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2021 Lenten Series: Week 1

Added Apr 16, 2021 •

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welcome thank you all for coming to pray with us and also to hear our Linton speaker series that begins tonight the ventilation and catechesis commission shows the topic of Ten Commandments this year because so much of our culture today is challenging those, Commandments we show our love to God by obey his Commandments and it pleases God to Teddy his Commandments to get to know him better and his laws better in this helps us to hold fast to the traditions of faith that we've been given are this year's top or this tonight's topic is to overview the first commandment and it's entitled worship as a moral action I'm really excited tonight to introduce dr. Ken Craycraft the James J Gardner family chair of moral theology at the F&M and he also holds a PhD in theology from Boston College and a JD from Duke University School of Law so he's uniquely qualified to topic talk about this topic I really enjoy reading his column he has a monthly column call the closer look in the Catholic Telegraph I thought so he's really excited to be able to bring him here tonight and so grateful and blessed that he's accepted so Doctor Kent thank you Donna the pleasure to be here and I'm grateful that I have this opportunity to speak to you all I must say however that I pause slightly when Donna asked 211 Donna thought about the penitent Fridays that it occurred to her to have me come and lecture I thought is that is that part of your Penance to listen to me or I'll or something else so but I'm glad to be here and I Just Dance being live-streamed as well so my my task tonight is Donna said it's to get a series of lectures on Morality In The Ten Commandments with a special emphasis on the social importance of the Ten Commandments there's a sense in which the Ten Commandments have no importance outside of the social importance something that I'll talk about tonight in a the doctor away but also throughout the course of the of the lecture Series tonight our goal is to provide an overview of the Ten Commandments placing them in the history of Israel and then to discuss the first, specifically and is Donna said the notion that we will explore here is that the first commandment is tells us that worship is a moral act when we think about the mall life our lives are not ordered simply by commands that we follow or duties that we observe but rather our mortal lives are formed and shaped by stories that we that claim Us store is that we tell and most of all for us Catholic Christians are moral eyes are claimed by the Liturgy of the church and are formed by the Liturgy of the church so morality starts with worship it doesn't start with doing Acts or not doing why it starts with worship and indeed the very notion of our ability to account for our moralized is always rooted in Worship in this is why liturgy is such an important part of the moral life and I like to tell my students Protestants go to church because they've already decided who they are and who they want to be we Catholics come to church be to be told who we are so who we are and who we are supposed to be and there's a fundamental difference between that mindset when we come to worship together we come to learn who we are to learn who we are to become and therefore our gathering and liturgy itself is a moral act taping our moral lives and I'll explore that more deeply when we look at the First Command South before I give an overview of the Ten Commandments however I have to give an overview of the overview the context of this series of lectures will be the specific area of moral theology has become known as Catholic Social Doctrine why the church is always had a social Doctrine which is to say the church is always had doctrines that apply to social questions and that have relevance to our social the specific area of moral theology that has come to be known as Catholic Social Doctrine is relatively new as a matter of fact it's only about a hundred and thirty years old we usually observe it or counted in 1891 Pope Leo XIII issued encyclical called round of Aram and that encyclical he set forth for the first time a an attempt to comprehensively a comprehensive Lee bring the teaching of the church to questions of social importance of the late 19th century of course was a time of a tremendous social economic political Keeble it was the Industrial Revolution in which economic life and Techna technological life was outpacing the moral life and the church Pope Leo XIII thought that the church needed to pick up and to address specific moral doctrines to questions of economic political and the life of the worker so while the church has always had doctrines that apply two social life Mayfield of Catholic Social Doctrine really dates to 1891 with Apollo gation of the encyclical around Navarre on one of the things that I want to do in the next 5 weeks is perhaps in some of your mom planes to rescue the very notion of Catholic Social Doctrine unfortunately there are those within the church who consider the idea of Catholic Social doctrine that somehow to emphasise some kinds of a mole doctrines of the church while D emphasizing other ones and I want to try to show you the bet that properly understood Catholic Social Doctrine doesn't do that but rather encompasses the entire day of Catholic teaching of course we recognize a hierarchy of moral good when we think about social goods and moral Goods outside of the context of Warship the only think about the hierarchy of goods that doesn't mean that out of hurricane model cuz it doesn't mean that we deny the importance of other guy that I are just as important for us to observe other notable encyclicals that followed Pope Leo XIII around Navarro or quantities in Milano which has the name size 40 years was written 40 years after round of our I'm in 1931 again a time of tremendous social and economic upheaval a time of economic distress a time of worldwide depression in a time in which Rivals to Catholic Social