Chapter 16Love the Lord Your God“I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you out of theland of Egypt, that place of slavery.”(Ex 20:2; Dt 5:6 )“Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone!Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with allyour heart, with all your soul, and with all yourstrength.”(Dt 6:4)

OPENING862. This chapter begins the development of the three previous foundational chapters: what it means to liveas disciples of Christ (Chap. 13), responding to his challenge of following him (Chap. 14), according to hisLaw of Life-giving love (Chap. 15). His Two Great Commandments of loving God and loving one’sneighbor must be spelled out in greater detail. For this, the Church, heir of ancient Israel, draws on hermoral heritage of virtues and commandments. We shall draw on both in an integrated presentation,using the commandments to structure the whole. For the Ten Commandments set out systematicallywhat the love of God and the love of neighbor demand. The first three concern our duties towardsGod; the remainder detail our duties towards our neighbor. Thus, the Decalogue provides a frameworkwithin which the demands of the Two Great Commandments can be expressed.863. As candidates for Baptism, we were called to choose between “two ways,” one leading towardslife, the other to death. The Ten Commandments, now completed by Christ, are seen as a privilegedexpression of the “way of life.” They are a classical structure for Christian moral teaching. Theyexpress God’s will for us, not as a set of arbitrary instructions but as a loving providence. What Godcommands to be done, His grace makes possible (cf. CCC 2082). For Christians, the TenCommandments take on a whole new perspective __ that of deep personal faith and loyalty to Christ.“If you keep my commandments you will live in my love . . . You are my friends if you do what Icommand you” (Jn 15:10-14; cf. CCC 2074).

CONTEXT864. The first thing that comes to mind to many Filipino Catholics when asked about morality is the “TenCommandments.” As Christians they usually hear “moral talk” in the form either of warnings against sin and breakingGod’s commandments, or of pious spiritual exhortations about love and happiness. But it is rare thateither form is related to the other. Taken separately neither the commandments nor love offers a truepicture of daily life where love and moral responsibility are always intertwined. The truth is that theTen Commandments are actually moral imperatives of how to love others and to follow Christ’sown command to love.865. But in the popular mind of many Filipinos the Ten Commandments are linked with the story learned aschildren about Moses coming down from Mt. Sinai, with the two stone tablets. One had the Commandments dealing withour relations with God, the other with our relationships with one another. Now since the “story” is remembered fromchildhood days, it unfortunately is often understood in rather childish ways. God’s Commandments are viewed assomething imposed __ “taboos” that must not be broken, otherwise you get punished. They are not relatedin any way with love, or friendship, or fidelity. Small wonder, then, that many adult Filipino Catholicsdo not see any direct connection between this “story” and their daily moral actions. On one side, theirrelations with God tend to be dominated by the external ritual piety of their upbringing. On the other,their personal moral actions and interrelationships are controlled by familial and friendship ties, or theincreasingly competitive, secularistic drive for business success.

866. More recently an opposite reaction has become quite common among certain socially-orientedFilipinos. They react against the overly devotional ritualism and moralistic “platitudes in stained-glassattitudes” of some pious church-goers. Being so wholeheartedly committed to the thrust for justice and liberation, they havelittle or no time for “talk of sin and God.” For them, the Commandments of God are simply not relevant totoday’s Philippine context so dominated by the fight for justice and identification with the poor. Thusin the Philippines, today, some serious, well-intentioned Christians do not seem to see any particularconnection between their moral lives and the Ten Commandments, especially those pertaining to ourrelationship with God.

