Archbishop Nichols offers flowers on altar of Hindu gods.
Something is dreadfully wrong here - these are strange gods and not the one that we are supposed to have before us.
That is not "THE CATHOLIC FAITH!"
"ONE Lord, One Faith, ONE baptism." Ephesians 4:5
From the religion lesson of my 6 year old this morning:
Once more the devil tempted Jesus. He took the Savior onto a very high mountain and showed Him the big, beautiful world.
"All this will I give Thee if Thou wilt adore me," the devil said.
In holy anger Jesus cried out to him: "Go away, Satan! THE LORD THY GOD SHALT THOU ADORE, HIM ALONE SHALT THOU SERVE!"
Then the devil left Jesus. Behold! Angels came from heaven to serve Jesus. Jesus wanted to teach us that we must never do what is a sin, not even for everything in the world.
Source for the religion quote: Highway to Heaven Series, The Life of my Saviour, Book II, Imprimatur 1933
THE FIRST COMMANDMENT OF GOD
INSTRUCTION
The first commandment requires you to offer to God alone the supreme worship that is due Him. You worship God by acts of faith, hope, and charity, and by adoring Him and praying to Him.
Faith obliges you: (1) to make efforts to find out what God has revealed; (2) to believe firmly what God has revealed; (3) to profess your faith openly whenever necessary. A Catholic sins against faith by infidelity, apostasy, heresy, indifferentism, and by taking part in non-Catholic worship.
Hope obliges you to trust firmly that God will give you eternal life and the means to obtain it. The sins against hope are presumption and despair.
Charity obliges you to love God above all things because He is infinitely good, and to love your neighbor as yourself for the love of God. The chief sins against charity are hatred of God and of your neighbor, sloth, envy, and scandal.
In addition to sins against faith, hope, and charity, the first commandment forbids all superstition and sacrilege.
ST. POLYCARP
St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, was a disciple of St. John. In 167, persecution broke out in Smyrna. When Polycarp heard that his pursuers were at the door, he said, "The will of God be done." When he met them face to face, he begged to be left alone for a little time, which he spent in prayer for "the Catholic Church throughout the world."
Later the proconsul commanded him to sacrifice to the gods and to curse Christ if he wished to go free. Polycarp answered, "eighty-six years I have served Him, and He never did me wrong. How can I blaspheme my King and Saviour?"
When he refused to worship the gods, he was threatened fire, but the fire did not hurt him; so he was stabbed in heart, and his dead body was burned.
Application
St. Polycarp could have saved his life by denying the one true God and Jesus Christ His Son. But he worshiped no false gods. As far as you are concerned, you can make false gods for yourself when you worship riches, fame, worldly pleasures, or even yourself, and have no time for God and your soul. How different from St. Polycarp was the old lady in Genoa, Italy, who made a monument her god. She was an old fruit seller whose only ambition was to have a beautiful monument after her death. For this she scraped and saved all her life, and at the end of it she got her marble stone. The fruit of her whole life - her god - was a piece of stone.
Source: Catechism in Stories, Imprimatur 1956
RSS Feed