Doctrine were spreading across Europe in North America rivals in the form of socialist economies in communist economies we'll talk specifically about a project Milano and Leo and Pius the twelfth instruction there because Pius the 12th is the first pope to articulate and a comprehensive way the doctrine of subsidiarity which which talk about in some detail a little bit later in the series in Lent but it's an incredibly important Doctrine in the history of the church and it's one that we need to observe by no means is this an exhaustive list I'm just trying to give you a Flavour of the of the papal encyclicals that pertain to social Doctrine and witch together we call the body of Catholic Social Doctrine and 1963 John XXIII promulgated and encyclical called parcham in Terris peace on Earth again it was a dress it was written to address a particular kind of Crisis 1963 of course was the height of the Cold War the Soviet Union had solidified its power in the wake of World War II it had become a world power and and one of only two superpowers in the world and of course it had become a nuclear and was on his way to becoming a space Power I'm sorry John XXIII saw this is he saw the stockpile of nuclear weapons both in Russia and the Soviet Union and the US and and other areas of the world which were imperiled by that and eroding is cyclical called peace on Earth and what you called All Nations to reconsider how we even conceive of Peace what is peace and how do we rest and peace in that encyclical John John XXIII suggested that peace is not simply the absence of War but the presence of Harmony sometimes John XXIII is considered the liberal Pope because of some of the things that he say about peace in the demand for Nations to step down from the brink of War but in retrospect a parchment Harris was incredibly important and also appreciate in cyclical because it predicted they rise the continued rise of Cold War why the same time calling Nations to reconsider how they can think about peace not just as the absence of War but the presence of Harmony skipping ahead to a pope that the Pope that most of us have the pope who was Pope for the largest part of any of our of our lives are most of our Lives John XXIII I'm sorry it's a St John Paul II 1981 St John St John Paul II issued an encyclical called laborum exertion in again you see the anniversary themes 1891 1931 1963 was an anomaly that's that's how John XXIII rolled 1981 LeBron exertion tell again on the ant on an anniversary on it anniversary of round Navarre on surround of Aram is the anchor of Catholic Social Doctrine and typically we see these types of we see these in cyclical, gated in the context of of those anniversaries exertions was about work and it's sitting that laborum desertions was about work because the first social encyclical in 1891 around Navarre and was primarily concerned with the the problems of work and the and the oppression of the worker in a in a quickly evolving technological industrial society and 1991 John Paul II Road what I believe to be the most important of all of the social encyclicals in the entire tradition the planting even real Navarro then cyclical is called Sanchez Miss honors it was written on the 100th anniversary around Navarre on the reason that intestine is honest is important is that it did two things that have never been done before in the picture of Catholic Social Doctrine the first is that it expressly acknowledged that a market type of economic system is both most in accord with the human person and best at creating wealth in the history of the Catholic Social. Of Catholic Social of the encyclical tradition in Catholic Social Doctrine Pope's that always condemned communism and they'd always condemned socialism in very strong terms but they in almost as strong terms condemned what we sometimes call capitalism Saint John Paul II said that while we might not want to call a capitalism he said that's fine with me I'm happy to call at a market economy or a freak on an entrepreneurial economy John Paul II for the first time in history of encyclical tradition expressly said that a market economy is the best economy at raising wealth around the world and most consistent with the nature of the human person and in that encyclical of the Pope talked about the need for unleashing the entrepreneurial Spirit the spirit of creativity but he also emphasized that that Spirit of creativity is a is creativity that is in cooperation with an indie. Participation in the creation the creative nature of God and indeed he was circumspect even in his endorsement of this economy John XXIII Saint John Paul II strongly believed that the economy still had to be regulated and those regulations had to be consistent with other principles of Catholic Social Doctrine the second important thing the Contessa Masson is dead in when it was promulgated was better than doors something like a democratic political system again the pope is very circumspect when key and door play political or a free political system a free Democratic political system heat once again talked about the need for moral checks to be to to apply to this kind of effect call system because you said that democracy itself can develop into a soft kind of tyranny and the reason that he said that was because he said while democracy is a is a consistently is a consistently good form of political system if it is done correctly it is also open to making truth itself nothing other than decided by Democratic vote and he said we can't do that so democracy while it might among the better of the political systems that are available to to to the world that we also have to be careful that we don't allow democracy to become a soft despotism and that we don't allow truth simply to come product of Democratic or popular opinion after John Paul II in 2009 Pope Benedict Benedict XVI who produced only one social and 6 promulgated Caritas in veritate a and probably the most prominent of the social cyclical since then our 2015 flood out essay saved by Pope Francis the current pope probably them controversial of