"Spells" are certain words, the saying of which persons believe will

effect for them something wonderful--a miraculous cure, for instance, or

protection from some evil. "Charms" are articles worn about the body for

the same purpose. They may be little black beans, little stones of a

certain shape, the teeth of animals, etc. In uncivilized countries the

inhabitants use many of these charms. But you may ask, Are not these

medals, scapulars, etc., that we wear, also charms? No. These things are

blessed and worn in honor of God, of His Blessed Mother, or of the

saints. We do not expect any help from the little piece of brass or

cloth we wear, but from those in whose honor we wear it, and from the

prayers said in the blessing for those who wear it. But they who wear

charms expect the help from the thing itself, which makes their conduct

foolish and sinful, since God alone can protect from evil. Again, such

things as medals, crosses, and scapulars are blessed by the Church and

worn by its consent, and it could never allow all its children to do a

sinful thing. It is good and praiseworthy, therefore, to wear the

blessed sacramentals in God's honor; but even with these holy things we

must be careful not to go too far. It is true the Blessed Virgin will

protect those who wear her scapular; but it would be sinful willfully to

expose ourselves to danger without any necessity, because we wear a

scapular. Thus it would be suicide for a boy who could not swim to

plunge into deep water because, having his scapulars on, the Blessed

Virgin ought to save him by a miracle. Again, it is wrong to look for

miracles from God when natural help will answer. Thus it would be wrong

for a man who broke his leg to refuse to have the doctors set it,

because he wanted God alone to heal it. "Dreams" are caused by the mind

being at work while the body is sleeping or at rest. The mind never

sleeps; it is always awake and working. Thus when we are asleep the

imagination, without the reason to guide it, mixes together a number of

things we have seen, heard, or thought of, and gives us strange scenes

and pictures. Sometimes what we dream of seems to happen; but that is

only because we dream so much that it would be strange if none of the

things ever happened. We will generally dream about whatever was on our

mind shortly before. We read in the Holy Scriptures that God at times

made known His will to certain persons by dreams; as when the king of

Egypt dreamt of the great famine that was to come; or when the angel

appeared in sleep to St. Joseph, telling him to take Our Lord into

Egypt, where Herod the king could not kill him. (Matt. 2).

The dreams mentioned in the Holy Scripture were more frequently visions

than dreams. In a vision the things we see are really present, whereas

in dreams they are not, but we imagine they are. God no longer makes use

of dreams as a means of communicating with His creatures, because His

Church will make known to us His will. He sometimes, however, makes

known certain things to His holy servants on earth in a very special and

private manner: as, for example, when Our Lord appeared to Saint

Margaret Mary and told her He would like to have the devotion to the

Sacred Heart established. We must always believe what the Church tells

us God has made known to it; but when holy people tell us that God

revealed special things to them, we are not obliged to believe what they

say, unless the Church confirms it. I say we are not obliged--that is,

we may if we please; but we would not be heretics and commit sin if we

did not believe all the revelations and wonderful things we find

recorded in the lives of saints, though they may all be true.

"Mediums and spiritists" are persons who pretend they can talk with the

dead in the other world, and learn where they are and what they are

doing. They have figures to move and apparently speak, and other

contrivances to deceive those who confide in them. Their work is all

deception and very sinful. If any of these things could be done, or if

God wished them to be known, He would give the power to the Church

founded by His divine Son, and not to a few sinful men or women here and

there. After a soul leaves the body its fate is hidden from us, and we

can say nothing with absolute certainty of its reward or punishment. No

one ever came back from the other world to give a minute account of its

general appearance or of what takes place there. All that is known about

it the Church knows and tells us, and all over and above that is false

or doubtful. By thinking a little you can see how all these dealings

with fortune tellers, etc., are giving to creatures what belongs 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, first, by not trying to know what God

has taught; second, by refusing to believe all that God has taught;

third, by neglecting to profess his belief in what God has taught.

"Not trying to know." Thus children who idle their time at Sunday school

or religious instruction, and do not learn their Catechism, sin against

faith in the first way. In like manner grown persons who do not sometime

or other endeavor to hear sermons or instructions, to attend missions or

learn from good books, sin against faith. "Refusing to believe," as all

those do who leave the true religion, or who, knowing it, do not embrace

it. "Neglecting to profess." We may do this by not living up to the

practice of our holy religion. We believe, for example, we should hear

Mass every Sunday and holy day; we should receive the Sacraments at

certain times in the year; but if we only believe these things and do

not do them, we neglect to profess our faith, neglect to show others

that we really believe all the Church teaches, and are anxious to

practice it. Many know and believe what they should do, but never

practice it. Such persons do great injury to the Church, for persons who

do not live up to their holy religion but act contrary to its teaching

give scandal to their neighbor. How many persons at present not

Catholics would be induced to enter the true Church if they saw all

Catholics virtuous, truthful, sober, honest, upright, and industrious!

But when they see Catholics--be they ever so few--cursing, quarrelling,

backbiting, drinking, lying, stealing, cheating, etc.--in a word,

indulging in the same vices as those who claim to have no religion, what

must they think of the moral influence of Catholic faith? Thus they do

great injustice to the Church and the cause of religion, and are working

against our Blessed Lord when they should be working for Him.

The Christian religion spread very rapidly through the world in the

first ages of its existence; and one of the chief reasons was the good

example given by the Christians; for pagans seeing the holy lives, the

kindness and charity of their Christian neighbors, could not help

admiring and loving them, and wishing to be members of the Church that

made them so good and amiable. How many pagans do you think would be

converted nowadays by the lives of some who call themselves Catholics?

Not many, I think. Besides this, the early Christians really labored to

instruct others in the Christian religion, and to make them converts.

Often we find servants--even slaves--by their instructions converting

their pagan masters and mistresses. They all felt that they were

missionaries working for Jesus Christ, and their influence reached where

the priest's influence could not reach, because they came in contact

with persons the priests never had an opportunity of seeing. If all

Catholics had the same spirit, what good they could do! Their business

or duty may often bring them into daily intercourse with persons not of

their faith, and who never knew or perhaps heard any of the beautiful

truths of our holy religion. Yes, Catholics could do much good if they

had only the good will and knew their religion well. I do not mean that

they should be always discussing religion with everyone they meet. Let

them preach chiefly by the example of their own good lives, and when

questioned explain modestly and sincerely the truths they believe.

If you should be asked, for instance: Why do you not eat flesh-meat on

Friday? you should be able to answer: "Because I am a Christian and wish

to keep always before my mind how our Blessed Lord suffered for me in

His holy flesh on that day; and anyone who claims to be a Christian,

ought, I think, to be glad to do what reminds him so regularly and well

of Our Lord's Passion." Such an answer if given kindly and mildly would

silence and instruct your adversary; it might make him reflect, and

might, in time, bring him to the true religion. Sometimes a few words

make a great impression and bring about conversion. St. Francis Xavier

was a worldly young man, learned and ambitious, and he heard from St.

Ignatius these words of Our Lord: "What doth it profit a man if he gain

the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul?" He went home and

kept thinking of them till they impressed him so strongly that he gave

up the world, became a priest and by his labors and preaching in India,

converted to the true religion many thousand pagans. In the lives of the

saints there are many examples of a few words, by God's grace, bringing

men from a life of sin to a life of great holiness.

*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.

There are many kinds of unbelievers: atheists, deists, infidels,

heretics, apostates, and schismatics. An atheist is one who denies the

existence of God, saying there is no God. A deist is one who says he

believes God exists, but denies that God ever revealed any religion.

These are also called freethinkers. An infidel properly means one who

has never been baptized--one who is not of the number of the faithful;

that is, those believing in Christ. Sometimes atheists are called

infidels. Heretics are those who were baptized and who claim to be

Christians, but do not believe all the truths that Our Lord has taught.

They accept only a portion of the doctrine of Christ and reject the

remainder, and hence they become rebellious children of the Church. They

belong to the true Church by being baptized, but do not submit to its

teaching and are therefore outcast children, disinherited till they

return to the true faith. A schismatic is one who believes everything

the Church teaches, but will not submit to the authority of its

head--the Holy Father. Such persons do not long remain only schismatics;

for once they rise up against the authority of the Church, they soon

reject some of its doctrines and thus become heretics; and indeed, since

Vatican Council I, all schismatics are heretics.

*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.

There are some outside the Church who feel and believe that the Catholic

Church is the true Church, and yet they do not become Catholics, because

there are so many difficulties in the way. For example, they have been

brought up in another religion, and all their friends, relatives, or

associates are opposed to the Catholic religion. Their business, their

social life, their worldly interests will all suffer if they become

Catholics. So, although they feel they should at once embrace the true

religion, they keep putting off till death comes and finds them outside

the Church--and most probably guilty of other mortal sins. Such persons

cannot be saved, for they reject all the graces God bestows upon them. A

very common fault with such people is to excuse this conduct by saying:

Oh! I was brought up in the Protestant religion, and everyone ought to

live in the religion in which he was brought up. Let me ask: If persons

were brought up with some bodily deformity that their parents neglected

to have remedied while they were young, would they not use every means

themselves to have the deformity removed as soon as they became old

enough to see and understand their misfortune? In like manner, if

unfortunately parents bring up their children in a false religion--that

is, with spiritual deformities, it is the duty of the children to

embrace the true religion as soon as they know it. Again persons will

say: Oh, I believe one religion as good as another; we are all

Christians, and all trying to serve God. If one religion is as good as

another, why did not Our Lord allow the old religions--false or true--to

remain? If one man says a thing is black and another says it is white,

they cannot both be right, for a thing cannot be black and white at the

same time. Only one can be right; and, if we are anxious about the color

of the object, we must try to find which one is right. Just in the same

way all the religions that claim to be Christian contradict one another;

one says a thing is false and another says it is true: one says Our Lord

taught so and so and another says He did not. Now since it is very

important for us to know which is right, we must find out which is

really the Church Our Lord established; and when we have found it we

will know that all the other pretended Christian religions must be

false. Our Lord has given us marks by which we can know His Church, as

we saw while speaking of the marks of the Church; and the Roman Catholic

Church is the only Church that has all these marks. We say that we are

Roman Catholics to show that we are in communion with the Church of

Rome, established by St. Peter, the chief of the Apostles.

*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."

It is not necessary for us to proclaim in the streets that we are

Catholics; neither need we tell our religion to impudent people that may

ask us only to insult us; but when a real need of professing our faith

presents itself, then we must profess it. Suppose you are stopping in a

hotel in which you are the only Catholic. If flesh-meat is placed before

you on a Friday in Lent you must quietly push it aside and ask for fish

or other food; although by so doing you will show that you are a

Catholic and make a silent profession of your faith. God's honor and

your own good require it, for you must keep the laws of God and of His

Church on every possible occasion. Suppose again there were in the same

hotel some indifferent Catholics, socially your equals or inferiors, who

through human respect were ashamed to go to Mass on Sunday; then you

should publicly go to Mass and even declare that you must go, for by so

doing you would encourage these indifferent Catholics to follow your

example. In that case your neighbor's good requires that you profess

your faith. In a word, you must keep up the practice of your religion

even if by so doing you have to make an open profession of your faith

and suffer for it. But suppose it is something that God or the Church

does not command you to do but only recommends, such as blessing

yourself before meals or some pious practice, you could in public omit

such an action if you pleased without any sin or denial of faith,

because you violate no law.

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.