EXPOSITION867. This chapter, then, sets out to develop Catholic morality in terms of both love andcommandments. In this it follows both Christ’s own teaching on how to gain eternal life (cf. Mk10:17-19), and the exposition of following Christ as his disciple proposed in the three precedingchapters (Chaps. 13-15). This chapter proposes how to love God with all one’s heart, soul, andstrength by explaining the nature and function of the first Three Commandments, while the followingchapters take up the love of neighbor.But this order must not obscure the basic unity of the Ten Commandments. They form anorganic whole in which all of the commandments relate to, and mutually condition, one another. Noone can relate to God authentically while sinning against one’s neighbor; neither can one adequatelylove one’s neighbor while rejecting our heavenly Father (cf. CCC 2069). Through the TenCommandments God actually reveals to us the basic norms of the law written into our human nature,the Natural Law, on how to act toward God and neighbor (cf. CCC 2070).I. UNDERSTANDING THE COMMANDMENTS868. Proper Understanding Needed. A proper understanding of the Ten Commandments is oftendifficult for the Filipino Catholic because of the manner in which they have often been taught andmemorized in catechism classes. Presented as characteristic of the “Old Testament,” the TenCommandments were viewed as the law imposed by a divine Judge who watches over everyone withan all-seeing EYE. Eternal punishment is the final end of all transgressors. Such a picture of God inthe Old Testament is frequently given even today in superficial, over-simplified contrasts withChrist’s “New Spirit” which allegedly liberates us from all law. In brief, then, the TenCommandments are frequently rejected as historically outmoded, authoritarian, and repressive, andspiritually counter to the new creation in Christ.869. Yet upon reflection, we soon realize how mistaken this easy contrast is. When asked what onemust do to possess eternal life, Jesus replied by quoting the Commandments (cf. Mk 10:17-19). ForChrist and his apostles, the Commandments represented the great gift of God’s love. The divine “law”given to Moses constituted a great part of their “Sacred Scriptures.” Moreover, in instituting his NewLaw in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus did not abolish but rather fulfilled the Law and the Prophets(cf. Mt 5:17). Christ taught that “whoever breaks the least of these commands and teaches others to doso shall be called least in the Kingdom of God” (Mt 5:19). In the Gospel, the Old Law is not set asidebut rather transformed. But why bother with the “Old Law” when we already have the “New”? Whatis the value of the Ten Commandments for the Filipino Catholic of today?870. First, the Ten Commandments constitute the basic imperatives needed for life in community,like a community “Bill of Rights.” They sketch for us the limits or parameters within which we, thePeople of God, must live our life of faith, hope and love in our redeeming Lord and among ourselves.The Commandments actually point in two directions: they call for reverence for God, and respect forour fellow human beings. While requiring these basic moral attitudes as constant and unchanging, theCommandments, far from being a code of rigid rules and don’ts, allow for the greatest flexibility ininterpreting their “spirit” as well as the “letter.”871. Secondly, the lasting exceptional value of the Ten Commandments can be grounded in theirhistorical origin, their covenantal character and their liberating power. The Commandmentsoriginated not from some particular process of philosophical reasoning nor from mysticalcontemplation, but from the concrete historical events of Exodus and Mt. Sinai. Therefore, to interpret

them legalistically as abstract generalizations is to wrench them from their living origin in God’screative, saving will in salvation history.872. Moreover, the Commandments are terms of the Covenant, “Ten Words” revealing the patternof life which is righteous in God’s sight, the way of life which leads to happiness (cf. CCC 2058-61).In the Ark of the Covenant, the Commandments had a central part in the liturgy of God’s people,celebrated in Israel’s great festivals, renewed through each succeeding generation. Thus theCommandments were not some originating event receding further and further into the past, but anopen-ended Covenant event looking ever to the future.873. Finally, the Decalogue, set in the context of Exodus, is that great liberating act of God which stands at the centerof salvation history. Though the Commandments have the form of prohibitions, they are also a deliverance from theslavery of sin. They free men to travel towards God, a journey of faithful service, and so to discover their true selves andachieve their true destiny (cf. CCC 2057). The Commandments provide the signposts to authentic responsiblefreedom, showing the way between legalistic misunderstanding of freedom on one side, and freedom mistaken aslawless license and irresponsible spontaneity on the other.874. Preamble of the Ten Commandments. This positive understanding of the TenCommandments shines forth in their preamble: “I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you out of theland of Egypt, that place of slavery” (Ex 20:2). Nothing is farther from moralistic legalism than such ablazing declaration, identifying God as Liberator. As with Christ’s Resurrection in the New Covenant,this preamble sets us free of all enslavement by nature, by history, or by death. Called into Covenantwith the Creator, made in His very image with dominion over the earth, we are freed from all “natureworship.” Likewise, by entering into history God has liberated us from all historical fatalism. God’slove, not the inexorable cycle of history, is the source of all. Finally, not even the bondage of deathcan stand against the promise of God’s liberating presence.875. A clarifying New Testament version of the Preamble could well be: “It is for liberty that Christfreed us; so stand firm and do not take on yourselves the yoke of slavery a second time” (Gal 5:1).“For I am certain that neither death nor life, . . . neither the present nor the future, neither height nordepth nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God that comes to us inChrist Jesus, our Lord” (Rom 8:38f).876. Rather than contrast the Ten Commandments with Christ’s new law of love, then, it is moreaccurate, realistic and truthful to understand them as dynamically forming together a consistentpattern for Christian moral living. The Ten Commandments are needed to provide:a) credible and durable moral norms for everyday life;b) a pattern and structure for living according to Christ’s Commandment to love God and neigbor;andc) a universally accessible source for relating to non-Christians in moral matters.It is true that the Gospel of God’s redeeming grace precedes the Law __ the Decalogue arises ina context of grace. But it is equally true that the Law follows the Gospel __ that Christian life isessentially a morally structured response in faith, hope and love to God’s call in Christ and the Spirit.877. We therefore develop the first great “Love Commandment” to love God with all one’s heart,soul, and strength, according to the structure furnished by the first three of the Ten Commandments.II. THE FIRST COMMANDMENT878. The First Commandment forms a unity with the two following commandments. The FirstTablet of the Law consists of the three Commandments of the Decalogue which set out our dutiestowards God arising from his Oneness and Lordship. They enable our relationship with Him, andconsequently with our neighbor, to develop rightly. They mark a first stage in coming to understandthe command: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with allyour strength” (Dt 6:5; cf. CCC 2083).879. The First Commandment is usually expressed: “I am the Lord your God. You shall not haveother gods besides me” (Ex 20:2-3; Dt 5:6-7). Notice how the moral obligation (you shall not. . .) is