the recent cyclical has been MoDOT OC it doesn't say what a lot of people think it says and it does say some things a lot of people think it doesn't say it's one of those encyclicals that a lot of people commented upon but very few people of red you might say that about all of these psychos but Lovato see seems to be more so than the others the purpose of this tradition this encyclical tradition or the Catholic Social Doctrine tradition is to apply the Turkish teaching to specifically social issues including issues related to family work economic life political life environmental issues and issues of War and Peace the dollop we can identify what we called the four pillars of Catholic Social Doctrine the first pillar is the Dignity of the human person created in the image of God it's dignity that cannot be taken away and it's can every human person from the moment of conception and therefore must be respected until the moment of natural death this  tiddy is something that is given to us as part of the image of God part of the Imago Dei as we call it therefore cannot condemn her be taken away the Dignity of the human person speaks to all kinds of social doctrinal issues including of course abortion euthanasia but also capital punishment immigration as well and also feel pain whether were talking about policies that are fairly black and white and the moral in the moral rules that apply such as abortion or which are open to Prudential judgment such as immigration and perhaps capital punishment the church always examines even these Prudential issues in the context of and through the lens of the Dignity of the human person and what is the best way to preserve that dignity and waterways that absolutely cannot preserve that dignity gospel churches fund Italian absolutely opposed to abortion euthanasia because there isn't any way to preserve the Dignity of the human person by killing an innocent human person similarly the church has taken a much stronger stand on immigration and capital punishment issues well still open to Prudential judgment to be sure at least on immigration the church is also said that we must consider the Dignity of the human person as the lens through which we consider these important questions and their for the length which we form and shape policy that governs them the second Doctrine or the second pillar of the Catholic Social Doctrine is the solidarity of all humankind simply stated we are not our own rather we belong to one another we know ourselves indeed at we know our very selves and deed in relationship to one another this holiday already is signified by the Triune god father Son and Holy togas this has one God in an eternal conversational love we take our understanding of human solidarity the solidarity of all humankind from our doctrine of the Trinity I like to tell my Seminary stood turn on Trinity Sunday here's what you should never do you should never try to do any of those analogies about the how God is three persons in one being because you always commit a heresy when you do that so just leave that alone instead talk about the turn off conversation of love that comprises the Holy Trinity talk about if you want to talk about the missions of the Holy Trinity but don't try to do the math we don't teach math at the Seminary and for good reason call Debbie of all humankind is signify it is is the the doctrine that tells us that we have obligations to one another rather than claims against one another one of the things that I'll be saying and repeatedly over the neck 5 weeks is that we have as Catholic Christians have so often been so heavily influenced by the individualist voluntarist Caltrain we live that we sometimes and deed often forget that we are called to. A doctrine of solidarity not a doctrine of individualism that are primary impulses should be our obligations to one another not our rights text one another we can talk about political rights and legal rights and that's all time but our primary moral obligations to one another are not cleaning rights against one another but rather affirming obligations to one and and the name that we give that in Catholic Social Doctrine is the doctor of solidarity the fourth pillar of Catholic Social Doctrine is the doctrine of subsidiarity a few minutes ago you Dimension John Pius the 12th and cyclical Quadra ds&o on out is in quadrant is Moana that we see the first systematic treatment of subsidiarity subsidiary is an approach to addressing challenges social challenges and problems and basically it says this Social Challenges and problems must be mad at the most local and in the smallest way possible this preserves the importance for example of the family first of all social institutions and we'll talk quite a bit about the family because at least at least four of The Commandments expressly involve discussion of family the 4th the 6th and the 10th and we talked about subsidiary what we mean by that is that that Social Challenges and social needs should be mad at the level that's closest to the need if it can be met there and the reason for that is that the people what does to that need are the ones are best able to take care of it more over if you think about it just purely in terms of the politics of Taxation or economics or the distribution of social good social goods are always distributed more equitably more fairly and more efficiently the more locally they're administered and and and and collect it so it's important that we think subsidiarity as small and local that's the key small and local now to be sure not all not all political economic social questions can be can be solved at the smallest in the most local level the doctor of subsidiarity doesn't say that there is no place for larger levels of government or larger and larger levels of regulatory systems it only says that any any problem that can be addressed at a local and smaller level must be indeed of Pius the 12 12 status a grave sin not to observe the doctrine of subsidiarity something grabs our federal government should take note up the fourth pillar of a Catholic Social Doctrine