A person who goes on leading a bad life, and says when warned of his

danger that he is in no hurry to reform, that he will repent some day

before he dies, is always living in and committing the sin of

presumption. It is a great sin, for it is living in open defiance of

Almighty God. Such persons are very seldom given the opportunity to

repent at the last moment, and are, in most cases, called to judgment

when they least expect it. We are all presumptuous sometimes. Do we not

often, when we have fallen into a certain sin, easily repeat the act,

saying to ourselves, now that we will have to confess the sin committed,

the mention of the number of times will not make such difference for it

will not increase our shame and confusion? This is presumption; for we

do not know whether God will ever give us the opportunity of making a

confession. Again, one mortal sin is sufficient to keep our souls in

Hell for all eternity; what then will be our punishment for many mortal

sins? Then there is another thing you should remember: God has fixed a

certain number of sins that He will suffer you to commit before He sends

His punishment. You do not know which sin will complete the number and

be the last. The very sin you are now about to commit may be that one,

and the moment you have committed it, God will call you to judgment,

whether it be night or day, whether you are at home or in the

streets--though perhaps not immediately, but before you commit another

sin. Such a thought alone should keep you from sinning. Moreover, after

confession you strongly resist the first temptation to mortal sin, but

after you have yielded to the first you scarcely make any more

resistance, but easily yield again and again. You should therefore, to

prevent this, go to confession just as soon as you possibly can after

falling into mortal sin. It is bad enough to commit mortal sin, but it

is terrible to be living in that state day and night--always an enemy of

God--losing the merit of all the works you do and yet you must stay in

that state of sin till you go to confession and receive absolution.

Peter the Apostle committed the sin of presumption. (Matt. 26). Our Lord

told him to watch and pray for he would be tempted and yield that night,

but Peter said: "No Lord, I will never deny Thee." Instead of begging

Our Lord's help and grace, he trusted to himself and fell miserably into

sin. He went into dangerous company and that was another cause of his

fall. But afterwards he saw his sin and folly and never ceased to repent

of it.

329 Q. What is despair?

A. Despair is the loss of hope in God's mercy.

Despair is a sin because by it you deny that God is infinitely

merciful--that He is merciful enough to forgive even your many and great

sins if you are truly sorry for them. Judas committed the sin of

despair. After he had betrayed Our Lord, he went and hanged himself,

thus committing, besides the sin of betraying his divine Master, two

other great sins; namely, despair in God's mercy and suicide. If he had

gone to Our Lord and confessed his sin, and implored pardon and promised

penance, can we doubt that He would have forgiven even Judas, as He

forgave Peter, and those that crucified Him, praying that His Father

might not punish them for their sins? Therefore, no matter what sins you

have committed, never lose confidence in God's mercy. See how Our Lord

pardoned the thief on the cross and Mary Magdalen and other sinners. Be

sorry for your sins, and God will hear your prayers. Call upon the

Blessed Virgin, your patron saint, and guardian angel to help you, and

ask others, especially good persons, to pray for you.

*330 Q. How do we sin against the love of God?

A. We sin against the love of God by all sin, but particularly by mortal

sin.

Lesson 31

THE FIRST COMMANDMENT--ON THE HONOR AND INVOCATION OF SAINTS

331 Q. Does the First Commandment forbid the honoring of the saints?

A. The First Commandment does not forbid the honoring of the saints, but

rather approves of it; because by honoring the saints, who are the

chosen friends of God, we honor God Himself.

Think of the many helps God gives us to save our souls: an angel to be

always with us upon earth; a saint always praying for us in Heaven, and

besides these all the graces, the Sacraments, the Masses, the prayers,

etc. If then we lose our soul, surely we cannot say, God did not give us

sufficient help. "Invocation" means calling upon them to help us.

Everyone is pleased when his friends are honored. Who is not glad to

hear his parents praised or see them respected? By praying to the

saints, instead of dishonoring God--as Protestants say we do--we really

honor Him more than by praying directly to Himself We show that we

believe in His great dignity, His awful majesty and our own nothingness.

If a poor person wanted to obtain a favor from the President of the

United States, would he go directly to the President himself? No. He

would find someone who had influence with the President, and ask him to

obtain the favor. Why, the very persons that say we should not use the

influence of saints do themselves use the influence of others to obtain

favors. They never go to an enemy of the one from whom they desire the

favor, but to some of his friends, knowing that a person will often

grant a favor for a friend's sake that he would not grant for the sake

of others. Now we do exactly the same when we pray to the saints. They

are the special friends of God. They fasted, prayed, preached, labored,

or suffered death for His honor and glory. He showed them great favors

while they were upon earth. He performed miracles at their request. Will

He deny them now, when they are always present with Him in Heaven--where

they could not possibly sin? He loves to grant them favors; and, as they

do not need any for themselves, He grants them for others through their

intercession. Again men are honored by the praises of their fellowman. A

great general is honored by having all his countrymen praise him; so,

too, God wants His saints honored, for their great spiritual deeds, by

the praise of the children of the Church. God is not annoyed by being

asked for favors. Nothing can trouble Him, for all is done by an act of

His will. He loses nothing by giving, for He is infinite. By praying to

the saints for help we confess that we are too unworthy to present

ourselves to God and address Him--to come before His awful Majesty, and

that we will wait here in the humble attitude of prayer while you, holy

saints, His dearest friends, go into His presence and ask for us the

favors and graces we require.

332 Q. Does the First Commandment forbid us to pray to the saints?

A. The First Commandment does not forbid us to pray to the saints.

We do not pray to them as to God. We never say to them, "Give us this or

that," but always, "Obtain it for us." In all the litanies you cannot

find one petition where we say, even to the Blessed Virgin: "Have mercy

on us," but, "Pray for us," or, "Intercede for us."

333 Q. What do we mean by praying to the saints?

A. By praying to the saints we mean the asking of their help and

prayers.

*334 Q. How do we know that the saints hear us?

A. We know that the saints hear us, because they are with God, who makes

our prayers known to them.

*335 Q. Why do we believe that the saints will help us?

A. We believe that the saints will help us because both they and we are

members of the same Church, and they love us as their brethren.

*336 Q. How are the saints and we members of the same Church?

A. The saints and we are members of the same Church, because the Church

in Heaven and the Church on earth are one and the same Church, and all

its members are in communion with one another.

*337 Q. What is the communion of the members of the Church called?

A. The communion of the members of the Church is called the communion of

saints.

*338 Q. What does the communion of saints mean?

A. The communion of saints means the union which exists between the

members of the Church on earth with one another and with the blessed in

Heaven and with the suffering souls in Purgatory.

*339 Q. What benefits are derived from the communion of saints?

A. The following benefits are derived from the communion of saints: the

faithful on earth assist one another by their prayers and good works,

and they are aided by the intercession of the saints in Heaven, while

both the saints in Heaven and the faithful on earth help the souls in

Purgatory.

340 Q. Does the First Commandment forbid us to honor relics?

A. The First Commandment does not forbid us to honor relics, because

relics are the bodies of the saints or objects directly connected with

them or with Our Lord.

"Relic" means a thing left. Relics are pieces of the body--bones, etc.

Pieces of saints' clothing, writing, etc., are also called relics.

Pieces of the True Cross, the nails that pierced Christ's hands, etc.,

are relics of Our Lord's Passion. We have no relic of Our Lord's Body

because He took it into Heaven with Him when He ascended. All relics of

the saints must be examined at Rome, by those whom the Holy Father has

appointed for that work. They must be marked and accompanied by the

testimony of the Cardinals, or others who examined them, to show that

they are true relics. It would be superstitious to use anything as a

relic unless we were sure of its being genuine.

341 Q. Does the First Commandment forbid the making of images?

A. The First Commandment does forbid the making of images if they are

made to be adored as gods, but it does not forbid the making of them to

put us in mind of Jesus Christ, His Blessed Mother, and the saints.

Protestants and others say that Catholics break the First Commandment by

having images in their churches, because the First Commandment says:

"Thou shalt not make graven images or the likeness of anything upon the

earth," etc. Now, if that is exactly what the Commandment means, then

they break it also, because they make the images of generals, statesmen,

writers, etc., and place them in their parks. They also take photographs

of their relatives and friends and hang them on the walls of their

homes. They do this, they say, and we believe them, to show their

respect and veneration for the persons represented, and not to worship

their images. Now we do no more. We simply place in our churches the

images of saints to show our respect and veneration for the persons they

represent, and not to worship the images themselves. So if we break the

First Commandment, they who make any picture or statue break it also.

Can our accusers not see that they and every citizen do the very thing

for which they reproach us? On Decoration Day they place flowers around

the statue of Washington and other great men. Does anyone believe that

they are trying to honor the piece of metal or stone, or that the metal

or stone statue knows that it is being honored? Certainly not. They do

so to honor Washington or whomsoever the statue represents; and for the

same reason Catholics place flowers and lights around the statues and

images of saints. Every child knows that the wood in the statue might as

well have been a pillar in the Church, and that its selection for a

statue was merely accidental, and hence he knows that the statue cannot

hear or see him, and so he prays not to the statue but to the person it

represents. Again if you can offer a person insult by dishonoring his

image, may we not honor him by treating it with respect? What greater

insult, for instance, could be offered to your deceased father and

yourself than to burn him in effigy, or contemptuously trample his

picture under foot in your presence? Thus they who treat the images of

Christ or His saints with disrespect dishonor Christ and His saints.

Again we may learn our religion by our sight as well as by our hearing,

and may be led by these visible objects to a knowledge of the invisible

things they represent. Let us take an example. A poor ignorant man

enters a Catholic church, and sees hanging there a picture of St.

Vincent de Paul. He can learn the life of the saint from that picture

almost as well as if he read it in a book. He sees the saint dressed in

a cassock, and that tells him St. Vincent was a priest. He sees him

surrounded by little ragged children and holding some of them in his

arms; that tells him the saint took care of poor children and orphans,

and founded homes and asylums for them. He sees on the saint's table a

human skull, and that tells him St. Vincent frequently meditated upon

death and what follows it. He sees beside the skull a little lash or

whip, and that tells him the saint was a man who practiced penance and

mortification. Thus you have another reason why the true Church is very

properly called Catholic; because its teaching suits all classes of

persons. The ignorant can know what it teaches as well as the learned;

for if they cannot read they can listen to its priests, watch its

ceremonies, and study its pictures, by all of which it teaches. The

Protestant religion, on the contrary, is not adapted to the needs of

every class, for it teaches that all must find their doctrines in the

Bible, and understand them according to their lights, giving their own

interpretation to the passages of the sacred text; and thus we come to

have a variety of Protestant denominations, all claiming the Bible for

their guide, though following different paths. If every Protestant has

the right to take his own meaning out of the Holy Scripture, what right

have Protestant ministers to preach the meaning they have found, and

compel others to accept it? The Bible alone is not sufficient. It must

be explained by the Church that teaches us also the traditions that have

come down to us from the Apostles. If the Bible alone were the rule of

our faith, what would become of all those who could not read the Bible?

What would become of those who lived before the Apostles wrote the New

Testament? for they did not write in the first years of their ministry,

neither did they commit to writing all the truths they taught, because

Our Lord did not command them to write, but to preach; and He Himself

never wrote any of His doctrines. Again Catholics are accused of

superstition for keeping the relics of saints. Yet when General Grant

died and was buried in New York, many citizens of every denomination,

anxious to have a relic of the great man they loved and admired,

secured, even at a cost, small pieces of wood from his house, of cloth

from his funeral car, a few leaves or a little sand from his tomb. Now,

if it was not superstition to keep these relics, why should it be

superstition to keep the relics of the saints?

Even God Himself honored the relics of saints, for He has often

performed or granted miracles through their use. We read in the Bible (4

Kings 13:21)--and it is the word of God--that once some persons who were

burying a dead man, seeing their enemies coming upon them, hastily cast

the body into a tomb and fled. It was the tomb of the holy prophet

Eliseus, and when the dead body touched the bones of this great servant

of God, the dead man came to life and stood erect. Here is at least one

miracle that God performed through the relics of a saint.

God does not forbid the mere making of images, but only the making of

them as gods. He gave the Commandments to Moses and afterwards told him

to make images; namely, angels of gold for the temple. (Ex. 25:18). Now,

God does not change His mind or contradict Himself as men do. Whatever

He does is done forever. Therefore if He commanded Moses by the First

Commandment not to make any images, He could not tell him later to make

some. It is not the mere making, therefore, that God forbids, but the

adoring. What He insists upon is: "You shall not adore or serve the

images you make." This is very clear if we consider the history of the

Israelites, to whom God first gave the law. They were the only nation in

the whole world that knew and worshipped the true God, and often, as I

told you, they fell into idolatry and really worshipped images. When

Moses delayed on the mountain with God, and they thought he was not

coming back, they made a golden calf and adored it as a god. (Ex. 32).

