus and the apostles 15 5

9/2/2019 6: The First Three Commandments God’s Law The Law is Freedom, Not Slavery, and Leads to Happiness • By sin, “man violates his own freedom, becomes imprisoned within himself, disrupts neighborly fellowship, and rebels against divine truth” (CCC 1740) • To act the way God designed us is the only path to authentic joy 16 6: The First Three Commandments God’s Law God Gives us the Grace to Obey Him • Strengthened by faith bestowed in Baptism and the ongoing graces of the sacraments 17 6: The First Three Commandments God’s Law • Review the last two pages of God’s Law handout called “The Ten Commandments” 18 6

9/2/2019 6: The First Three Commandments Veneration of Holy Images: Idolatry? • Many symbols speak to us of God & holy persons • Show respect or remind ourselves of love and sacrifice • Not adored or worshipped, though 19 6: The First Three Commandments Veneration of Holy Images: Idolatry? Prohibition of images not absolute – Cherubim with the Ark of the Covenant (Ex 25 & 26) – Moses’s serpent of brass (Nm 21) – Cherubim, trees, flowers, animals on & in the Temple 20 6: The First Three Commandments Veneration of Holy Images: Idolatry? • Depictions of Jesus, Mary, angels, and saints from earliest Christianity – Defended in the 6 th c. by Pope St. Gregory the Great 21 7

9/2/2019 6: The First Three Commandments Veneration of Holy Images: Idolatry? • Iconoclasm (“Image-breaking”) – Byzantine Empire (700’s and 800’s) – Protestant Reformation (16 th c.) Relief statues in the Cathedral of Saint Martin, Utrecht, 22 attacked in Reformation iconoclasm in the 16th century. 6: The First Three Commandments Veneration of Holy Images: Idolatry? • The Church uses physical images to convey spiritual realities to the soul • The soul’s feeling expressed in our emotions • Pictures, statues, etc. are means to help raise our minds and hearts to God 23 6: The First Three Commandments Profanity • Speak the holy name with respect • Communicate that respect to all who hear us • Reminds us and others of the tremendous mystery of God’s love and care for us 24 8

9/2/2019 6: The First Three Commandments Profanity • Yahweh (“I am”) • Adonai (“Lord”) • Hashem (“the Name”) • Father • Jesus (“God saves”) Christ (“anointed one”) • God reveals Himself by giving us His name 25 6: The First Three Commandments Profanity • Especially wrong – Swearing a false oath – Blasphemy: hatred of God • Used to justify torture, terrorizing, and killing • Additionally, gives scandal – Cursing: calling upon God to do another person harm – Vulgarity: incompatible with Christian dignity 26 6: The First Three Commandments The Sabbath and Sunday Worship Why God Created the Sabbath • For us • Need to worship physically and spiritually • We need rest and leisure • Sign of an irrevocable covenant (Ex 31: 13, 16-17) 27 9

9/2/2019 6: The First Three Commandments The Sabbath and Sunday Worship Jesus and the Observance of the Sabbath • Sabbath not the master of human activity • Not violated by work necessary for worship of God • Works of mercy and service not violations Dispute between Jesus and the Pharisees 28 by Gustave Doré (1832-1883) 6: The First Three Commandments The Sabbath and Sunday Worship The Origin of Sunday as the Lord’s Day • Memorial of God’s Creation and of Christ’s Resurrection – Jesus’ Resurrection on the first day of the week – “Let there be light” (Gen 1:3) • “In Christ’s Passover, Sunday fulfills the spiritual truth of the Jewish sabbath” (CCC 2175) 29 6: The First Three Commandments The Sabbath and Sunday Worship Sanctifying the Lord’s Day with Worship • Tradition handed down from the apostles (Acts 20:7) • Didache (c. 100) – elementary description of Mass • Ignatius of Antioch (107) – Sun instead of Sat worship • Justin Martyr (155) – unmistakably describes Mass • Jerome (347-420) – “day of the sun,” light of world 30 10

9/2/2019 6: The First Three Commandments The Sabbath and Sunday Worship Sanctifying the Lord’s Day with Worship (cont.) • Mass – Serious obligation – Celebrate our Creator and our Redeemer – Foundational for our life in Christ – Shows that we belong to a community of faith – Not optional except for illness, unavoidable or dangerous travel – Gravely sinful to miss without a good reason 31 6: The First Three Commandments The Sabbath and Sunday Worship Sanctifying the Lord’s Day with Rest • “[A]bstain from those labors and business concerns which impede the worship to be rendered to God, the joy which is proper to the Lord’s Day, or the proper relaxation of mind and body” (Code of Canon Law, Can. 1247) 32 6: The First Three Commandments The Sabbath and Sunday Worship Sanctifying the Lord’s Day with Rest (cont.) • Hospitals, nursing homes, child care exempted • Elaborate meals, shopping, lawn care, car washed, children’s sports? • Silence, personal reflection, minimal commitments • Avoid activities that force others to work • Employers must ensure employees rest and opportunity to worship • Good works (incl. catechesis) sanctify the Lord’s Day 33 11

9/2/2019 6: The First Three Commandments 34 12