drawn directly from the reality (I am . . .). Put positively, the Commandment enjoins: “The Lord, yourGod, shall you adore, Him shall you serve” (Dt 6: 13; cf. CCC 2084). In today’s idiom, its meaningcould be expressed in a number of ways: “Give God your Father His rightful place at the center ofyour lives. Live in faith, hope, and love in God, the Father of all.”880. This commandment is “first” not just because it heads the list, but because, together with itspreamble, it is the most important. From it all the other Commandments are derived and governed. Toknow and love God, and gratefully accept His lordship, is the foundation of all Christian moral life. Inrevealing Himself as out-going creative Love, God calls every person to share in His Love through alife of Faith, Hope and Charity (cf. CCC 2086-94). True happiness and our final destiny are achievedwithin the framework revealed in God’s laws. As Christ taught, “Eternal life is this: to know you, theonly true God, and him whom you have sent, Jesus Christ” (Jn 17:3).881. Christ confirmed the First Commandment in his preaching the Kingdom of God. For the firstcall of the Kingdom is to acknowledge the uniqueness of God as the hope of human unity: “There isbut one Body and one Spirit, just as there is but one hope given to all of you by your call . . . one Godand Father of all, who is over all, and works through all, and is in all” (Eph 4:4-6).882. Fruits of the First Commandment. The uniqueness and oneness of God our Lord, stressed bythe First Commandment, is a liberating truth. For adoration of the one God frees us from slavery toand idolatry of the world. God’s unique oneness is also a reconciling truth since the one God, asFather of us all, makes us one family. Despite the endless struggles between nations and peoples, andour own ordinary conflicts and misunderstandings, we realize God created the whole world for unityand order. “The whole created world eagerly awaits the revelation of the sons of God . . . [to] be freedfrom its slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Rom 8:19-21). Finally, the oneness of God is a loving truth in that it makes possible a genuine unified love ofGod. For the One God has no rivals, so we may love Him with our whole heart, completely and aboveall. There is but one Lord and Master.883. As a liberating, reconciling and loving truth, the Oneness of God can be the basis of ourpersonal freedom, our unity with all our brothers and sisters under our heavenly Father, and our lovefor one another. This basis is expressed in the renewal of Baptismal vows during the Easter VigilEucharistic celebration. Together as a community, after rejecting Satan and all his works and emptypromises, we solemnly affirm our faith in God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and their Holy Spirit.We affirm our belief in the holy Catholic Church, forgiveness of sins, resurrection of the body, andlife everlasting.884. Duty of Prayer/Worship. Christ answered Satan’s final temptation with: “Scripture has it:‘You shall do homage to the Lord your God; Him alone shall you adore’ ” (Mt 4:10). The FirstCommandment, in proclaiming the Lordship of the one true God, expresses this duty of worship.Worship is the recognition of God’s Lordship expressed in filial devotion and service. To love and toserve God in faith and hope is our first duty and privilege. In a larger sense, the First Commandmentfosters all the elements of the virtue of religion: adoration, prayer, sacrifice, religious vows, andgrounds the basic human right to religious liberty (cf. CCC 2095-2109).885. Some charge us, Filipino Catholics, with praying more to Mary and the saints than to ourCreator and Lord. We respond that the official prayer of the Church is directed to the worship of theFather, through Christ our Lord, in the Holy Spirit. Veneration of Mary and the saints does not in anyway detract from this Christ-centered worship of God. For it is God’s own special grace which hasmade the saints worthy models for our imitation, drawing us closer to God, the source of all holiness.Thus within the Mass, the sacrament of Christ’s own sacrificial meal, we pray “to share in theinheritance of the saints . . . on whose constant intercession we rely for help” (EP III).Yet, while PCP II commends fostering devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the othersaints, it cautions: “we must make sure that [these] devotions are seen in relationship with, and insubordination to, Christ the one Mediator between God and humankind” (PCP II 174).886. Moreover, even our Christian worship of God involves other humans in that it: 1) shares in andcontinues the one sacrifice of Christ our Lord, inspired interiorly by the Holy Spirit; and 2) involvesan in-herent and radical commitment to the service of our neighbor (PCP II 185). PCP II insisted onthe intrinsic link between authentic liturgical worship and social action in the pursuit of justice and