The Israelites fell into idolatry chiefly by associating with persons

not of the true religion. Let us learn from their sins never to run the

risk of weakening or losing our faith by making bosom friends and steady

companions of those not of the true religion or of no religion at all.

You are not, however, to treat any person with contempt or to despise

anyone, but to look upon all as the children of God, and pray for those

not of the true religion, that they may be converted and saved.

342 Q. Is it right to show respect to the pictures and images of Christ

and His saints?

A. It is right to show respect to the pictures and images of Christ and

His saints, because they are the representations and memorials of them.

343 Q. Is it allowed to pray to the crucifix or to the images and relics

of the saints?

A. It is not allowed to pray to the crucifix or images and relics of the

saints, for they have no life, nor power to help us, nor sense to hear

us.

344 Q. Why do we pray before the crucifix and the images and relics of

the saints?

A. We pray before the crucifix and the images and relics of the saints

because they enliven our devotion by exciting pious affections and

desires, and by reminding us of Christ and of the saints, that we may

imitate their virtues.

Lesson 32

FROM THE SECOND TO THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT

345 Q. What is the Second Commandment?

A. The Second Commandment is: Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord

thy God in vain.

"In vain"--that is, without necessity.

346 Q. What are we commanded by the Second Commandment?

A. We are commanded by the Second Commandment to speak with reverence of

God and of the saints, and of all holy things, and to keep our lawful

oaths and vows.

A very common sin against this Commandment is to use the words and

sayings of Holy Scripture in a worldly or bad sense. The Church forbids

us to use the words and sayings of Holy Scripture to convey any meaning

but the one God intended them to convey, or at least to use them in any

but a sacred sense.

347 Q. What is an oath?

A. An oath is the calling upon God to witness the truth of what we say.

We declare a thing to be so or not, and call God to be our witness that

we are speaking truly. This is one of the most solemn acts that men can

perform in the presence of their fellowman. All the nations of the earth

regard an oath as a most sacred thing, and one who swears falsely is the

vilest of men--a perjurer. God is infinite truth and hates lies. What a

frightful thing then to call Him to sanction a lie!

*348 Q. When may we take an oath?

A. We may take an oath when it is ordered by lawful authority or

required for God's honor or for our own or our neighbor's good.

An oath is generally taken in a court of law when the judge wishes to

find out the truth of the case. We may be a witness against one who is

guilty, or in defense of an innocent person, and in such cases a lie

would have most evil consequences. The judge has a right, therefore, to

make us take an oath that we will testify truly. Officers of the law,

magistrates, judges, etc., take an oath when entering upon their duties

that they will perform them faithfully.

*349 Q. What is necessary to make an oath lawful?

A. To make an oath lawful it is necessary that what we swear be true,

and that there be a sufficient cause for taking an oath.

350 Q. What is a vow?

A. A vow is a deliberate promise made to God to do something that is

pleasing to Him.

"Deliberate"--that is, with full consent and freedom. If we are forced

to make it, it is not valid. "To God," not to another; though we may vow

to God that we will do something in honor of the Blessed Virgin, or of

the saints, or for another. "Something pleasing," because if we promise

something that is forbidden by God or displeasing to Him, it is not a

vow. A solemn promise, for instance, to kill your neighbor or steal his

goods could not be a vow. You would commit a sin by making such a vow,

and another by keeping it, for if you promise something you cannot do

without committing sin then you must not keep that promise. We have an

example in the life of St. John the Baptist. King Herod was leading a

sinful life, and St. John rebuked him for it. The wife of the king's

brother--Herodias was her name--hated St. John for this, and she sought

to have him killed. Once when the king had a great feast and all his

notables were assembled, this woman's daughter danced before them, and

the king was so pleased with her that he vowed to give her whatever she

asked. He should have said, if it is something pleasing to God, but he

did not. Her mother made her ask for the head of John the Baptist. The

king was sad, but because he had made the vow or promise he thought he

had to keep it, and ordered St. John to be beheaded and his head brought

to her. (Matt. 14). He was not bound to keep any such vow, and sinned by

doing so.

Again, they also commit sin who become members of such secret societies

as the freemasons or similar organizations, promising to do whatever

they are ordered without knowing what may be ordered; for they sin not

only by obeying sinful commands, but by the very fact of being in a

society in which they are exposed to the danger of being forced to sin.

Such secret societies are forbidden by the Church because they strive to

undermine its authority, and make their rules superior to its teaching.

They also influence those in authority to persecute the Church and its

ministers, and do not hesitate to recommend even assassination at times

for the accomplishment of their ends. Therefore the Church forbids

Catholics to join societies of which (1) the objects are unlawful, (2)

where the means used are sinful, or (3) where the rights of our

conscience and liberty are violated by rash or dangerous oaths.

The Church does not oppose associations founded on law and justice; but

on the contrary, has always encouraged and still encourages every

organization that tends to benefit its members spiritually and

temporally, and opposes only societies that have not a legitimate end.

Therefore you may understand that labor unions and benefit societies in

which persons are leagued together for their own protection or the

protection of their interests are not secret societies, though they may

conduct their meetings in secret.

351 Q. Is it a sin not to fulfill our vows?

A. Not to fulfill our vows is a sin, mortal or venial according to the

nature of the vow and the intention we had in making it.

"Vows"--that is, lawful vows. When a man who is in the habit of getting

intoxicated vows not to take liquor for a certain time, he generally

intends to bind himself only under venial sin; that is, if he breaks

that pledge or promise it will be a venial and not a mortal sin; but he

can make it a mortal sin by intending, when he takes the pledge, that if

he breaks it he will be guilty of mortal sin.

352 Q. What is forbidden by the Second Commandment?

A. The Second Commandment forbids all false, rash, unjust, and

unnecessary oaths, blasphemy, cursing, and profane words.

"Rash"--swearing a thing is true or false without knowing for certain

whether it is or not. "Blasphemy" is not the same as cursing or taking

God's name in vain. It is worse. It is to say or do something very

disrespectful to God. To say that He is unjust, cruel or the like, is to

blaspheme. We can blaspheme also by actions. To defy God by a sign or

action, to dare Him to strike us dead, etc., would be blasphemy. We have

a terrible example of blasphemy related in the life of Julian the

Apostate. An apostate is one who renounces and gives up his religion,

not one who merely neglects it. Julian was a Roman emperor and had been

a Catholic, but apostatized. Then in his great hatred for Our Lord he

wished to falsify His prophecies and prove them untrue. Our Lord had

said that of the temple of Jerusalem there would not be left a stone

upon a stone. To make this false Julian began to rebuild the temple. In

making the preparation he cleared away the ruins of the old building,

not leaving a single stone upon a stone, and thus was instrumental

himself in verifying the words of Our Lord; for while the ruins remained

there were stones upon stones. He wished to defy God, but when he began

to build, fire came forth from the earth and drove back the workmen, and

a strong wind scattered the materials. Afterwards Julian was wounded in

battle, an arrow having pierced his breast. He drew it out, and throwing

a handful of his blood toward heaven, said: "Thou hast conquered, O

Galilean," meaning Our Lord. This was a horrible blasphemy--throwing his

blood in defiance, and calling the Son of God a name which he thought

would be insulting (see Fredet's Modern History, Life of Julian).

Therefore we can blaspheme by actions or words, doing or saying things

intended to insult Almighty God. "Profane words"--that is, bad, but

especially irreverent and irreligious words.

353 Q. What is the Third Commandment?

A. The Third Commandment is: Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day.

*354 Q. What are we commanded by the Third Commandment?

A. By the Third Commandment we are commanded to keep holy the Lord's Day

and the holy days of obligation, on which we are to give our time to the

service and worship of God.

"Holy days" we are bound to keep holy just in the same manner we do

Sundays--that is, by hearing Mass and refraining from servile works.

Those who after hearing Mass must attend to business or work on those

days should make this known to their confessor, that he may judge if

they have a sufficient excuse for engaging in servile works, and thus

they will avoid the danger of sinfully violating an important law. There

must always be a good reason for working on a holy day. Those who are so

situated that they can readily refrain from servile work on holy days

must do so. And, where it is possible, the same opportunity must be

afforded to their servants.

"Of obligation," because there are some holy days not of obligation. We

celebrate them, but we are not bound under pain of mortal sin to hear

Mass or keep from servile works on such days. For example, St. Patrick's

Day is not a holy day of obligation. The great feast of Corpus Christi

is not a holy day of obligation. Not satisfied with doing only what the

Church obliges us to do on Sundays and holy days, those who really love

God will endeavor to do more than the bare works commanded. Sunday is a

day of rest and prayer. While we may take innocent and useful amusement,

we should not join in any public or noisy entertainments. We may rest

and recreate ourselves, but we should avoid every place where vulgar and

sometimes sinful amusements, scenes, or plays are presented. Even in

taking lawful recreation we may serve God and please Him if we take it

to strengthen our bodies that we may be enabled to do the work He has

assigned to us in this world.

Sunday is well spent by those who, after hearing Mass, devote some part

of the day to good works, such as pious reading, teaching in Sunday

school, bringing relief to the poor and sick, visiting the Blessed

Sacrament, attending Vespers, Rosary, etc. Not that I mean they should

do nothing but pray on Sundays; but they should not give the whole day

to useless enjoyment or idleness, and forget God. Some begrudge God even

the half-hour they are obliged to give to Mass on Sundays: they stand

near the door, ready to be the first out, and perhaps were the last in;

or they come late, and do not give the full time necessary to hear the

entire Mass. Others spend the whole day in reading newspapers,

magazines, or useless--I will not say sinful--books. It is not a sin to

read newspapers, etc., on Sunday; but to give the whole time to them,

and never read anything good and instructive, is a willful waste of

time--and waste of time is sinful. There should be in every family,

according to its means, one or more good Catholic newspapers or

magazines. Not all papers that bear the name of Catholic are worthy of

it. A truly Catholic paper is one that teaches or defends Catholic

truth, and warns us against its enemies, their snares, deceptions, etc.;

one, too, that tells us what is being done in the interests of religion,

education, etc. Besides such a paper there should be a few standard good

books in every family such as the New Testament, the Imitation of

Christ, a large and full catechism of Christian doctrine, etc. On the

other hand, all the books in your house need not be books treating of

religion or piety. Any book that is not against faith or morals may be

kept and read. A book may not be bad in itself, but it may be bad for

you, either because it is suggestive of evil, or you misunderstand it,

and take evil out of it. In such a case you should not read it. At the

present time there are so many bad books that persons should be very

careful as to what they read.

Not only should we keep Sunday well ourselves, but we should endeavor to

have it so kept by others. We must be careful, however, not to fall into

the mistake of some who wish the Sunday to be kept as the Pharisees of

old kept the Sabbath, telling us we must not walk, ride, sail, or take

any exercise or enjoyment on that day. This is not true, for Our Lord

rebuked the Pharisees for such excessive rigor; God made the Sunday for

our benefit, and if we had to keep it as they say we must, it would be

more of a punishment than a benefit.

355 Q. How are we to worship God on Sundays and holy days of obligation?

A. We are to worship God on Sundays and holy days of obligation by

hearing Mass, by prayer, and by other good works.

*356 Q. Are the Sabbath day and the Sunday the same?

A. The Sabbath day and the Sunday are not the same. The Sabbath is the

seventh day of the week, and is the day which was kept holy in the Old

Law; the Sunday is the first day of the week, and is the day which is

kept holy in the New Law.

"Old Law" means the law that God gave to the Jews, the New Law, the law

that Our Lord gave to Christians.

*357 Q. Why does the Church command us to keep the Sunday holy instead

of the Sabbath?

A. The Church commands us to keep the Sunday holy instead of the Sabbath

because on Sunday Christ rose from the dead, and on Sunday He sent the

Holy Ghost upon the Apostles.

