“For God
so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in
him may not perish but may have eternal life.”-John 3:16
Psalm
96, Verse 4
For
great is the LORD and highly to be praised, to be feared above all gods.
What are the “gods” that this
psalm eludes too? Doing some research we find those gods can be anything that
takes us away from He that is. This can be such things as power, money, sex,
drugs and rock and roll. It can also be any idea that is counter to the love of
God; such as “might make’s right” or “Womens choice”. One of the best ways to
praise He that is-is to follow His commandments then we will find we can do good
works with humility.
I am the LORD your God, who brought
you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no
other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any
likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath,
or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or
serve them.
2084 God makes himself known by recalling his all-powerful loving, and liberating action in the history of the one he addresses: "I brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." The first word contains the first commandment of the Law: "You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve him. . . . You shall not go after other gods."5 God's first call and just demand is that man accept him and worship him.
2085 The one and true God first reveals his glory to Israel. The revelation of the vocation and truth of man is linked to the revelation of God. Man's vocation is to make God manifest by acting in conformity with his creation "in the image and likeness of God":
There
will never be another God, Trypho, and there has been no other since the world
began . . . than he who made and ordered the universe. We do not
think that our God is different from yours. He is the same who brought your
fathers out of Egypt "by his powerful hand and his outstretched arm."
We do not place our hope in some other god, for there is none, but in the same
God as you do: the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
2088 The first commandment requires us to nourish and protect our faith with prudence and vigilance, and to reject everything that is opposed to it. There are various ways of sinning against faith:
Voluntary doubt about the faith disregards or refuses to hold as true what God has revealed and the Church proposes for belief.
Involuntary doubt refers to hesitation in believing, difficulty in overcoming objections connected with the faith, or also anxiety aroused by its obscurity. If deliberately cultivated doubt can lead to spiritual blindness.
2089 Incredulity is the neglect of revealed truth or the willful refusal to assent to it. "Heresy is the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with divine and catholic faith, or it is likewise an obstinate doubt concerning the same; apostasy is the total repudiation of the Christian faith; schism is the refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him."
2091 The first commandment is also concerned with sins against hope, namely, despair and presumption:
By despair, man ceases to hope for his personal salvation from God, for help in attaining it or for the forgiveness of his sins. Despair is contrary to God's goodness, to his justice - for the Lord is faithful to his promises - and to his mercy.
2092 There are two kinds of presumption. Either man presumes upon his own capacities, (hoping to be able to save himself without help from on high), or he presumes upon God's almighty power or his mercy (hoping to obtain his forgiveness without conversion and glory without merit).
2094 One can sin against God's love in various ways:
- indifference neglects or refuses to reflect on divine charity; it fails to consider its prevenient goodness and denies its power.
- ingratitude fails or refuses to acknowledge divine charity and to return him love for love.
- lukewarmness is hesitation or negligence in responding to divine love; it can imply refusal to give oneself over to the prompting of charity.
- acedia or spiritual sloth goes so far as to refuse the joy that comes from God and to be repelled by divine goodness.
- hatred of God comes from pride. It is contrary to love of God, whose goodness it denies, and whom it presumes to curse as the one who forbids sins and inflicts punishments.
Feast of St. Wenceslaus[1]
·
Throughout his life he preserved his virginity
unblemished.
·
As duke he was a father to his subjects,
generous toward orphans, widows, and the poor.
·
On his own shoulders he frequently carried wood
to the houses of the needy.
·
He often attended the funerals of the poor,
ransomed captives, and visited those suffering in prison.
·
He was filled with a deep reverence toward the
clergy; with his own hands he sowed the wheat for making altar breads and
pressed the grapes for the wine used in the Mass.
·
During winter he would visit the churches
barefoot through snow and ice, frequently leaving behind bloody footprints.
Things to Do
- Learn
more about Prague and the Czech Republic and St. Vitus Cathedral,
supposedly started by St. Wenceslas in the 10th century as a small chapel
to house relics of St. Vitus and where in the 14th century St. John
Nepomucene was buried after being executed for refusing to violate the
seal of the confessional.
- Teach
your children the Christmas carol, Good King Wenceslas and discuss
his life and virtue. If you can find a copy, a wonderful book with music
and illustrations is called Good King Wenceslas: A Legend in Music and
Pictures by Mary Reed Newland, published by Seabury Press, 1980.
- Read
about the Infant
Jesus of Prague and pray the chaplet.
- Bake
a loaf of bread for dinner and serve wine in honor of St. Wenceslas.
Daily Devotions/Prayers
·
Total Consecration Day
18
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