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To love God above all else is a response of love
There are many people who answer with full conviction when asked if they love God, but hesitate when asked if they love him above all else.
What is implied in the statement we find in the Bible, “I am the Lord your God,” which inspired the first commandment of God’s law?
That God, is precisely, God: the all-powerful being, creator of the world, creator of our own existence, the one who maintains life in us, the only being capable of giving us everything we need and granting us eternal happiness.
No object or person is comparable to God in greatness, goodness, power and love. It is therefore a logical conclusion, for anyone who claims to believe in God: that God not only must be the most important thing in our lives, but also the source from which all our actions spring.
Anyone who believes in God knows that not only he or she owes God everything they have, but that God loves him or her as no one else is capable of loving them.
That is why the Compendium of the Catechism explains that the words of the first commandment: “‘Adore the Lord your God and worship him alone’… mean to adore God as the Lord of everything that exists; to render to him the individual and community worship which is his due; to pray to him with sentiments of praise, of thanks, and of supplication; to offer him sacrifices, above all the spiritual sacrifice of one’s own life, united with the perfect sacrifice of Christ; and to keep the promises and vows made to him.” (Compendium, 443)
Loving God then, is not an “arbitrary obligation” imposed by God but a logical and free consequence of a human person who knows that he or she is a treasured creature.
Unfortunately, many Catholics live as if loving God were only a duty: they fulfill the commandments only as if they were a heavy burden, which they must balance with other things they find “more enjoyable” in their lives: achieving power, economic success, or finding pleasure.
Although this way of life is commonly found in our times, it is not what is expected from anyone who really lives and obeys the first commandment.
The church cannot force anyone to obey the Ten Commandments. It can only preach in and out of season that happiness and salvation depend on our sincere and heartfelt fulfillment of the commandments, because God revealed them to us for our benefit, not for himself.
In other words, living the commandment of loving God above all things is not something that God needs: God gains nothing by our obedience! He will still be the same omnipotent God whether we worship him or not! The only ones who benefit are we human beings.
Therefore, for the good of the human person, the first commandment demands: “You shall not have other gods besides me.” This demand has many practical implications.
Above all, it involves a rejection of idolatry, which deifies a creature, power, money, even the devil.
It also involves a rejection of superstition, which is a deviation from the worship owed the only true God, which is expressed under forms of fortune-telling, magic, witchcraft, or spiritism.
It involves rejecting atheism or agnosticism, which directly denies the existence of God or finds it of no importance in the lives of human beings. We should especially reject the practical agnosticism lived by many Catholics who, although they go to Mass and fulfill other external requirements of the church, live their personal, family and public lives as if God did not exist.
The joyful fulfillment of the first commandment, which Jesus called “the first of all,” will bring blessings of peace to us, our families and to society. May St. James the Apostle, who gave up everything to follow Christ and gave his life out of fidelity to his calling, and whose feast day we celebrate next week, intercede for us so that we will be men and women of true faith, who love God above all things.
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