Last week, we had the first of six lessons on the Ten Commandments, and this week, Lesson Thirtieth of the Baltimore Catechism No. 2 is the first of two lessons devoted to the First Commandment.
The First Commandment is the one on which all others are based. Acknowledging God as the source of our life and ordering our life to Him is the first requirement for living morally. When we place anything else above God, we lose sight of that which is most important, and our actions will reflect our new priorities. Thus, the command that "thou shalt not have strange gods before Me" means more than simply worshiping other gods; it includes placing creatures or possessions above God Himself.
Our proper relationship to God is one of faith, hope, and love—the three theological virtues. Thus, sinning against those virtues—by, for instance, not believing what God has taught or not professing our faith when called upon to do so—is also a sin against the First Commandment.
The two great sins against hope, presumption and despair, are all too common in the modern world. Presumption is assuming that we are saved and therefore need to do little or nothing to obtain salvation. The belief of some Christians that "once saved, always saved" leads easily to the sin of presumption.
Despair, on the other hand, is the loss of hope, the belief that we are beyond God's mercy and forgiveness. It can lead to the neglect of the sacraments, especially the Sacrament of Confession and the Sacrament of Holy Communion, and the continuation of a life of sin.
Understanding that God sustains us and that He desires our salvation is the proper antidote to despair. Remembering that we have free will, and that we are called to use it by conforming our lives to Christ, will keep us safe from presumption.
Lesson Thirtieth from the Confirmation Catechism has 16 questions. Note that the lesson begins with Question 315, continuing with the numbering from Lesson Twenty-Ninth.
The parallel lesson this week in the First Communion Catechism is Lesson Twenty-Sixth. It includes 9 questions drawn from Lesson Thirtieth of the Confirmation Catechism.
Check out this week's lesson, and if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments or ask them in the Catholicism Forum!
Previous Lessons in Sunday School:- Welcome to Sunday School!
- On God and His Perfections
- On the Unity and Trinity of God
- On Creation
- On Our First Parents and the Fall
- On Sin and Its Kinds
- On the Incarnation and Redemption
- On Our Lord's Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension
- On the Holy Ghost and His Descent Upon the Apostles
- On the Effects of the Redemption
- On the Church
- On the Attributes and Marks of the Church
- On the Sacraments in General
- On Baptism
- On Confirmation
- On the Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Ghost
- On the Sacrament of Penance
- On Contrition
- On Confession
- On the Manner of Making a Good Confession
- On Indulgences
- On the Holy Eucharist
- On the Ends for Which the Holy Eucharist Was Instituted
- On the Sacrifice of the Mass
- On Extreme Unction and Holy Orders
- On Matrimony
- On the Sacramentals
- On Prayer
- On the Commandments of God