We keep Sunday instead of Saturday also to teach that the Old Law is not

now binding upon us, but that we must keep the New Law, which takes its

place.

358 Q. What is forbidden by the Third Commandment?

A. The Third Commandment forbids all unnecessary servile work and

whatever else may hinder the due observance of the Lord's day.

359 Q. What are servile works?

A. Servile works are those which require labor rather of body than of

mind.

"Servile"--that is, work which was formerly done by the slaves.

Therefore writing, reading, studying, etc., are not servile, because

they were not the works of slaves.

360 Q. Are servile works on Sunday ever lawful?

A. Servile works are lawful on Sunday when the honor of God, the good of

our neighbor, or necessity requires them.

"Honor of God"; for example, erecting an altar that could not be erected

at another time, so that the people may hear Mass on that day.

"Good of our neighbor"--such as reconstructing a broken bridge that must

be used every day; or clearing away obstacles after a railroad accident,

that trains may not be delayed. "Necessity"--firemen endeavoring to

extinguish a fire, sailors working on a ship at sea, etc.

Lesson 33

FROM THE FOURTH TO THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT

361 Q. What is the Fourth Commandment?

A. The Fourth Commandment is: Honor thy father and thy mother.

362 Q. What are we commanded by the Fourth Commandment?

A. We are commanded by the Fourth Commandment to honor, love, and obey

our parents in all that is not sin.

"In all that is not sin," because if our parents or superiors, being

wicked, bid us do things that we know to be certainly sinful, then we

must not obey them under any circumstances. God will not excuse us for

doing wrong because we were commanded. But if, on the contrary, we are

forced in spite of our resistance to do the sinful act, then not we but

they have to answer for the sin. If, however, you simply doubt about the

sinfulness of the act, then you must obey; because you must always

suppose that your superiors know better than you the things that concern

their duty. Even if they should be mistaken in the exercise of their

authority, God will reward your obedience. Besides obeying them, you

must also help and support your parents if they need your assistance.

You must not scoff at or despise them for their want of learning or

refinement, because they perhaps have made many sacrifices to give you

the advantages of which they in their youth were deprived. Do we not

sometimes find persons of pretended culture ignorantly slighting their

plain-mannered parents, or showing that they are ashamed of them or

unwilling to recognize them before others, ungratefully forgetting that

whatever wealth or learning they themselves have came through the love

and kindness of these same parents? Again, is it not sinful for the

children, especially of such parents, to waste their time in school,

knowing that they are being supported in idleness by the hard toil and

many sacrifices of a poor father? Never, then, be guilty of an unkind or

ungrateful act. No matter who they are or what their condition, never

forget those who have helped you and been your temporal or spiritual

benefactors. If you cannot return the kindness to the one who helped

you, at least be as ready as he was to do good to another. It is told of

a great man that, wishing always to do good, he made it a rule never to

stand looking at the effects of a disturbance, disaster, or accident

unless he could do some good by being there.

Wherever you are, ask yourselves now and then, Why am I in this

particular place; what good am I doing here? etc. St. Aloysius when

about to perform any action used to ask himself, it is said, What has

this action to do with my eternal salvation? and St. Alphonsus de

Liguori made a vow never to waste a moment of his time. These were some

of the great heroes of the Church, and this is one of the reasons why

they could accomplish so much for God.

363 Q. Are we bound to honor and obey others than our parents?

A. We are bound to honor and obey our bishops, pastors, magistrates,

teachers, and other lawful superiors.

"Magistrates"--that is, civil rulers, like the president, governor,

mayor, judges, etc.

*364 Q. Have parents and superiors any duties towards those who are

under their charge?

A. It is the duty of parents and superiors to take good care of all

under their charge and give them proper direction and example.

It is so much their duty that God will hold them responsible for it, and

punish them for neglecting it; so that your parents are not free to give

you your own way. They have to do God's work, and, as His agents, punish

you when you deserve it. You should take their punishment as coming from

God Himself. They do not punish you because they wish to see you suffer,

but for your good. Think of the terrible responsibility of parents. Let

us suppose that the parents of a family give bad example; their children

follow their example, and when they become heads of families their

children also will grow up in wickedness: and thus we can go on for

generations, and all those sins will be traced back to the first bad

parents. What is true for bad example is true also for good example;

that is, the good done by the children will all be traced back to the

parents. Sometimes you may be punished when you are not guilty; then

think of the times you were guilty and were not punished. Remember also

how Our Lord was falsely accused before Herod and Pilate, and yet He

never opened His lips to defend Himself, but suffered patiently. God

sees your innocence and will reward you if you bear your trial

patiently. Indeed, we are foolish not to bear all our sufferings

patiently, for we have to bear them anyway, and we might just as well

have the reward that patient suffering will bring us. Those who suffer

should find comfort in this: by suffering they are made more like Our

Lord and His blessed Mother. She lived on earth over sixty years, and

during all that time she seems never to have had any of those things

that bring worldly pleasure and happiness. She was left an orphan when

quite young, and spent her early life in the temple, which was for her a

kind of school; then she was married to a poor old carpenter, and must

have found it very hard at times to get a living. Our Lord was born

while she was away from home in a strange place. After she had returned

and had just settled down in her little dwelling, she had to fly with

St. Joseph into Egypt to save the life of the little Infant Jesus, whom

the king's officers were seeking to kill. In Egypt they were strangers,

among people not of their own nationality or religion, and St. Joseph

must have found great difficulty in providing for them; yet they had to

remain there for some time. Then when our divine Lord was grown to

manhood and could be a great comfort to His Mother, He was seized and

put to death in her presence. Her most beloved and innocent Son put to

death publicly as a criminal before all her neighbors! The same persons

who insulted Our Lord would not hesitate to insult and cruelly treat His

blessed Mother also. At His death He left her no money or property for

her support, but asked a friend, St. John, to receive her into his house

and do Him the favor of taking care of her. She must have often felt

that she was a burden in that man's house; that she had no home of her

own, but was living like a poor woman on the charity of kind friends,

for St. Joseph died before Our Lord's public life began. The Blessed

Mother was, however, obliged to remain upon earth for about eleven years

after Our Lord's Ascension. Thus we see her whole life was one of trials

and sorrows. Now certainly Our Lord loved His Mother more than any other

son could; and certainly also He, being God, could have made His blessed

Mother a queen upon the earth, rich and powerful among men, and free

from every suffering or inconvenience. If, then, He sent her sorrows and

trials, it must have been because these were best for her, and because

He knew that for this suffering here upon earth her happiness and glory

in Heaven would be much increased; and as He wished her to have all the

happiness and glory she was capable of possessing, He permitted her to

suffer. If, then, suffering was good for Our Lord's Mother, it is good

also for us; and when it comes we ought not to complain, but bear it

patiently, as she did, and ask Our Lord to give us that grace.

365 Q. What is forbidden by the Fourth Commandment?

A. The Fourth Commandment forbids all disobedience, contempt, and

stubbornness towards our parents or lawful superiors.

"Contempt." Showing by our words or actions that we disregard or despise

those placed over us. A man who is summoned to appear in court and does

not come is punished for "contempt of court," because he shows that he

disregards the authority of the judge. A thing not very bad in itself

may become very bad if done out of contempt. For example, there would be

a great difference between eating a little more than the Church allows

on a fast-day, simply because you were hungry, and eating it because you

wanted to show that you despised the law of fasting and the authority of

the Church. The first would be only a venial sin, but the latter mortal.

So for all your actions. An act which in itself might be a venial sin

could easily become a mortal sin if you did it through contempt.

"Stubbornness"--that is, unwillingness to give in, even when you know

you are wrong and should yield. Those who obey slowly and do what they

are ordered in a sulky manner are also guilty of stubbornness.

366 Q. What is the Fifth Commandment?

A. The Fifth Commandment is: Thou shalt not kill.

367 Q. What are we commanded by the Fifth Commandment?

A. We are commanded by the Fifth Commandment to live in peace and union

with our neighbor, to respect his rights, to seek his spiritual and

bodily welfare, and to take proper care of our own life and health.

"Proper care of our own life." It is not our property, but God's. He

lends it to us and leaves it with us as long as He pleases: nor does He

tell us how long He will let us have the use of it. Thus suicide, or the

taking of one's own life, is a mortal sin, for by it we resist the will

of God. One who in sound mind and full possession of reason causes his

own death is guilty of suicide. But it is sometimes very difficult to

determine whether the person was really sane at the time he committed

the act; hence, when there is any reasonable doubt on that point, the

unfortunate suicide is usually given the benefit of it. It is also a sin

to risk our lives uselessly or to continue in any habit that we are sure

is injuring our health and shortening our lives.

Thus an habitual drunkard is guilty of sin against the Fifth

Commandment, for besides his sin of drunkenness, he is hastening his own

death. So, too, boys or girls who indulge in habits which their parents

forbid are guilty of sin. For example, a boy is forbidden to smoke, and

he does smoke. Now to smoke is not in itself a sin, but it becomes a sin

for that boy, because in the first place he is disobedient, and secondly

is injuring his health. Thus persons who indulge in sinful habits may

commit more than one kind of sin, for besides the sins committed by the

habits themselves, these vices may injure their health and bring

sickness and disease upon their bodies.

368 Q. What is forbidden by the Fifth Commandment?

A. The Fifth Commandment forbids all willful murder, fighting, anger,

hatred, revenge, and bad example.

Therefore it forbids all that might lead to murder. So we can violate

any of the Commandments by doing anything that leads to breaking them.

"Revenge" is a desire to injure others because they injured you.

369 Q. What is the Sixth Commandment?

A. The Sixth Commandment is: Thou shalt not commit adultery.

370 Q. What are we commanded by the Sixth Commandment?

A. We are commanded by the Sixth Commandment to be pure in thought and

modest in all our looks, words, and actions.

We should be most careful about this Commandment, because almost every

violation of it is a mortal sin. For example, if you steal only a

little, it is a venial sin; for in stealing the greatness of the sin

will depend upon the amount you steal; but if you do a real bad action,

or think a real bad thought against the Sixth Commandment, it will be a

mortal sin, no matter how short the time. Again, we have more

temptations against this Commandment, for we are tempted by our own

bodies and we cannot avoid them: hence the necessity of being always

guarded against this sin. It enters into our soul through our senses;

they are, as it were, the doors of our soul. It enters by our eyes

looking at bad objects or pictures; by our ears listening to bad

conversation; by our tongue saying and repeating immodest words, etc. If

then, we guard all the doors of our soul, sin cannot enter. It would be

foolish to lock all the doors in your house but one, for one will

suffice to admit a thief, and we might as well leave them all open as

one. So, too, we must guard all the senses; for sin can enter by one

only as well as by all.

371 Q. What is forbidden by the Sixth Commandment?

A. The Sixth Commandment forbids all unchaste freedom with another's

wife or husband: also all immodesty with ourselves or others in looks,

dress, words, or actions.

372 Q. Does the Sixth Commandment forbid the reading of bad and immodest

books and newspapers?

A. The Sixth Commandment does forbid the reading of bad and immodest

books and newspapers.

Reading brings us into the company of those who wrote the book. Now we

should be just as careful to avoid a bad book as a bad man, and even

more so; for while we read we can stop to think, and read over again, so

that bad words read will often make more impression upon us than bad

words spoken to us. You should avoid not only bad, but useless books.

You could not waste all your time with an idle man without becoming like

him--an idler. So if you waste your time on useless books, your

knowledge will be just like the books--useless. Many authors write only

for the sake of money, and care little whether their book is good or

bad, provided it sells well. How many young people have been ruined by

bad books, and how many more by foolish books! Boys, for example, read

in some worthless book of desperate deeds of highway robbery or piracy,

and are at once filled with the desire to imitate the hero of the tale.

Young girls, on the other hand, are equally infatuated by the wonderful

fortunes and adventures of some young woman whose life has been so

vividly described in a trashy novel. As the result of such reading,

young persons lose the true idea of virtue and valor of true, noble

manhood and womanhood, and with their hearts and minds corrupted set up

vice for their model.