isn't is the doctor common good we are committed not too selfish interest but always to turn our gaze to the interest of the community we give ourselves for the common good of all not the accumulation of individual Goods but you. set of the good of the whole Community common good is not a measurement of economic success but rather it's a measurement of the stability and the Goodwill of the community at Large it's not a measure of material Goods but a measure of all of the goods that constitutes human flourishing physical spiritual economic religious emotional psychological and medical all of these questions speak to the problem of common good and we have Catholic Christians are called to observe the question of common good together with the didn't need of the human person the solidarity of all humankind and subsidiarity as we approach to social questions is through these four lenses if you will are these for our orbit or to use a different metaphor built on these four pillars that we will examine the social implications of the Ten Commandments whether we think of these as interpretively to look at the Ten Commandments or pillars upon which The Ten Commandments are build these four aspects of Catholic Social Doctrine will animate this series of lectures and will inform the way that we look at these commandments so that we can better understand what it is a God is trying to tell us through the delivery of these particular Commandments in and not different ones and now to the Kent Ten Commandments but before we but there are beginning our our first look at the Ten Commandments is not going to be in Exodus 20 where they're first announced by God to Moses and it's not going to be in Deuteronomy 5 where they are repeated to Israel but rather our look at the first at the Ten Commandments begins in the gospel of Matthew specifically the 22nd chapter of the Gospel of Matthew verses 34 to 40 when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sajid the Sadducees they gather together and one of them a scholar of the law test to Jesus by asking teacher which commandment in the law is the greatest he said to him he said to him you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind this is the greatest and the first commandment the second is like it you shall love your neighbor set yourself the whole law and the prophets depend on these two Commandments that while Jesus says the first commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart soul and mind in the second commandment says love your neighbor as your the first commandment resonates with the fruit the greatest commandment resonates with the first commandment of the Ten Commandment but the second commandment doesn't resonate with any particular commandment rather it is a summary of what we called the second table of the Ten Commandments the ten commands so sometimes called the decalogue the ten words and those 10 words are are understood to be contained into tablets or two table to what's R22 tables and interesting Lee enough when Jesus says that the first the greatest commandment is to love God and the second to love one another as yourself is summarizing the first and the second of the two tables of the Ten Commandments perfectly the way that Jesus answered is reflected and what we call the two tables which immediately gives us into the textual analysis of the Ten Commandments themselves the first table corresponds with the greatest command it is comprised of the first three commands that is to say the first table of the 10 commandment is related as speaks to our relationship with God the relationship of man to God and the relationship of God to so the first table the first three commands is the table that corresponds to Jesus saying that the greatest commandment is to love God of course that if there are two and the first one contains three. you know we don't do math at the Seminary I think I can get this II 7 comprised the second table II table relates to how we we treat one another it relates to how we relate to one another and it speaks to the way that we treat one another in our social lives and they can all be summarized the second table can all be can completely be summarized by if you love your neighbor these are the things you'll do it doesn't necessarily mean that if you do these things you love your neighbor and there's an important distinction to be made there if you do these things you can do these things and still not love your neighbor but if you love your neighbor these are the things you'll do and together they comprise what we called the decalogue Greek compound words with Mission which means the ten words the ten words from God to Moses so it's important to note there for the order is not accidental we cannot keep the second table if we have not kept the first as we'll see over the next five weeks being properly oriented toward God it as the source of our moral lives and moral knowledge is the only possibility of being authentically moral people in other words we can't even think about being authentically moral people authentically virtuous people if we haven't kept the first table of the Ten Commandments in other words this as I lie touch my students we can choose moral objects that are in a cord with what a virtuous person would choose but that doesn't make us virtuous people if we are virtuous people however we will choose those virtuous moral objects in other words it isn't enough just to keep the commands but rather to keep them in a certain way and the only way that we can keep them is by first oriented orienting our own lives toward God for the first three which give us the foundation for being able to keep II 7 II table or the last seven The Ten Commandments are listed into place and the Old Testament or what we sometimes called the Hebrew Bible Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 when I make reference to them it will usually be to the listing in Deuteronomy because it's clear about the order especially at the last two Commandments related to covenant coveting your neighbor's property and lost against your