Chapter II — On the Commandments concerning God

§ 1. On the first commandment

1. Why is it said at the beginning: I am the Lord thy God?

At the beginning of the Commandments it is said: "I am the Lord thy God," that we may know that God, being our Creator and Lord, can command what He wills, and we, His creatures, are bound to obey Him.

2. What does God command us with the words of the first commandment: Thou shalt not have other gods before Me?

With the words of the first commandment, "Thou shalt not have other gods before Me," God commands us to acknowledge, adore, love, and serve Him alone, as our supreme Lord.

3. How is the first commandment fulfilled?

The first commandment is fulfilled by the exercise of internal and external worship.

4. What is internal worship?

Internal worship is the honor that is rendered to God with the faculties of the spirit alone, that is, with the mind and the will.

5. What is external worship?

External worship is the homage that is rendered to God by means of exterior acts and sensible objects.

6. Is it not enough to adore God only internally with the heart?

No, it is not enough to adore God only internally with the heart; we must also adore Him externally, with the spirit together with the body, because He is the Creator and absolute Lord of both.

7. Can external worship exist without internal worship?

No, external worship cannot in any way exist without internal worship, because the former, unaccompanied by the latter, remains without life, without merit, and without effect, like a body without a soul.

8. What does the first commandment forbid us?

The first commandment forbids us idolatry, superstition, sacrilege, heresy, and every other sin against religion.

9. What is idolatry?

Idolatry is called the giving to some creature, for example to a statue, an image, or a man, the supreme worship of adoration due to God alone.

10. How is this prohibition expressed in Sacred Scripture?

In Sacred Scripture this prohibition is expressed with the words: "Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or on the earth beneath. Thou shalt not adore such things, nor render them worship."

11. Do these words forbid every kind of image?

Certainly not; but only those of false divinities, made for the purpose of adoration, as the idolaters did. So true is this that God Himself commanded Moses to make some, such as the two statues of the cherubim on the ark, and the bronze serpent in the desert.

12. What is superstition?

Superstition is called any devotion contrary to the doctrine and usage of the Church, as also the attributing to an action or to anything whatever a supernatural power that it does not have.

13. What is sacrilege?

Sacrilege is the profanation of a place, a person, or a thing consecrated to God and destined for His worship.

14. What is heresy?

Heresy is a culpable error of the intellect, by which one pertinaciously denies some truth of the faith.

15. What other things does the first commandment forbid?

The first commandment also forbids us any dealings with the devil and joining anti-Christian sects.

16. Would one who has recourse to the devil or invokes him commit a grave sin?

One who has recourse to the devil or invokes him would commit an enormous sin, because the devil is the most perverse enemy of God and of man.

17. Is it lawful to question the so-called speaking or writing tables, or in any way to consult the souls of the departed by means of spiritism?

All the practices of spiritism are unlawful, because they are superstitious, and often not free from diabolical intervention, and therefore they have been justly forbidden by the Church.

18. Does the first commandment perhaps forbid us to honor and invoke the Angels and the Saints?

No, it is not forbidden to honor and invoke the Angels and the Saints; on the contrary, we must do so, because it is a good and useful thing, highly recommended by the Church, since they are the friends of God and our intercessors with Him.

19. Since Jesus Christ is our only Mediator with God, why do we also have recourse to the mediation of the Most Holy Mary and of the Saints?

Jesus Christ is our Mediator with God in this sense: that, being true God and true Man, He alone, by virtue of His own merits, has reconciled us with God and obtains for us all graces. The Virgin then and the Saints, by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ and by the charity that unites them to God and to us, help us by their intercession to obtain the graces we ask. And this is one of the great goods of the communion of Saints.

20. May we also honor the sacred images of Jesus Christ and of the Saints?

Yes, because the honor that is rendered to the sacred images of Jesus Christ and of the Saints is referred to their very persons.

21. And may the relics of the Saints be honored?

Yes, the relics of the Saints are also to be honored, because their bodies were living members of Jesus Christ and temples of the Holy Spirit, and shall rise gloriously to eternal life.

22. What difference is there between the worship we render to God and the worship we render to the Saints?

Between the worship we render to God and the worship we render to the Saints there is this difference: that we adore God for His infinite excellence, while we do not adore the Saints, but honor and venerate them as friends of God and our intercessors with Him. The worship that is rendered to God is called latria, that is, of adoration; and the worship that is rendered to the Saints is called dulia, that is, of veneration of the servants of God; and the particular worship which we render to the Most Holy Mary is called hyperdulia, that is, of most special veneration, since she is the Mother of God.