Again, these books are filled with such terrible lies and unlikely

things that any sensible boy or girl should see their foolishness at

once. Think, for example, of a book relating how two boys defeated and

killed or captured several hundred Indians! Is that likely? The truth

is, if two Indians shook their tomahawks at as many boys as you could

crowd into this building, every single one of them would run for his

life.

Let me give you still another reason for not reading trashy books. Your

minds can hold just so much good or evil information, and if you fill

them full of lies and nonsense you leave no room for true knowledge.

Do not, therefore, get into the habit of reading foolish story-papers

and cheap novels. Read good books in which you can find information that

will be useful to you all through your life.

If now and then you read story-books for amusement or rest from study,

let them be good story-books, written by good authors. Ask someone's

advice about the books you read--someone who is capable of giving such

advice: your pastor, your teachers, and frequently your parents and

friends. Learn all through your life to ask advice on every important

matter. How many mistakes in life would have been prevented if those

making them had only asked advice from the proper persons and followed

it. Your parents have traveled the road of life before you. Now it is

known to them and they can point out its dangers. To you the road is

entirely new, and it will be only after you have traveled it and arrived

nearly at its end in the latter days of your life that you also will be

able to advise others how to pass through it in safety. This road can be

traveled only once, so be advised by those who have learned its many

dangers by their own experience. You should be very glad that those of

experience are willing to teach you, and if you neglect their warnings

you will be very sorry for it someday.

Lesson 34

FROM THE SEVENTH TO THE END OF THE TENTH COMMANDMENT

373 Q. What is the Seventh Commandment?

A. The Seventh Commandment is: Thou shalt not steal.

Stealing is one of those vices of which you have to be most careful.

Children should learn to have honest hearts, and never to take unjustly

even the smallest thing; for some begin a life of dishonesty by stealing

little things from their own house or from stores to which they are sent

for goods. A nut, a cake, an apple, a cent, etc., do not seem much, but

nevertheless to take any of them dishonestly is stealing. Children who

indulge in this trifling thievery seldom correct the habit in after life

and grow up to be dishonest men and women. How do you suppose all the

thieves now spending their miserable lives in prison began? Do you

believe they were very honest--never having stolen even the slightest

thing--up to a certain day, and at once became thieves by committing a

highway robbery? No; they began by stealing little things, then greater,

and kept on till they made stealing their business and thus became

professional thieves. Again, the little you steal each day does not seem

much at the time, but if you put all the "littles" together you may soon

have something big, and almost before you know it--if you intend to

continue stealing--you may have taken enough to make you guilty of

mortal sin. If you intended to steal, for instance, only a small amount

every day for the whole year, you would at the end have stolen a large

amount and committed a mortal sin. There are many ways of violating the

Seventh Commandment. Workmen who do not do a just day's work, or

employers who cheat their workmen out of wages earned; merchants who

charge unjust prices and seek unjust profits; dealers who give light

weight or short measure or who misrepresent goods; those who speculate

rashly or gamble with the money of others, and those who borrow with no

intention or only slight hope of being able to pay back, all violate

this Commandment. You violate it also by not paying your just debts or

by purchasing goods that you know you will never be able to pay for.

Moreover, besides the injustice, it is base ingratitude not to pay your

debts when in your power to do so. The one who trusted or lent you

helped you in your need and did you a great favor, and yet when you can

you will not pay, and what is worse, frequently abuse and insult him for

asking his own. Though such dishonest and ungrateful persons may escape

in this world, they will not escape in the next, for Almighty God will

make them suffer for the smallest debt they owe.

Again, others often suffer for the dishonesty of those I have mentioned,

for when some good person who really intends to pay is in great need and

wishes to borrow or be trusted, he is refused because others have been

dishonest. Everyone should pay his debts, and even keep from buying

things that are not really necessary till he is thus enabled to pay what

he owes. You must pay your just debts even before you can give anything

in charity.

374 Q. What are we commanded by the Seventh Commandment?

A. By the Seventh Commandment we are commanded to give to all men what

belongs to them and to respect their property.

"Respect their property"--that is, acknowledge and respect their rights

to their property and do nothing to violate these rights.

375 Q. What is forbidden by the Seventh Commandment?

A. The Seventh Commandment forbids all unjust taking or keeping what

belongs to another.

"Taking," either with your own hands or from the hands of another; for

the one who willingly and knowingly receives from a thief the whole or

part of anything stolen becomes as bad as the thief. Even if you only

help another to steal, and receive none of the stolen goods, you are

guilty. There are several ways of sharing in the sin of another; namely,

by ordering or advising him to do wrong; by praising him for doing wrong

and thus encouraging him; by consenting to wrong when you should oppose

it--for instance, a member of a society allowing an evil act to be done

by the society when his vote would prevent it; again, by affording

wrongdoers protection and means of escape from punishment for their evil

deeds. This does not mean that we should not defend the guilty. We

should defend them, but should not encourage them to do wrong by

offering them a means of escape from just punishment. We share in

another's sin also by neglecting to prevent his bad action when it is

our duty to do so. For example, if a police officer paid for guarding

your property should see a thief stealing it and not prevent him, he

would be as guilty as the thief. Your neighbor indeed might warn you

that the thief was stealing your goods, but he would not be bound in

justice to do so, as the officer is, but only in charity, because it is

not his duty to guard your property. Parents who know that their

children steal and do not prevent them or compel them to bring back what

they stole, but rather encourage them by being indifferent, are guilty

of dishonesty as well as the children, and share in their sins of theft.

But suppose you did not know the thing was stolen when you received it,

but learned afterward that it was, must you then return it to the proper

owner? Yes; just as soon as you know to whom it belongs you begin to sin

by keeping it. But suppose you bought it not knowing that it was stolen,

would you still have to restore it? Yes, when the owner asks for it,

because it belongs to him till he sells it or gives it away. If you have

bought from a thief you have been cheated and must suffer the loss. Your

mistake will make you more careful on the next occasion. Suppose you

find a thing, what must you do? Try to find its owner, and if you find

him give him what is his, and that without any reward for restoring it,

unless he pleases to give you something, or unless you have been put to

an expense by keeping it. If you cannot find the owner after sincerely

seeking for him, then you may keep the thing found. But suppose you kept

the article so long before looking for the owner that it became

impossible for you to restore it to him, either because he had died or

removed to parts unknown during your delay--what then? Then you must

give the article or its value to his children or others who have a right

to his goods; and if no one who has such a right can be found, you must

give it to the poor, for you have it unjustly--since you did not look

for the owner when it was possible to find him--and therefore cannot

keep it.

376 Q. Are we bound to restore ill-gotten goods?

A. We are bound to restore ill-gotten goods, or the value of them, as

far as we are able; otherwise we cannot be forgiven.

"Ill-gotten"--that is, unjustly gotten. "Value." It sometimes happens

that persons lose or destroy the article stolen, and therefore cannot

return it. What must be done in such cases? They must give the owner the

value of it. However, when you have stolen anything and have to restore

it, you need not go to the owner and say, "Here is what I stole from

you." It is only necessary that he gets what is his own or its value. He

need not even know that it is being restored to him, unless he knows you

stole it; and then it would be better for your own good name to let him

know that you are making amends for the injustice done. Therefore, no

one need have any excuse for not restoring what he has unjustly, because

he has only to see that it is returned in some way to its owner, or to

those who have the next right to it, or to the poor. But you must

remember you cannot make restitution by giving to the poor if you can

restore to the proper owner. You must restore by giving to the poor only

when the owner cannot be found or reached. Some persons do not like the

duty of restoring to the proper owner, and think they satisfy their

obligation by giving the ill-gotten goods to the poor; but they do not.

You cannot give even in charity the goods of another without being

guilty of dishonesty. If you wish to be charitable, give from your own

goods. It is a sin to delay making restitution after you are able to

restore. You must restore just as soon as you can, because the longer

you keep the owner out of his property and its benefits, the greater the

injury you do him and the greater the sin. One who, after being told by

his confessor to make restitution, and promising to do so, still delays

or keeps putting off, runs the risk of being guilty of sacrilege by

receiving the Sacraments without proper dispositions. But suppose a

person cannot restore; suppose he lost the thing stolen and has not the

value of it. What must he do? He must have the firm resolution of

restoring as soon as he possibly can; and without this good resolution

he could not be absolved from his sins--even if he had not the real

means of restoring. The good intention and resolution will suffice till

he has really the means; but this intention must be serious, otherwise

there will be no forgiveness.

377 Q. Are we obliged to repair the damage we have unjustly caused?

A. We are bound to repair the damage we have unjustly caused.

378 Q. What is the Eighth Commandment?

A. The Eighth Commandment is: Thou shalt not bear false witness against

thy neighbor.

Either in a court, while we are acting as witnesses, or by telling lies

about him at any other time.

379 Q. What are we commanded by the Eighth Commandment?

A. We are commanded by the Eighth Commandment to speak the truth in all

things, and to be careful of the honor and reputation of everyone.

"Reputation." If it be a sin to steal a man's money, which we can

restore to him, it is certainly a much greater sin to steal his good

name, which we can never restore, and especially as we have nothing to

gain from injuring his character. It is a sin to tell evil things about

another--his sins, vices, etc.--even when they are true. The only thing

that will excuse us from telling another's fault is the necessity to do

so in which we are placed, or the good we can do to the person himself

or others by exposing faults. How shall you know when you have injured

the character of another? You have injured another's character if you

made others think less of him than they did before. If you have exposed

some crime that he really committed, your sin is called detraction; if

you accuse him of one he did not commit, your sin is calumny; and if you

maliciously circulate these reports to injure his character, your sin is

slander. But how shall you make reparation for injuring the character of

another? If you have told lies about him, you must acknowledge to those

with whom you have talked that you have told what was untrue about him,

and you must even compensate him for whatever loss he has suffered by

your lies: for example, the loss of his situation by your accusing him

of dishonesty. But if what you said of him was true, how are you to act?

At every opportunity say whatever good you can of him in the presence of

those before whom you have spoken the evil.

380 Q. What is forbidden by the Eighth Commandment?

A. The Eighth Commandment forbids all rash judgments, backbiting,

slanders, and lies.

"Rash judgment"--that is, having in your mind and really believing that

a person is guilty of a certain sin when you have no reason for thinking

so, and no evidence that he is guilty. "Backbiting"--that is, talking

evil of persons behind their backs. You would not like your neighbor to

backbite you, and you have no right to do to him what you would not wish

him to do to you. Besides, everyone hates and fears a backbiter; because

as he brings to you a bad story about another, he will in the same

manner bring to someone else a bad story about you. It is certainly an

honor to be able to say of a person: "He never has a bad word of

anyone"; while on the other hand, he must be a despicable creature who

never speaks of others except to censure or revile them. Never listen to

a backbiter, detractor, or slanderer--it is sinful. Another way of

injuring your neighbor is revealing the secrets he has confided to you.

You will tell one friend perhaps and caution him not to repeat it to

another; but if you cannot keep the secret yourself, how can you expect

others to keep it? Again you may injure your neighbor by reading his

letters without his consent when you have no authority to do so. This is

considered a crime in the eyes even of the civil law, and anyone who

opens and reads the letters of another can be punished by imprisonment.

It is a kind of theft, for it is stealing secrets and information that

you have no right to know. It is dishonorable to read another's letter

without his consent, even when you find it open. To carry to persons the

evil things said about them by others so as to bring about disputes

between them is very sinful. The Holy Scripture (Rom. 1:29) calls this

class of sinners whisperers, and says that they will not enter into

Heaven--that is, as long as they continue in the habit. If ever, then,

you hear one person saying anything bad about another, never go and tell

it to the person of whom it was said. If you do, you will be the cause

of all the sin that follows from it--of the anger, hatred, revenge, and

probably murder itself, as sometimes happens.

*381 Q. What must they do who have lied about their neighbor and

seriously injured his character?

A. They who have lied about their neighbor and seriously injured his

character must repair the injury done as far as they are able, otherwise

they will not be forgiven.

