315. Q. What is the first Commandment?
A. The first Commandment is: I am the Lord thy God: thou shalt not have strange gods before Me.
316. Q. How does the first Commandment help us to keep the great Commandment of the love of God?
A. The first Commandment helps us to keep the great Commandment of the love of God because it commands us to adore God alone.
317. Q. How do we adore God?
A. We adore God by faith, hope, and charity, by prayer and sacrifice.
318. Q. How may the first Commandment be broken?
A. The first Commandment may be broken by giving to a creature the honor which belongs to God alone; by false worship; and by attributing to a creature a perfection which belongs to God alone.
319. Q. Do those who make use of spells and charms, or who believe in dreams, in mediums, spiritists, fortune-tellers, and the like, sin against the first Commandment?
A. Those who make use of spells and charms, or who believe in dreams, in mediums, spiritists, fortunetellers and the like, sin against the first Commandment, because they attribute to creatures perfections which belong to God alone.
320. Q. Are sins against faith, hope and charity also sins against the first Commandment?
A. Sins against faith, hope, and charity are also sins against the first Commandment.
321. Q. How does a person sin against faith?
A. A person sins against faith:
- by not trying to know what God has taught;
- by refusing to believe all that God has taught;
- by neglecting to profess his belief in what God has taught.
322. Q. How do we fail to try to know what God has taught?
A. We fail to try to know what God has taught by neglecting to learn the Christian doctrine.
323. Q. Who are they who do not believe all that God has taught?
A. They who do not believe all that God has taught are the heretics and infidels.
324. Q. Who are they who neglect to profess their belief in what-God has taught?
A. They who neglect to profess their belief in what God has taught are all those who fail to acknowledge the true Church in which they really believe.
325. Q. Can they who fail to profess their faith in the true Church in which they believe expect to be saved while in that state?
A. They who fail to profess their faith in the true Church in which they believe cannot expect to be saved while in that state, for Christ has said: " Whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven."
326. Q. Are we obliged to make open profession of our faith?
A. We are obliged to make open profession of our faith as often as God's honor, our neighbor's spiritual good, or our own requires it. "Whosoever," says Christ, "shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven."
327. Q. Which are the sins against hope?
A. The sins against hope are presumption and despair.
328. Q. What is presumption?
A. Presumption is a rash expectation of salvation without making proper use of the necessary means to obtain it.
329. Q. What is despair?
A. Despair is the loss of hope in God's mercy.
