CATECHISM

Q. What is the First Commandment?
A. The first Commandment is, ‘I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt,
and out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt not have strange gods before me. Thou shalt not
make to thyself any graven thing, nor the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, nor in
the earth beneath, nor of those things that are in the waters under the earth. Thou shalt not
adore them nor serve them.
Strange gods. False gods or idols.
Graven. Carved or cut out, as an image.

Q. What are we commanded to do by the first Commandment?
A. By the first Commandment we are commanded to worship the one, true, and living God, by
Faith, Hope, Charity, and Religion.
Religion. As long as we live we must exercise the virtue of ‘Religion’, which consists in
giving to God the honour and service due to Him.

Q. What are the sins against Faith?
A. The sins against Faith are all false religions, wilful doubt, disbelief, or denial of any article of
Faith, and also culpable ignorance of the doctrines of the Church.
Culpable. Blameable, through one’s own fault.
False religions. Those religions which do not teach the truth. Disbelief. Not believing.
There are three kinds of disbelief or infidelity:
1. Paganism, or the state of those who are altogether without faith such as atheists,
who deny the existence of God; idolaters, who worship false gods; deists, who
believe in the existence of God, but deny His goodness and reject all revelation
2. Judaism, or the religious system of the Jews.
3. Heresy, or the denial of one or more articles of faith by one who has been baptised
and has professed the Christian religion.

Q. How do we expose ourselves to the danger of losing our Faith?
A. We expose ourselves to the danger of losing our Faith by neglecting our spiritual duties,
reading bad books and writings, going to non-Catholic schools.

Q. What are the sins against Hope?
A. The sins against Hope are despair and presumption.
Despair. Want of confidence in God, or distrusting God’s goodness and His promises to
us; Cain and Judas were guilty of this sin.
Presumption. A foolish expectation that God will give us salvation even if we do not
make use of the proper means to obtain it.

Q. What are the chief sins against Religion?
A. The chief sins against Religion are the worship of false gods or idols, and the giving to any
creature whatsoever the honour which belongs to God alone.
Worship. To adore, to honour, to respect. There are three kinds of worship:
1. Latria, or supreme, paid to God only.
2. Hyper-dulia, or superior, given to the Blessed Virgin.
3. Dulia, or ordinary, given to the Saints and Angels.

Q. Does the first Commandment forbid the making of images?
A. The first Commandment does not forbid the making of images, but the making of idols; that is,
it forbids us to make idols to be adored or honoured as gods.
Idols. Images of persons of things to which is given that worship which should be paid to
God alone. Worshipping idols is called idolatry.

Q. Does the first Commandment forbid dealing with the devil and superstitious practices?
A. The first Commandment forbids all dealing with the devil and superstitious practices, such as
consulting spiritualists and fortune-tellers, and trusting to charms, omens, dreams, and such
like fooleries.
Dealing with the devil. Seeking after hidden or unknown things by the help of the devil.
Superstitious practices. Habits of giving to certain things a power which they do not or
cannot possess.
Fortune tellers. Persons who pretend that they are able to tell us what will happen in the
future.
Charms. Things worn which are thought to have the power of keeping away evil or
bringing good.
Omens. Signs supposed to foretell what is to come.
Dreams. Thoughts or fancies during sleep.

Q. Are all sins of sacrilege and simony also forbidden by the first Commandment?
A. All sins of sacrilege and simony are also forbidden by the first Commandment.
Sacrilege. To treat with disrespect or irreverence any person, place or thing set apart or
dedicated to the service of God.
Simony. Selling any sacred office or thing, for gain. Simon Magus Offered money to the
Apostles to give him the sacred power which they possessed (Acts 8)

Q. Is it forbidden to give divine honour or worship to the Angels and Saints?
A. It is forbidden to give divine honour or worship to the Angels and Saints, for this belongs to
God alone.

Q. What kind of honour or worship should we give to the Angels and Saints?
A. We should pay to the Angels and Saints an inferior honour or worship, for this is due to them
as the servants and special friends of God.
 
Q. What honour should we give to relics, crucifixes, and holy pictures?
A. We should give to relics, crucifixes, and holy pictures a relative honour, as they relate to Christ
and his Saints, and are memorials of them.
Relics. The bodies of the Saints, or anything that has belonged to them.
Crucifix. The representation of our Lord on the cross.
Relative. Being connected with or belonging to anything. We honour holy pictures,
images, etc., on account of those they represent.
Memorial. That which serves to keep in the memory, a remembrance.

Q. Do we pray to relics and images?
A. We do not pray to relics or images, for they can neither see, nor hear, nor help us.