neighbor spouse the order in Exodus 20 is less clear about the 9th and 10th whereas the order in and do Toronto V is very clear the lobby use it but while I will be referring to Deuteronomy we will begin our look at the first commandment in the context of Exodus 19 and 20 this is because the Commandments are send it to us in a story and the story is a necessary part of our understanding of the Ten Commandment and let me just say a couple of words about what I mean by story the way that I teach theology at the Seminary is it approach this called narrative theology that is to say we recognize and acknowledge that are moral political social economic psychological emotional lives are formed by stories that make claims upon us that we enter into sometimes these fault these stories can make false claims Upon Our Lives sometimes they make true claims the task of the Christian is still from the truthfulness of the story of creation and fall and Israel and Jesus and the church would like all the five chapters of the Christian story is to affirm that story and shaved informed by that story so that we're able to identify false stories that the try to make claims Upon Our Lives I believe that it's inescapable that is not even arguable that are my eyes are formed by stories that claimed us and that we didn't choose for ourselves the task of the Christian moral life is to be shaped and formed by the true story of the church so that we can see the world correctly and therefore identify those stories that make false claims Upon Our Lives there for when we look at the Ten Commandments we look at them in the context of the story of The Exodus of Israel from slavery in Egypt 19th Chapter of the book of Exodus Begins by talent but Begins by recounting that the Israelites had escaped from Egypt 3 months so we begin three months after The Exodus and Moses goes up to the Mount of Horeb and the story that forms the people of Israel begins here and the story the forms that the people of Israel beacons and deed with a very first of the Ten Commandments and now after the overview and the overview of the overview we will turn to the first of the Ten Commandments the first of the Ten Commandments is the longest one and interesting lie enough while it's the longest it's also kind of the hardest one to say exactly what it is that we are commanded to do it against this way of the Lord and your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt that place of slavery you shall not have other gods before me you shall not carve Idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters been you shall not bow down before then or worship then for I the Lord your God and the jealous God inflicting punishments for the fathers wickedness on the children of those who hate me down to the third and fourth generation and bestowing mercy to the thousandth generation on the children of those who love me and keep my Commandments a minute ago I said it isn't exact it isn't as clear in the first commandment even though it's the longest exactly what it is worth working man to do yes we're commanded to have note to have no other gods before God yes we're commanded not to have any great to create any Graven Idols yes we're created that God Alone shall worship but how do we envision that and how do we capture that in our moral lives that's the question that that animates the way that we think about the first commandment I think the best way to think about that is to think about it in of Liberation God tells the story of Israel of two to Israel of his delivering is real any Begins by a self reference to himself as The God Who did what brought you out of the Lamb set Egypt the story that begins the Ten Commandments is the story of God bringing Israel out of Egypt out of slavery now course as we look at The Narrative of the story we see that that we take literally that sorry that Israel was rescued from Egypt rescue from slavery literal slavery in Egypt but immediately we see that the reason that God called Israel to worship him and him alone is that he is not just rescuing Israel from slavery in Egypt but rescuing Israel from the sin that condemns them and the only way that they can be rescued from the sand that can dende condemns them first of all to worship the one true God you know it's interesting to note that if you read carefully the The Exodus accounts to read carefully the book of Exodus it isn't clear that Israel in it early stages was a monotheistic nation and indeed it seems as though it took them a while to understand that God that the god that they worshipped was not just one God among many I'll be at the most power of course and the god that should be worshipped and the right God but there's a sense in which we there's a there's a very real sense in which Israel was slow on the uptake and of course we we see an example of that in the most famous you might play stumble of Israel the creation of the golden calf a direct violation of the first commandment but here's what we can say the first commandment tells us that the moral life is rooted in worship something that I said the first command is rooted in worship and so are moral lives are rooted in warship and letter g r moralize are not primarily rooted and things that we do or don't do our moral eyes are primarily real and rooted in who we are as people who worship the one true God. Self-reference is the foundation of the moral law as one law if there is one God as God begins to teach his real then there is one more rule to which we are all called to obey and the way that we start to learn that obedience is by the act of worship therefore shouldn't be surprising to us that the best way to understand the First Command is through the what we call the three theological virtues of faith hope and love and indeed when we think about the Ten Commandments and talk about what it is the first commandment commands us to do it can be summarized by saying that the first commandment commands us to have faith to Hope and to love the three three theological virtues let me talk about those three very briefly faith is