The Ten Commandments: 1st Commandment: God and God alone

"I am the Lord your God, you shall have no strange gods besides me"

Some folks think that just because they go to church, come regularly for Mass, help out in church activities; it seems unlikely that they could ever break this commandment. However, one might be surprised to discover that one could appear to be a "good Catholic" and still break this commandment. How so?

If you have:

• Given a creature (any person but God) or creation (e.g. sun, moon, stars, "Mother Earth") or object (idols or images carved by men) worship which belongs to God alone; treating these as a god instead
• Believed in or subscribe to superstition, spiritualism, seances, astrology, feng shui, bomohs, horoscopes, fortune telling, palm reading
• Tried to communicate with the dead directly or through others
• Got involved in occult practices in one form or another
• Committed sacrilege (misused what is sacred), got involved in false worship
• Presumption (jumping to conclusions or accepting that something is true until proven otherwise) and despair
• Renounced the faith or given up Catholic practice for the sake of wealth, honours, society, or worldly pleasures

then we could be breaking this commandment.

Jesus reminded us that we cannot have 2 masters: "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. (Matthew 6:24)" Which would you choose? God? Or wealth? God's ways? Or worldly ways? Sometimes in our pursuit of wealth, status and success in this world, we may place God as second place and less important, and elevate others as priority. When we put other things first and God second, then we are having strange gods besides God. Let us take heed of what Jesus warned us: "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 16:26)"

The Ten Commandments: A Refresher - Introduction

Some of us may have forgotten or are unsure what the 10 commandments mean. So, to help these folks, here is a summary of the 10 commandments to help us especially in preparation for the sacrament of confession.

1. I am the Lord your God, you shall have no strange gods besides me
2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain
3. Remember to keep holy the Lord’s day
4. Honour your father and your mother
5. You shall not kill
6. You shall not commit adultery
7. You shall not steal
8. You shall not bear false witness
9. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods

If you look closely, the 10 commandments can be broken into only 2, loving God (the first 3 commandments) and loving each other (the remaining 7 commandments) (Matthew 22:37-40). In giving us the Ten Commandments God is not trying to take away our fun or our freedom. Instead He’s showing us how we were meant to live. So, if God is inviting us to live right, let us then live right and grow in relationship with Him and with others around us.

Praying Before Meals - A Refresher

Are we a thankful people, or have we taken a lot of things for granted? Sometimes I notice in some families, family prayer, prayer before meals, etc. are no longer observed. Everyone seems to be busy, tired, giving so many excuses.

We recall many passages in the Gospels where Jesus prayed and taught others to pray. Jesus taught us the Our Father, which we use in many of our prayers, including the Mass. When feeding the 5000, Jesus "took the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. (Matthew 14:19)" At the Last Supper, Jesus "took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, 'Take and eat; this is my body.' Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, 'Drink from it, all of you...' (Matthew 26:26-27)."

Some people may say that they feel shy, pai seh, or embarrassed to pray before a meal. But the question is... why are you embarrassed or shy when what you are doing is thanking God for the food you are about to receive? Have some of us lack patience and gratitude for God's bounty? Perhaps, to refresh ones memory in case one has forgotten how to pray before a meal, one could pray as follows:

Bless us, O Lord, and these Your gifts, which I am (we are) about to receive, from Your bounty, through Christ our Lord, Amen.

New Year Resolutions

Some of us make new year resolutions each time a new year comes along. However, how many of us make a new year resolution for the new year of the Roman Catholic Church (Latin rite) which starts on the 1st Sunday of Advent?

As we are approaching the Roman Catholic Church (Latin rite) new year, and whether you have made any resolutions or not, pray for God's strength and grace to fulfil such resolutions, if any, and remain faithful in His love. Otherwise we may be merely making empty resolutions we do not keep.

Where is the love?

Every once in a while, I come across people who are genuine in their love towards all. Doesn't matter whether the other is a friend, unfriend, good, bad, enemy, rival, associate, spouse, in-law, out-law, etc., these folks love not just by words but also by their actions. You can see love emitting from them without pretense and without condition.

