First Commandment (PDF)

I am the Lord your God. You shall not have other gods besides me.  First Comm a ndment The first commandment forms a unity with the two following commandments. The First table of the law consists of the three commandments of the Decalogue which set out our duties towards God arising f...

I am the Lord your God. You shall not have other gods besides me.  First Comm a ndment The first commandment forms a unity with the two following commandments. The First table of the law consists of the three commandments of the Decalogue which set out our duties towards God arising from His Oneness and Lordship.  First Comm a ndment The First Commandment is usually expressed: “I am the Lord your God. You shall not have other gods besides me.” Notice how the moral obligation (you shall not) is drawn directly from the reality (I am). Put positively, the Commandment enjoins: “The Lord, your God, shall you adore, Him shall you serve.”  First Comm a ndment In today’s idiom, it’s meaning could be expressed in a number ways: “Give God your Father His rightful place at the center of your lives. Live in faith, hope and love in God, the Father of all.”  First Comm a ndment This commandment is “first” not just because it heads the list, but because, together with is preamble, it is the most important. From it all the other commandments are derived and governed. To know and love God, and gratefully accepts His lordship, is the foundation of all Christian moral life.  Duty of Prayer and Worship Christ answered Satan’s final temptation with: “You shall do homage to the Lord your God, Him alone shall you adore.” The First Commandment in proclaiming the Lordship of the one true God, expresses this duty of worship.  Duty of Prayer and Worship Worship is the recognition of God’s Lordship expressed in filial devotion and service. To love and serve God in faith and hope is the first duty and privilege.  Duty of Prayer and Worship In a larger sense, the First Commandment fosters all the elements of the virtue of religion: adoration, prayer, sacrifices, religious vows, and grounds the basic human right to religious liberty.  Duty of Prayer and Worship Some charge us, Filipino Catholics, with praying more to Mary and the saints than to our Creator and Lord. We respond that the official prayer of the Church is directed to the worship of the Father, through Christ our Lord, in the Holy Spirit.  Duty of Prayer and Worship The veneration of Mary and the saints does not in any way detract this Church centered worship of God. For it is God’s own special grace which has made the saints worthy models for our imitation, drawing as closer to God, source of all holiness. 3 Levels of Reverence  Commands/Prohibits The First Commandment forbids any other god than the Lord. That any created thing should take the place of God and receive worship due to Him alone. It thus rules out all forms of idolatry which is the substitution of someone or something else for God.“ Idolatry is vividly portrayed in the biblical story of the Golden Calf. The calf or bull symbolizes the idols of biblical times: the sexual fertility in the cults of Baal and Astarte and the military power of the Egyptians for political power conquest. Today it can likewise stand for the modern idols of divinized economic power, possesions and wealth No man can serve two masters: You cannot give yourself to God and Money. Christ warns us, that what the First Commandment does, then is to repudiate all idolatrous obsession with wealth, human sexuality, politics, and personality cults. Idolatry and superstition are real temptations today. Enticements such as wealth, honor, success, power, sex, drugs, nation, race, are sometimes pursued with such single-minded enthusiasm that they themselves become the objects of worship in place of God. More serious are forms of magic, sorcery, witchcraft, satanism, astrology, fortune- telling, and all ways of seeking to manipulate events for self-interest, or discover hidden knowledge by means alien to God. Also, rejected are all forms of irreligious such as sacrilege (violating sacred places, things, persons).  No Carved Images God reserves for Himself alone the right to express and produce images of Himself. God created Adam in His own image. This is shown first by giving him a share in the divine dominion over creation and; secondly, by creating them “male and female” Thus, reflecting God’s own creative community of Father, Son, and spirit. But the perfect image of God is seen in the life and sufferings of Jesus Christ. It is Jesus alone who could answer Philip’s request “Show us the Father,” with “whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” But as embodied spirits, we experience and express the spiritual realities touching our lives in a physical, material way, through signs and symbols. Thus did Christ act and teach throughout his public ministry, using physical touch, bread and fish, wine and water, to bring God’s grace palpably present among the people. Therefore, the Gospel itself grounds the use of images in the service and worship of God. Yet we must recognize the ever present temptation from merely reminding us of God, the material image tends to gradually become a god, an idol. An image can either bring the reality it represents to mind, to avoid devotion and attention, or it can become a substitute for the reality itself, and thus be an object of Idolatry. Thus, the First Commandment forcefully reminds us that God, the Creator is infinitely beyond any of His creatures. Catholic Filipinos are attracted very much to images and statues of Christ, Mary, and patron Saints. These images can offer genuine aid in their worship of Christ and veneration of God. But in the Philippines today, many misunderstand the nature and function of venerating sacred images. They reject this practice as idolatry. Against such attacks, the Church firmly insists on the valuable help such images can offer for authentic Christian prayer. Nevertheless, the Church is equally insistent on the proper use of such images, avoiding any and all appearances of making the image into idols or treating them as endowed with some magical powers.  First Commandment Put God first: Our primary duty is to worship God. Idolatry is a form of disrespecting God and substituting His endless love for us. Images should cater us to the presence of God, not to be treated as a god. Jesus’ life and teachings are the perfect image of God. No images, concepts, or ideas can capture the reality of God.