382 Q. What is the Ninth Commandment?

A. The Ninth Commandment is: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife.

383 Q. What are we commanded by the Ninth Commandment?

A. We are commanded by the Ninth Commandment to keep ourselves pure in

thought and desire.

384 Q. What is forbidden by the Ninth Commandment?

A. The Ninth Commandment forbids unchaste thoughts, desires of another's

wife or husband, and all other unlawful impure thoughts and desires.

*385 Q. Are impure thoughts and desires always sins?

A. Impure thoughts and desires are always sins, unless they displease us

and we try to banish them.

386 Q. What is the Tenth Commandment?

A. The Tenth Commandment is: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods.

"Covet" means to long for or desire inordinately or unlawfully. If I

should desire, for example, my friend to be killed by an accident, in

order that I might become the owner of his gold watch, I would be

coveting it. But if I desired to have it justly--that is, to be able to

purchase it, or another similar to it, that would not be covetousness.

387 Q. What are we commanded by the Tenth Commandment?

A. By the Tenth Commandment we are commanded to be content with what we

have, and to rejoice in our neighbor's welfare.

388 Q. What is forbidden by the Tenth Commandment?

A. The Tenth Commandment forbids all desires to take or keep wrongfully

what belongs to another.

Lesson 35

ON THE FIRST AND SECOND COMMANDMENTS OF THE CHURCH

389 Q. Which are the chief commandments of the Church?

A. The chief commandments of the Church are six:

1. To hear Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation.

2. To fast and abstain on the days appointed.

3. To confess at least once a year.

4. To receive the Holy Eucharist during the Easter time.

5. To contribute to the support of our pastors.

6. Not to marry persons who are not Catholics, or who are related to us

within the third degree of kindred, nor privately without witnesses,

nor to solemnize marriage at forbidden times.

390 Q. Is it a mortal sin not to hear Mass on a Sunday or a holy day of

obligation?

A. It is a mortal sin not to hear Mass on a Sunday or a holy day of

obligation, unless we are excused for a serious reason. They also commit

a mortal sin, who, having others under their charge, hinder them from

hearing Mass, without a sufficient reason.

"Serious reason"--that is, a very good reason, such as sickness,

necessity of taking care of the sick, great danger of death, etc. Some

persons when they go to the country in the summer believe themselves

excused from hearing Mass because the church is a little further from

them or the Mass at more inconvenient times than in the city. When they

are in the country they are bound by the same obligations as the

Catholics who live in that parish the whole year round, and they must go

to Mass as these do, even if it is more inconvenient than in the city.

Persons who have it in their power to select their own summer resort,

should not, without great necessity, select a place where there is no

Catholic church, and where they will be deprived of Mass and the

Sacraments for several months, and where there is danger of their dying

without the Sacraments. Some excuse themselves from going to Mass

because they are too tired to rise in the morning. They should be

ashamed to give such an excuse. Was our Blessed Lord not tired when He

carried His Cross? He was tired, for He fell under it several times. And

where was He going? To Calvary, to offer up the bloody sacrifice of the

Cross for you. Will you plead fatigue as an excuse when you come to be

judged by Him? Others again have a great habit of coming late for Mass.

No matter at what hour the Mass may be, they will always be late; and I

am afraid these persons will also be too late to enter Heaven. By coming

late they show disrespect to Our Lord and distract others; and to avoid

doing so, they should, when late, take a place in the rear of the

church. When you are very late for one Mass, you should wait for the

next--at least, for as much of the next as you did not hear in the

first. You should not, however, begrudge a little extra time to God. To

hear Mass properly, you should be in your place a few minutes before the

priest comes out, and make up your mind what blessing you will ask, or

for what intention you desire to hear the Mass.

"Having others under their charge." Some parents are very careless about

their children attending Mass, especially on holy days. Now, they must

remember that in such neglect the sin will be theirs as well as the

children's. Again, masters and mistresses do not at times give their

workmen and servants sufficient opportunity to hear Mass, above all on

holy days. All masters and mistresses must remember that they are bound

not only to give their servants an opportunity to hear Mass, but they

are bound as far as they conveniently can to see that they embrace the

opportunity, just as they should see to their children in such matters.

Catholics having in their employ others, such as engineers, drivers,

conductors, etc., must make some arrangement between their men by which

they will be able to attend Mass on Sundays and holy days. The same

holds good for companies and corporations having under their charge a

large force of men who are obliged by circumstances to work on Sundays.

*391 Q. Why were holy days instituted by the Church?

A. Holy days were instituted by the Church to recall to our minds the

great mysteries of religion and the virtues and rewards of the saints.

For just the same reason that the government has legal holidays. What

would the people of this country know or think at the present time about

the Declaration of Independence, and all connected with it, if they did

not celebrate from childhood every year, on the Fourth of July, the

great day on which their forefathers claimed to be free and independent

from the nation that was persecuting them? The Fourth of July keeps

alive in our memory the struggles of our ancestors of one hundred years

or more ago--their great battles, their sufferings and triumph, the

blessings they secured for us, and for which we praise them. In like

manner, the feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord keeps us in mind of

the sad condition in which we were before Our Lord redeemed us, and how

He liberated us from the slavery of the devil and secured for us so many

wonderful blessings. Again, what would we remember about George

Washington if we did not celebrate his birthday? That holiday keeps

before our minds the life and actions of that great man and all he did

for our benefit. So, too, when we celebrate every year the feast of a

saint in the Church, it keeps before our minds his works and all that he

did for God and the Church, and makes us anxious to imitate his virtues.

On every day in the year the Church honors some mystery of our holy

faith or some saint by saying Mass all over the world in honor of the

feast, and by obliging the priests and bishops to say the divine office

for the same purpose. The feast-day of a saint is generally the day on

which he died; because that is considered the day on which he entered

into Heaven--the day on which he was born into the new world.

The "divine office" is a collection of prayers, hymns, lessons, and

psalms which every priest and bishop must read every day of his life. As

it is said each day in honor of some particular mystery or saint, the

greater part of it differs for each day. The prayers are to God, asking

some grace or blessing in honor of the saint--generally such graces as

were granted to the saint. The hymns are in the saint's honor; the

lessons are parts of the Holy Scripture, or an account of the saint's

life; and the psalms are those beautiful poems that King David composed

and sang to God. The divine office is the prayer of the universal Church

for its children, and if a priest neglects to say it he commits a mortal

sin. It takes about an hour to say the whole divine office, but it is

not intended to be said all at once. It is so divided that it is said at

three times in the day. The part called "Matins" and "Lauds" is said

very early in the morning and before Mass. The part called "Little

Hours" is said later in the day; and the part called "Vespers" and

"Compline" is said in the afternoon. See, therefore, how anxious the

Church is for the good of its children, when it makes its bishops,

priests, and religious pray daily for all the faithful, and send up in

one voice the same prayer to the throne of God.

*392 Q. How should we keep the holy days of obligation?

A. We should keep the holy days of obligation as we should keep the

Sunday.

393 Q. What do you mean by fast-days?

A. By fast-days I mean days on which we are allowed but one full meal.

According to the traditional Catholic method of fasting, one may eat

"one full meal" each day with meat included, plus two smaller meatless

meals, both of which together do not equal the one full meal. No eating

between meals is allowed, although drinking beverages such as coffee and

tea are allowed and are not considered to break the fast. (Milk, juice,

and soft drinks are also considered not to break the fast, although they

are in fact foods and mitigate the effects of the fast and work contrary

to its intent because they satisfy one's hunger to some extent, since

they have food value.) They, therefore, who follow the above regulations

obey the Catholic method of fasting. Today the prescribed days of fast

for the whole Church are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday (these are also

days of abstinence). However the Church today says that the meaning of

the law of fasting during Lent remains, although the extent of the

obligation has been changed. In other words, Lent remains as a season of

penance in the Church, but how it is to be observed is greatly up to the

individual, though no one may think himself excused from all penance

whatsoever, and those who are in the fasting age group should still

practice the Church's form of fasting, since fasting is a primary and

very efficacious form of penance.

Those who, for sufficient reasons, are excused from the obligation of

fasting, are not on that account freed from the law of abstinence, for

all who have reached their fourteenth birthday are bound to abstain from

flesh-meat on days when it is forbidden--Ash Wednesday and the Fridays

of Lent. The following persons are excused from fasting: (1) those who

are not yet twenty-one or who have begun their sixtieth year (from their

59th birthday onward); (2) those whose infirmity, condition, or

occupation renders it impossible or dangerous for them to fast. If you

think you should be excused from fasting or abstaining, state your

reasons to your confessor and ask his advice. On a fast-day, therefore,

you have to look both to the quantity and the kind of food, while on a

day of abstinence--as the Fridays in Lent other than Good Friday--you

have to look only to the kind.

394 Q. What do you mean by days of abstinence?

A. By days of abstinence I mean days on which we are forbidden to eat

flesh-meat, but are allowed the usual amount of food.

395 Q. Why does the Church command us to fast and abstain?

A. The Church commands us to fast and abstain in order that we may

mortify our passions and satisfy for our sins.

"Mortify our passions," keep our bodies under control, do bodily

penance. Remember it is our bodies that generally lead us into sin; if

therefore we punish the body by fasting and mortification, we atone for

the sin, and thus God wipes out a part of the temporal punishment due to

it.

*396 Q. Why does the Church command us to abstain from flesh-meat on Ash

Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent and to abstain from flesh-meat or do

some other chosen penance on the other Fridays of the year?

A. The Church commands us to abstain, from flesh-meat on Ash Wednesday

and the Fridays of Lent and to abstain from flesh-meat or do some other

chosen penance on the other Fridays of the year in honor of the day on

which Our Saviour died.

Lesson 36

ON THE THIRD, FOURTH, FIFTH, AND SIXTH COMMANDMENTS OF THE CHURCH

397 Q. What is meant by the command of confessing at least once a year?

A. By the command of confessing at least once a year is meant that we

are obliged, under pain of mortal sin, to go to confession within the

year.

"Within the year"--that is, the time between your confessions must never

be longer than a year, or, at least not longer than the period between

the beginning of one Eastertime and the end of the next. All persons who

have attained the age of reason are bound to comply with this precept,

and parents should remind their children of it.

*398 Q. Should we confess only once a year?

A. We should confess frequently, if we wish to lead a good life.

Some seem to think that they need not go to confession if they have not

committed sin since their last confession. Two graces are given in

penance, as you already know: one, to take away the sins confessed, and

the other, to strengthen us against temptation and enable us to keep our

good resolutions. Now, as we are always tempted, we should go frequently

to confession to get the grace to resist. The saints used to go to

confession very frequently, sometimes every day. They used to go when

tempted, to obtain the grace to resist and to expose their temptations

to their confessor and ask his advice. Again the Holy Scripture tells us

that the just man falls seven times; and "just man" in Holy Scripture

means a very good man, that is, one doing for God, his neighbor, and

himself what he ought to do. St. Joseph is called in the Scripture a

"just man," and he was the foster-father of Our Lord. Now, if the good

man falls seven times, he must arise after each fall; for if he did not

get up after the first fall, he could not fall the second time. This

teaches us that we all commit some kind of sin, at least, and have

always something to confess if we only examine our conscience closely.

It teaches us also that when we have the misfortune to fall into sin, we

should rise as quickly as possible.

*399 Q. Should children go to confession?

A. Children should go to confession when they are old enough to commit

sin, which is commonly about the age of seven years.

"To commit sin"--that is, when they know the difference between good and

evil.

400 Q. What sin does he commit who neglects to receive Communion during

the Easter time?

A. He who neglects to receive Communion during the Easter time commits a

mortal sin.

401 Q. What is the Easter time?

A. The Easter time is, in this country, the time between the first

Sunday of Lent and Trinity Sunday, inclusive.

Trinity Sunday is the eighth Sunday after Easter. Therefore the whole

Easter-time is from the first Sunday of Lent--that is, seven weeks

before Easter--to Trinity Sunday, eight weeks after it, or fifteen weeks

in all; and anyone who does not go to Holy Communion sometime during

these fifteen weeks commits mortal sin.