service of the poor (PCP II Decrees, Art. 20, 3).887. Commands/Prohibits. The First Commandment forbids any other god than the Lord . . . thatany created thing should take the place of God and receive the worship due to Him alone. It thus rulesout all forms of idolatry which is the “substitution of someone or something else for God. Idolatry isvividly portrayed in the biblical story of the “Golden Calf” (cf. Ex 32). The calf or bull symbolizes theidols of biblical times: the sexual fertility in the cults of Baal and Astarte, and the military power ofthe Egyptians for political conquest. Today it can likewise stand for the modern idols of divinizedeconomic power, possessions and wealth __ whether concretized in the form of liberal capitalism orMarxist collectivism. “No man can serve two masters . . . You cannot give yourself to God andMoney,” Christ warned (Mt 6:24). What the First Commandment does, then, is to repudiate allidolatrous obsession with wealth, human sexuality, politics and personality cults. Soli Deo gloria __ toGod alone be glory!888. Idolatry and superstition are real temptations today. Enticements such as wealth, honor, success,power, sex, drugs, nation, race, are sometimes pursued with such single-minded enthusiasm that they themselvesbecome the objects of worship in place of God (cf. CCC 2110-14). More serious are forms of magic, sorcery, witchcraft,satanism, astrology, fortune-telling, and all ways of seeking to manipulate events for self-interest, ordiscover hidden knowledge by means alien to God (cf. CCC 2115-17). Also rejected are all forms ofirreligious such as sacrilege (violating sacred places, things, persons), simony (selling or buyingspiritual goods) and tempting God (by demanding signs, complaining [cf. Heb 3:8-10] (cf. CCC 2119-22).889. No Carved Images. God reserves for Himself alone the right to express and produce images ofHimself. God created Adam in His own image (cf. Gn 1:26). This is shown first by giving him a sharein the divine dominion over creation; secondly, by creating them “male and female” (Gn 1:27), thusreflecting God’s own creative community of Father, Son and Spirit. But the perfect image of God isseen in the life and sufferings of Jesus Christ, “the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15), on whoseface “the glory of God shines” (cf. 2 Cor 4:6). It is Jesus alone who could answer Philip’s request,“show us the Father,” with “whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn 14:8-9).890. But as embodied spirits, we experience and express the spiritual realities touching our lives in aphysical, material way, through signs and symbols. Thus did Christ act and teach throughout hispublic ministry, using physical touch, bread and fish, wine and water, to bring God’s grace palpablypresent among the people. Therefore the Gospel itself grounds the use of images in the service andworship of God.891. Yet we must recognize the ever present temptation: from merely reminding us of God, thematerial image tends to gradually “become” a god, an idol. In such fashion the bronze serpent madeby Moses on the command of the Lord to cure those bitten by serpents (cf. Nm 21:6-9) was smashedby Hezekiah because “the Israelites were burning incense to it” (2 Kgs 18:4). An image can eitherbring the reality it represents to mind, to aid devotion and attention, or it can become a substitute forthe reality itself, and thus be an object of idolatry. Thus the First Commandment forcefully reminds usthat God, the Creator, is infinitely beyond any of His creatures; no image or mental concept can ever“capture” Him. Deus semper major __ God is always greater.892. Catholic Filipinos are attracted very much to images and statues of Christ, Mary and patronSaints. These images can offer genuine aid in their worship of Christ and veneration of God’s blessed,Mary and their patron Saints. But in the Philippines today, many who misunderstand the nature andfunction of venerating sacred images, reject this practice as idolatry. Against such attacks the Churchfirmly insists on the valuable help such images can offer for authentic Christian prayer. Nevertheless,the Church is equally insistent on the proper use of such images, avoiding any and all appearances ofmaking the images into idols, or treating them as endowed with some magical powers (cf. CCC 2132).This need for caution is confirmed by today’s “image industry” which graphically illustrates howmanipulative and deceitful human images can become, even holy images.