Unfortunately, as we progress in our physical development, some of us may be lacking or falling behind in our spiritual development. As a consequence, love to us becomes merely a word. The meaning gets lost in translation. We focus on ourselves, on our happiness, on our growth, and while doing so, we may begin to treat others as an object, as a means to fulfil our objectives. Our friends are perhaps not true friends, but people who we deem are useful or helpful to us.

Have some of us become so self-centered and conceited? Look at our society today, how many of us can genuinely say that we love our neighbour and in doing so, love God? Some may think that neighbour merely means the people next door, but Jesus reminds us in Matthew 5:43-48:

"You have heard that it was said, `Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

Where is the love in our lives today? Has love become conditional? God loves us unconditionally, dying on the cross to save all of us. Are we willing to put aside our prejudices, our self-preservation, our pride, our ego, etc. and let God's love shine through us? A hymn titled "God is Love" comes to mind: "But only when we love all men (women included), can we partake of God's love." Do we mean what we sing? Let us take heed and change our lives, so that "They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love, yes they'll know we are Christians by our love."

To love 愛 or to love 爱; That is the Question

If one looks closely at the Chinese character for 'love', one can discover some interesting things.

In traditional Chinese, people write this character as "愛." Now it is simplified to "爱."

The parts of "爫" and "夂" in the traditional Chinese both mean actions. "爫" or "爪" is a chinese radical meaning claw, nail, or talon, similar to grabbing or holding. "夂" is a chinese radical meaning "to walk slowly."

"心" means heart.

So the Traditional Chinese character "爱" means to love people through your actions and with your heart.

In the Simplified Chinese character "爱", the upper part of the word 'love' is the same as the Traditional Chinese. However, the lower part of the Traditional "夂" character is replaced with the character "友" which means "friend." Moreover, the "心" character is missing.

This has some implications to the meaning of the word 'love,' as the Simplified character "爱" now means to love people as merely friends through your actions.

When we love others, do we love them through our actions and with our heart? Or has our love become merely a 'friendly,' heartless love?

到修好所举行和好圣事

1.忏悔者画十字圣号     「因父及子及圣神之名。阿门。」

2.忏悔者告明上次举行和好圣事的时期 「神父，上次我举行和好圣事是……前。」
(如一个月或半年，或一年前......若不记得，就说：「我不记得上灰举行和好圣事是多久前的事。」)

3.忏悔者告明自己的罪过「在自我反省后，我请求天主原谅的是……」
(把自己在省察中所反省到的罪过简明地一一说出)告明自己的罪过后说：
「这是我现在反省到的罪过，也请天主原谅我没有反省到的罪过。」

4.忏悔者聆听神父的规劝，并接受补赎此时神父会先规劝忏悔者。忏悔者努力聆听。其次，神父会要求忏悔者为自己的犯过做补赎。忏悔者仔细聆听神父所给的补赎。忏悔者若不知道神父所给的补赎经文，或不能行神父建议的善工，需告知神父，请神父另给一个补赎。

5.忏悔者念悔罪经神父给了规劝和补赎后，要求忏悔者:「现在请念悔罪经，表明自己的忏悔。」
忏悔者可用以下或类似的祷词说：
「天主，为了我所犯的一切罪过，和我应做而没有尽到的本分，我全心痛悔，因为我得罪了你，极仁慈的天主。现在，依靠你圣宠的助佑，我决心悔改，善作补赎，愿永远生活在您的爱里。阿门。」
(忏悔者此时可以自编一段祷词，只要祷词内容包括①悔罪②求宽恕③决心痛改④谢恩)

6.神父赦罪神父向悔罪者伸出右手(或双手覆在悔罪者头上)说：
「天上的慈父，因祂圣子的死亡和复活，使世界与祂和好，又恩赐圣神赦免罪过。
愿祂借着教会的服务，宽恕你，赐给你平安。现在我因父及子及圣神之名，赦免你的罪过。」
(此时，悔罪者画圣号，接受罪赦。)
悔罪者答：「阿门。」

7.颂谢天主，忏悔者退去神父说：「平安回去吧！天主与你同在！」
忏悔者答：「感谢天主，谢谢神父。」