402 Q. Are we obliged to contribute to the support of our pastors?

A. We are obliged to contribute to the support of our pastors, and to

bear our share in the expenses of the Church and school.

And any charitable institution connected with the Church. The Holy Land

was divided among the tribes of Israel, who were the descendants of the

twelve sons of Jacob. Now, one of these twelve tribes was made up

entirely of priests and persons who served in the temple of God, called

Levites. They received none of the land, but were to be supported by the

other eleven tribes. All the people were obliged by the law to give what

they called first-fruits, and tithes--that is, one tenth of their income

in goods or money each year to the temple for its support and the

support of those who served it. In the New Law no definite amount is

assigned, but every Christian is left free to give what he can to God's

Church according to his generosity. But if God left you free, should you

therefore be stingy with Him? Moreover, all that we have comes from God,

and should we return Him the least and the worst? For every alms you

give for God's sake He can send you a hundred blessings; and what you

refuse to give to His Church or poor He can take from you in a thousand

ways, by sending misfortunes. We read in the Bible (Gen. 4) that Adam's

sons, Cain and Abel, both offered sacrifice to God. Abel's sacrifice was

pleasing, but Cain's was not. Why? Because, as we are told, Cain did not

offer to God the best he had, but likely the worst; or at least, he

offered his sacrifice with a bad disposition. Then when he saw that his

brother's sacrifice was pleasing to God, being filled with jealousy, he

killed him; and in punishment God marked him and condemned him to be a

wanderer on the face of the earth. We are told he was always afraid of

being killed by everyone he saw. See, then, what comes of being

unwilling to be generous with God. What we give Him He does not need,

but by giving, we worship and thank Him. Do not people in the world

often give presents to those who have done them a favor, that they may

thus show their gratitude? Now, God is always doing us favors, and why

should we not show our gratitude to Him by giving generously in His

honor? When we give to the orphans, etc., we give to Him; for He says:

"Whatsoever you give to these little ones you give to Me." Again, when

Our Lord tells what will happen on the Day of Judgment (Matt. 25:31,

etc.), He says, the Judge will divide all the people of the world into

two bodies; the good He will place on His right hand and the wicked on

His left. Then He will praise the good for what they did and welcome

them to Heaven; but to the wicked He will say, "Depart from Me, because

when I was hungry you gave Me not to eat; when I was thirsty you gave Me

not to drink; you clothed Me not," etc. And then the wicked shall ask,

when did we see You in want and not relieve You? He will tell them that

He considered the poor just the same as Himself; and as they did nothing

for His poor, they did nothing for Him.

*403 Q. What is the meaning of the commandment not to marry within the

third degree of kindred?

A. The meaning of the commandment not to marry within the third degree

of kindred is that no one is allowed to marry another within the third

degree of blood relationship.

"Third Degree." What relatives are in the third degree? Brother and

sister are in the first degree; first cousins are in the second degree;

second cousins are in the third degree. Therefore all who are second

cousins or in nearer relationship cannot be married without a

dispensation from the Church allowing them to do so. A dispensation

granted by the Church is a permission to do something which its law

forbids. Since it made the law, it can also dispense from the observance

of it. The Church could not give permission to do anything that God's

law forbids. It could not, for example, give permission to a brother and

sister to marry, because it is not alone the law of the Church but God's

law also that forbids that. But God's law does not forbid first or

second cousins to get married; but the Church's law forbids it, and thus

it can in special cases dispense from such laws. God's law is called

also the natural law. You must be very careful not to confound the

marriage laws that the Church makes with the marriage laws that the

State makes. When the State makes laws contrary to the laws of God or of

the Church, you cannot obey such laws without committing grievous sin.

For instance, the State allows divorce; it allows persons to marry again

if the husband or wife has been sentenced to imprisonment for life; it

does not recognize all the impediments to marriage laid down by the

Church. Such laws as these Catholics cannot comply with; but when the

State makes laws which regard only the civil effects of marriage, such

as refer to the property of the husband or wife, the inheritance of the

children, etc., laws, in a word, which are not opposed either to the

laws of God or of His Church, then you may and must obey them; for the

authorities of the government are our lawful superiors, and must be

obeyed in all that is not sin. What we have said with regard to the

marriage laws is true for all the rest. Thus the civil court might, on

account of some technicality, free you legally from the payment of a

debt; but that would not free you in conscience from paying what you

justly owe. Again, the court might legally decide in your favor in an

unjust suit; but that would not give you the right in conscience to keep

what you have thus fraudulently or unjustly obtained.

*404 Q. What is the meaning of the command not to marry privately?

A. The command not to marry privately means that none should marry

without the blessing of God's priests or without witnesses.

If persons wishing to be married suspect that there is any impediment

existing between them, they should express their doubts and the reasons

for them to the priest.

Here it is well for you to know that if any Catholic goes to be married

before a Protestant minister, he is, by the laws of the Church in the

United States, excommunicated. [In 1966 the penalty of excommunication

for this offense was lifted by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine

of the Faith. Yet it remains a mortal sin for a Catholic to attempt to

marry outside the Catholic Church, and such a "marriage" will be

invalid.] You must know excommunication means cut off from the communion

of the Church and the body of the faithful; cut off from the Sacraments

and from a share in all the holy Masses and public prayers offered by

the Church throughout the world. It is a punishment the Church inflicts

upon its disobedient children who will not repent but persist in

wrongdoing. If they die willfully excommunicated, they die in mortal

sin, and no Mass or funeral prayers can be publicly offered for them;

nor can they be buried in consecrated ground. Besides the

excommunicated, there are others who cannot be buried in consecrated

ground: namely, infants or others who have not been baptized; those who

deliberately committed suicide; those who have publicly lived sinful

lives and evidently died in that public sin; and all persons who are not

Catholics. If a Catholic who is not publicly a sinner dies suddenly, we

cannot judge that he is in mortal sin; and hence such a one may be

buried in consecrated ground.

It is the desire of the Church that all its faithful children should be

buried in the ground which it has blessed for their remains; and

wherever it is possible Catholics must have their own burying ground.

*405 Q. What is the meaning of the precept not to solemnize marriage at

forbidden times?

A. The meaning of the precept not to solemnize marriage at forbidden

times is that during Lent and Advent the marriage ceremony should not be

performed with pomp or a nuptial Mass.

Persons may be married at these times quietly, wherever it is not

positively forbidden by the laws of the diocese.

*406 Q. What is the nuptial Mass?

A. The nuptial Mass is a Mass appointed by the Church to invoke a

special blessing upon the married couple.

It is a Mass especially for them and cannot be said for anyone else. At

the most solemn parts of the Mass the priest turns to them and prays

that God may bless their union.

*407 Q. Should Catholics be married at a nuptial Mass?

A. Catholics should be married at a nuptial Mass, because they thereby

show greater reverence for the holy Sacrament and bring richer blessings

upon their wedded life.

The Church wishes to give to the marriage of its children observing its

laws all the solemnity possible, and to impress its dignity and sanctity

so deeply upon their minds that they may never forget the solemn promise

made at the altar of God. The thought of that day will keep them from

sin. On the other hand, the Church shows its great displeasure when

Catholics do not keep its laws, but marry persons not of their own

religion. At a mixed marriage the couple cannot be married in the

church, nor even in the sacristy; the priest cannot wear a surplice or

stole or any of the sacred vestments of the Church; he cannot use holy

water, or the Sign of the Cross; he cannot bless the ring or even use

the Church's language--Latin. Everything is done in the coldest manner,

to remind Catholics that they are doing what is displeasing to their

mother the Church.

Again the Church wishes its children to prepare for the Sacrament of

Matrimony just as they would prepare for any other Sacrament--Penance,

Holy Eucharist, Holy Orders, etc. Imagine a boy going up for First

Communion laughing, talking, or gazing about him, without any thought of

the great Sacrament he is about to receive; thinking only of how he

appears in his new clothing, of those who are present, etc., and

spending all his time of preparation not in purifying his soul, but in

adorning his body! Think of him returning from Holy Communion and

immediately forgetting Our Lord! Now, Matrimony is deserving of all the

respect due to a Sacrament, and hence the Church wishes all its children

to be married at Mass; or at least in the morning. It does not like them

to marry in the evening, and go to the reception of the Sacrament as

they would to a place of vain amusement. For on such occasions they

cannot show the proper respect in the church, and possibly turn the

ceremony into an occasion of sin for all who attend; for they often seem

to forget the holiness of the place and the respect due to the presence

of Our Lord upon the altar. Indeed it should be remembered, at whatever

time the marriage takes place, that conduct, dress, and all else must be

in keeping with the dignity of the place and the holiness of the

Sacrament, and the women should not come into the Church with uncovered

heads.

Lesson 37

ON THE LAST JUDGMENT AND THE RESURRECTION, HELL, PURGATORY, AND HEAVEN

408 Q. When will Christ judge us?

A. Christ will judge us immediately after our death, and on the last

day.

"Immediately." In the very room and on the very spot where we die, we

shall be judged in an instant, and even before those around us are sure

that we are really dead. When we have a trial or judgment in one of our

courts, we see the judge listening, the lawyers defending or trying to

condemn, and the witnesses for or against the person accused. We are in

the habit of imagining something of the same kind to take place in the

judgment of God. We see Almighty God seated on His throne; our angel and

patron saint giving their testimony about us--good or bad--and then we

hear the Judge pronounce sentence. This takes place, but not in the way

we imagine, for God needs no witnesses: He knows all. An example will

probably make you understand better what really takes place. If you are

walking over a very muddy road on a dark night, you cannot see the

spattered condition of your clothing; but if you come suddenly into a

strong light you will see at a glance the state in which you are. In the

same way the soul during our earthly life does not see its own

condition; but when it comes into the bright light of God's presence, it

sees in an instant its own state and knows what its sentence will be. It

goes immediately to its reward or punishment. This judgment at the

moment of our death will settle our fate forever. The general judgment

will not change, but only repeat, the sentence before the whole world.

Oh, how we should prepare for that awful moment! See that poor sick man

slowly breathing away his life. All his friends are kneeling around him

praying; now he becomes unconscious; now the death rattle sounds in his

throat; now the eyes are fixed and glassy. A few minutes more and that

poor soul will stand in the awful presence of God, to give an account of

that man's whole life--of every thought, word, and deed. All he has done

on earth will be spread out before him like a great picture. He will,

towards the end of his life, have altogether forgotten perhaps what he

thought, said, or did on a certain day and hour--the place he was in and

the sin committed, etc.; but at that moment of judgment he will remember

all. How he will wish he had been good! How, then, can we be so careless

now about a matter of such importance, when we are absolutely certain

that we too shall be judged, and how soon we know not. When you are

about to be examined on what you have learned in school or instructions

in six months or a year, how anxious you are in making the necessary

preparation, and how you fear you might not pass, but be kept back for a

while! How delighted you would be to hear that a very dear friend, and

one who knew you well, was to be your examiner! Prepare in the same way

for the examination you have to stand at the end of your life. Every day

you can make a preparation by examining your conscience on the sins you

have committed; by making an act of contrition for them, and resolving

to avoid them for the future. You should never go to sleep without some

preparation for judgment. But above all, try to become better acquainted

with your Examiner--Our Lord Jesus Christ; try by your prayers and good

works to become His special friend, and when your judgment comes you

will be pleased rather than afraid to meet Him.

409 Q. What is the judgment called which we have to undergo immediately

after death?

A. The judgment we have to undergo immediately after death is called the

Particular Judgment.

"Particular," because one particular person is judged.

410 Q. What is the judgment called which all men have to undergo on the

last day?

A. The judgment which all men have to undergo on the last day is called

the General Judgment.

"General," because every creature gifted with intelligence will be

judged on that day--the angels of Heaven, the devils of Hell, and all

men, women, and children that have ever lived upon the earth. The Holy

Scripture gives us a terrible account of that awful day. (Matt. 24-25).