§ 2. On the second commandment

23. What does the second commandment — Thou shalt not take the name of God in vain — forbid us?

The second commandment, "Thou shalt not take the name of God in vain," forbids us: 1. to take the name of God without reverence; 2. to blaspheme against God, against the Most Holy Virgin, and against the Saints; 3. to make false oaths, or unnecessary oaths, or oaths unlawful in any way.

24. What does it mean to take the name of God without reverence?

To take the name of God without reverence means to pronounce this holy name and all that refers in a special way to God Himself, such as the name of Jesus, of Mary, and of the Saints, in anger, in jest, or in any other irreverent way.

25. What is blasphemy?

Blasphemy is a horrible sin which consists in words or acts of contempt or of malediction against God, the Virgin, the Saints, or against holy things.

26. Is there a difference between blasphemy and imprecation?

There is a difference, because by blasphemy one curses, or wishes evil to, God, our Lady, or the Saints; while by imprecation one curses or wishes evil to oneself or to one's neighbor.

27. What is an oath?

An oath is the calling of God to witness the truth of what is said or promised.

28. Is swearing always forbidden?

Swearing is not always forbidden, but is lawful, and even honorable to God, when there is necessity and when the oath is made with truth, with judgment, and with justice.

29. When does one not swear with truth?

When one affirms by oath what one knows, or believes, to be false, and when one promises by oath to do what one has no intention of carrying out.

30. When does one not swear with judgment?

When one swears without prudence and without mature consideration, or for matters of little importance.

31. When does one not swear with justice?

When one swears to do something that is not just or lawful, such as taking revenge, stealing, and similar things.

32. Are we obliged to keep an oath to do unjust or unlawful things?

Not only are we not obliged, but we would sin in doing them, because they are forbidden by the law of God or of the Church.

33. What sin does one commit who swears falsely?

One who swears falsely commits a mortal sin, because he gravely dishonors God, who is infinite truth, by calling Him to witness what is false.

34. What does the second commandment order us?

The second commandment orders us to honor the holy name of God and to fulfill, besides oaths, also vows.

35. What is a vow?

A vow is a promise made to God of something good and possible for us and better than its opposite, to which we bind ourselves as if it had been commanded of us.

36. If the observance of a vow should prove, in whole or in part, very difficult, what should one do?

One can ask for commutation or dispensation from one's own Bishop, or from the Supreme Pontiff, according to the nature of the vow.

37. Is it a sin to violate vows?

To violate vows is a sin, and therefore we must not make vows without mature reflection and, ordinarily, without the counsel of a confessor or of another prudent person, lest we expose ourselves to the danger of sinning.

38. May vows be made to our Lady and to the Saints?

Vows are made only to God; one can, however, promise God to do something in honor of our Lady or of the Saints.

§ 3. On the third commandment

39. What does the third commandment — Remember to keep holy the feast days — order us?

The third commandment, "Remember to keep holy the feast days," orders us to honor God by works of worship on the feast days.

40. Which are the feast days?

In the old law they were the sabbaths and other particularly solemn days for the Hebrew people; in the new law they are the Sundays and other festivals established by the Church.

41. Why, in the new law, is Sunday kept holy instead of Saturday?

Sunday, which means the day of the Lord, was substituted for Saturday because on that day Jesus Christ our Lord rose again.

42. What work of worship is commanded us on the feast days?

We are commanded to assist devoutly at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

43. By what other works does a good Christian keep the feast days holy?

A good Christian keeps the feast days holy: 1. by attending Christian Doctrine, sermons, and the divine offices; 2. by frequently receiving, with the due dispositions, the sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist; 3. by exercising himself in prayer and in works of Christian charity toward his neighbor.

44. What does the third commandment forbid us?

The third commandment forbids us servile works and any work that hinders us from the worship of God.

45. Which are the servile works forbidden on feast days?

The servile works forbidden on feast days are the works called manual, that is, those material labors in which the body has a greater part than the spirit; such as those which are ordinarily done by servants, workmen, and artisans.

46. What sin is committed by working on a feast day?

By working on a feast day mortal sin is committed; the brevity of the time occupied, however, excuses from grave guilt.

47. Is there no servile work that is permitted on feast days?

On feast days are permitted those works which are necessary to life, or for the service of God; and those which are done for a grave reason, asking permission, if possible, of one's own parish priest.

48. For what end are servile works forbidden on feast days?

Servile works are forbidden on feast days so that we may better attend to divine worship and to the salvation of our soul, and rest from our labors. For this reason, some honest recreation is not forbidden.

49. What other things must we above all avoid on feast days?

On feast days we must above all avoid sin and all that may lead us to sin, such as dangerous amusements and gatherings.