On some day--we know not when, it might be tomorrow for all we know--the

world will be going on as usual, some going to school, others to

business; some seeking pleasure, others suffering pain; some in health,

others in sickness, etc. Suddenly they will feel the earth beginning to

quake and tremble; they will see the ocean in great fury, and will be

terrified at its roar as, surging and foaming, it throws its mighty

waves high in the air. Then the sun will grow red and begin to darken; a

horrid glare will spread over the earth, beginning to burn up. Then,

says the Holy Scripture, men will wither away for fear of what is

coming; they will call upon the mountains to fall and hide them; they

will be rushing here and there, not knowing what to do. Money will be of

no value then; dress, wealth, fame, power, learning, and all else will

be useless, for at that moment all men will be equal. Then shall be

heard the sound of the angel's great trumpet calling all to judgment.

The dead shall come forth from their graves, and the demons rush from

Hell. Then all shall see our Blessed Lord coming in the clouds of Heaven

in great power and majesty surrounded by countless angels bearing His

shining Cross before Him. He will separate the good from the wicked; He

will welcome the good to Heaven and condemn the wicked to Hell. The sins

committed shall be made public before all present. Imagine your feelings

while you are standing in that great multitude, waiting for the

separation of the good from the bad. To which side will you be sent? Our

Lord is coming, not with the mild countenance of a saviour, but with the

severe look of a judge. As He draws nearer and nearer to you, you see

some of your dear friends, whom you thought good enough upon earth, sent

over to the side of the wicked; you see others that you deemed foolish

sent with the good, and you become more anxious every instant about the

uncertainty of your own fate. You see fathers and mothers sent to

opposite sides, brothers and sisters, parents and children, separated

forever. Oh, what a terrible moment of suspense! How you will wish you

had been better and always lived a friend of God! The side you will be

on depends upon what you do now, and you can be on the better side if

you wish. Do, then, in your life what you would wish to have done at

that terrible moment. Learn to judge yourself frequently. Say this, or

something similar, to yourself. "Now I have lived twelve, fifteen,

twenty, or more years; if that judgment came today, on which side should

I be? Probably on the side of the wicked. If then I spend the rest of my

life as I have lived in the past, on the last day I shall surely be with

the wicked. If my good deeds and bad deeds were counted today, which

would be more numerous? What, then, must I do? It will not be enough for

me simply to be better for the future--I must try also to make amends

for the past. If a man wishing to complete a journey on a certain time,

by walking a fixed number of miles each day, falls behind a great deal

on one day, he must not only walk the usual number of miles the next,

but must make up for the distance lost on the previous day. So in our

journey through this life we must do our duty each day for the future,

and, as far as we can, make up for what we have neglected in the past.

*411 Q. Why does Christ judge men immediately after death?

A. Christ judges men immediately after death to reward or punish them

according to their deeds.

412 Q. What are the rewards or punishments appointed for men's souls

after the Particular Judgment?

A. The rewards or punishments appointed for men's souls after the

Particular Judgment are Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell.

413 Q. What is Hell?

A. Hell is a state to which the wicked are condemned, and in which they

are deprived of the sight of God for all eternity, and are in dreadful

torments.

"Deprived of the sight of God." This is called the pain of loss, while

the other sufferings the damned endure are called the pain of

sense--that is, of the senses. The pain of loss causes the unfortunate

souls more torment than all their other sufferings; for as we are

created for God alone, the loss of Him--our last end--is the most

dreadful evil that can befall us. This the damned realize, and know that

their souls will be tortured by a perpetual yearning never to be

satisfied. This is aggravated by the thought of how easily they might

have been saved, and how foolishly they threw away their happiness and

lost all for some miserable pleasure or gratification, so quickly ended.

Besides this remorse, they suffer most frightful torments in all their

senses. The worst sufferings you could imagine would not be as bad as

the sufferings of the damned really are; for Hell must be the opposite

of Heaven, and since we cannot, as St. Paul says, imagine the happiness

of Heaven, neither can we imagine the misery of Hell. Sometimes you will

find frightful descriptions of Hell in religious books that tell of the

horrible sights, awful sounds, disgusting stenches, and excruciating

pains the lost souls endure. Now, all these descriptions are given

rather to make people think of the torments of Hell than as an accurate

account of them. No matter how terrible the description may be, it is

never as bad as the reality. We know that the damned are continually

tormented in all their senses, but just in what way we do not know. We

know that there is fire in Hell, but it is entirely different from our

fire; it neither gives light nor consumes what it burns, and it causes

greater pain than the fire of earth, for it affects both body and soul.

We know that the damned will never see God and there will never be an

end to their torments. Now, all this is contained in the following: Hell

is the absence of everything good and the presence of everything evil,

and it will last forever. Now, a priest coming out to preach on Hell

would not say to the people: "Hell is the absence of everything good and

the presence of everything evil, and it will last forever," and then

step down from the altar and say no more. He must give a fuller

explanation to those who are unable to think for themselves. He must

point out some of the evils present in Hell and some of the good things

absent, and thus teach the people how to meditate on these dreadful

truths. If, then, you bear in mind that there is nothing good in Hell

and it will last forever, and often think of these two points, you will

have a holy fear of the woeful place and a deep sorrow for your sins

which expose you to the danger of suffering its torments.

It should be enough, therefore, for you to remember: there is nothing

good in Hell, and it will last forever. Think of anything good you

please and it cannot be found in Hell. Is light good? Yes. Then it is

not in Hell. Is hope good? Yes. Then it is not in Hell. Is true

friendship good? Yes. Then it is not in Hell. There the damned hate one

another. There the poor sufferers curse forever those who led them into

sin. Hence, persons should try to bring back to a good life everyone

they may have led into sin or scandalized by bad example.

414 Q. What is Purgatory?

A. Purgatory is the state in which those suffer for a time who die

guilty of venial sins, or without having satisfied for the punishment

due to their sins.

"Punishment"--that is, temporal punishment, already explained to you.

After the general judgment there will be Heaven and Hell, but no

Purgatory, for there will be no men living or dying upon the earth in

its present condition to go there. All will be dead and judged and sent

to their final abodes. Those in Purgatory are the friends of God; and

knowing Him as they do now, they would not go into His holy presence

with the slightest stain upon their souls; still they are anxious for

their Purgatory to be ended that they may be with God. They suffer, we

are told, the same pains of sense as the damned; but they suffer

willingly, for they know that it is making them more pleasing to God,

and that one day it will all be over and He will receive them into

Heaven. Their salvation is sure, and that thought makes them happy. If,

therefore, you believe any of your friends are in Purgatory, you should

help them all you can, and try by your prayers and good works to shorten

their time of suffering. They will help you--though they cannot help

themselves--by their prayers. And oh, when they are admitted into

Heaven, how they will pray for those that have helped them out of

Purgatory! If you do this great charity, God will, when you die, put in

some good person's heart to pray for you while you suffer in Purgatory.

There must be a Purgatory, for one who dies with the slightest stain of

sin upon his soul cannot enter Heaven, and yet God would not send him to

Hell for so small a sin. But why does God punish those He loves? Why

does He not forgive everything? He punishes because He is infinitely

just and true. He warned them that if they did certain things they would

be punished; and they did them, and God must keep His promise. Moreover

He is just, and must give to everyone exactly what he deserves.

*415 Q. Can the faithful on earth help the souls in Purgatory?

A. The faithful on earth can help the souls in Purgatory by their

prayers, fasts, almsdeeds; by indulgences, and by having Masses said for

them.

*416 Q. If everyone is judged immediately after death, what need is

there of a general judgment?

A. There is need of a general judgment, though everyone is judged

immediately after death, that the providence of God, which, on earth,

often permits the good to suffer and the wicked to prosper, may in the

end appear just before all men.

"Providence of God." Sometimes here on earth we see a good man always in

want, out of employment, sickly, unsuccessful in all his undertakings,

while his neighbor, who is a very bad man, is wealthy and prosperous,

and seems to have every pleasure. Why this is so we cannot understand

now, but God's reason for it will be made known to us on the Day of

Judgment. Sometimes the wicked do good actions here on earth--help the

poor, or contribute to some charity, for instance; and as God on account

of their wickedness cannot reward them in the next world, He rewards

them chiefly in this world by temporal goods and pleasures. For all

their good deeds they get their reward in this world, and for the evil

their punishment in the next. The good man who suffers gets all his

reward in the next world, that even his sufferings here atone partly for

the evil he has done.

A second reason for a general judgment is to show the crimes of sinners

and the justice of their punishment; also that the saints may have all

their good works made known before the world and receive the glory they

deserve. On earth these saints were sometimes considered fools and

treated as criminals, falsely accused, etc., and now the whole truth

will stand out before the world. But above all, the general judgment is

for the honor and glory of Our Lord. At His first coming into the world

He was poor and weak; many would not believe Him the Son of God, and

insulted Him as an impostor. He was falsely accused, treated shamefully,

and was put to death, many believing Him guilty of some crime. Now He

will appear before all as He really is--their Lord and Master, their

Creator and Judge. How they will tremble to look upon Him whom they have

crucified! How all those who have denied Him, blasphemed Him, persecuted

His Church, and the like, will fear when they see Him there as Judge!

How they will realize the terrible mistake worldlings made!

417 Q. Will our bodies share in the reward or punishment of our souls?

A. Our bodies will share in the reward or punishment of our souls,

because through the Resurrection they will again be united to them.

*418 Q. In what state will the bodies of the just rise?

A. The bodies of the just will rise glorious and immortal.

We honor the dead body and treat it with great respect because it was

the dwelling place of the soul and was often nourished with the

Sacraments; also because it will rise in glory and be united with the

soul in the presence of God forever. For these reasons we use incense

and holy water when the body is to be buried, and even bless the ground

in which it is laid. "Faithful departed" means all those who died in a

state of grace and who are in Heaven or Purgatory. They may be in

Purgatory, and so we pray for them. We pray that they may "rest in

peace"--that is be in Heaven, where they will have no sufferings.

*419 Q. Will the bodies of the damned also rise?

A. The bodies of the damned will also rise, but they will be condemned

to eternal punishment.

420 Q. What is Heaven?

A. Heaven is the state of everlasting life in which we see God face to

face, are made like unto Him in glory, and enjoy eternal happiness.

The most delightful place we could possibly imagine as Heaven would not

be near what it really is. Everything that is good is there and forever,

and we shall never tire of its joys. All the pleasures and beauties of

earth are as nothing compared with Heaven; and though we think we can

imagine its beauty and happiness now, we shall see how far we have been

from the real truth if ever we reach this heavenly home.

"God face to face"--that is, as He is. We shall not see Him with the

eyes of the body, but of the soul. That we may see with our natural

eyes, two things are necessary: first, an object to look at, and

secondly, light to see it. Now, to see God in Heaven we need a special

light, which is called the "light of glory." God Himself gives us this

light and thus enables us to see Him as He is. This beautiful vision of

God in Heaven is called the "beatific vision," and thus our whole life

in Heaven--our joy and happiness--consists in the enjoyment of the

beatific vision.

*421 Q. What words should we bear always in mind?

A. We should bear always in mind these words of Our Lord and Saviour

Jesus Christ: "What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world and

suffer the loss of his own soul, or what exchange shall a man give for

his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with

His angels: and then will He render to every man according to his

works."

What does it benefit the poor creatures in Hell to have been rich, or

beautiful, or learned, or powerful? If they had been good, it was all

that was necessary to escape all their sufferings. Is there anything on

earth that they would not give to be released? Why, then, did they sell

their souls for so little while on earth? The present is the only time

you have to merit Heaven and escape Hell. The past you cannot recall,

and of the future you are not sure. Then use the present well and decide

daily whether you wish to be in Heaven or in Hell.

NOTE--Wherever in the foregoing pages explanations have been omitted

after certain questions or answers it is because the matter they contain

has been explained in some preceding question, or is to be explained in

some following question, or is clear enough in itself without

explanation. The explanations of such questions or answers can be easily

found by referring to the index.