the beginning of the entire story Abraham was justified by faith is the virtue that implies the possibility of a relationship with God that did not exist before God called Israel to himself I commanded Israel to worship Him faith is that virtue which while it may entertain questions never entertains doubts and Faith were called to have questions in our fade we're never called the doubt and there's a difference between the two one of my favorite passages from the Bible from the 8th chapter of Mark and perhaps this says more about me than I should review on the first night but it's passage in which a man brings says to Jesus can you, if you can will you heal my son and Jesus says if I can incredulous Lee in the man says Lord Lord I believe help my unbelief that's sort of my that's my mortal Eyes Lord I believe help my unbelief but our unbelief should never be doubt it should always be questions and to the scent that we find ourselves doubting we need to come back to the first commandment and understand that faith is that type of knowledge that allows us to embrace God as as the as the Savior and God as the Liberator God who makes us free hope as a virtue of the first commandment little bit different from faith hope is a desire for heaven hope is not merely a bowing down and worshipping God as an act of faithful knowledge hope rather is a desire for heaven and the first commandment is a Commandment that shaped in US that hope of Heaven that hope a Liberation that hope of Freedom Saint Augustine and his great work the the confessions on the very first and very first chapter the perverse book says probably the most famous thing that he ever said our hearts are restless until they find their their rest Envy as a prayer to God the way that we find our testing God is Not To The Virtuous case but rather through the virtue of hope hope as The Confident expectation of divine wisdom and the beatific vision and like Faith it's concerned with sense of Despair and presumption the opposite extremes that are sins against hope hope it's not presumption hope is not certitude hope is that yearning inside us and a confident expectation that God will deliver his promises and not that not that we will do anything to deserve those promises and finally charity the cat a list of offenses against God's charity if you look at those and some of those offenses against charity are spelled out more specifically as we go through the Ten Commandments but it's it it's important to note especially if we as we think about the social patience of the of the Ten Commandments that all of our lives are ultimately ordered toward love of God and that includes our political economic and are in a normal lives more generally a very nice volume called the compendium of the Catholic Church compendium of Catholic Social Doctrine in the last chapter after going through all of the church's social Doctrine compiling all of the information from the encyclical tradition it's a textbook I use in a class at the Seminary at the end of the day it's but it's all about love now we all know that already because we talked about it all the time but what it means is that our lives are ordered by love and what is love love is to will the good of the other love is to will the good of the other love as the third of the theological virtues ordered by and toward God is the virtue that allows us to order allies For the Love of others you know earlier I said that the two tablets of the Ten Commandments have three verse on the 1st and 7 on the 2nd if you go to any number not a Lutheran or an Episcopal church but any virtually any other Protestant Church along Beechmont Avenue any place else they're going to tell you that the first table Tu commands and the second table has eight and why is that because they are going to tell you the first has four and the second has six and that's because they separate first commandment into more than one we read the first commandment as you shall have no other gods before me you shall you shall not carve any Idols for yourselves you shall not not that down before Idol all as a single commandment indeed best way of looking at it it also helps us to understand the the numbering of The Commandments because it's the second table the way the way that the unfortunate result of the way that the Protestants number II table is a coveting your neighbor's Goods is the same as lusting after your neighbors spouse and that's not something that I think that we want to that we want to affirm I want to end tonight discussion by talking a little bit about a doll great and the way that we think about the idolatry that's forbidden in the first commandment it's easy to think about Idols as things it's easy to think about Idols of things that are made by our hands and in the context of the history of that was what they would have thought again they were not necessarily monotheists at this time they did believe that there are other gods and they even believe that they could create other gods and again as we know from the story of the golden calf we typically we typically in in in homilies and in teaching in the church we typically don't think of Idols as things that we create with our hands and that we bow down to worship because who does that rather we typically think about aisles as things like money or food or some other material good that we don't Bow Down and Worship but so orders are Alive's that we lose sight of the god whom we're actually called To Worship that's all true and that's all good and that's all but in the context of the Ten Commandments and their social implications I want to close tonight just by saying a couple of words about the danger that I read in the Ten Commandments in the two-story more generally Politico idolatry if we're talking about the political implications of the Ten Commandments the first commandment thing to worship God and God alone and not to have other Idols we have to reaffirm and take seriously that other Idols can take the form not just of pieces of wood or Mammon or food but rather political ideas or even political identification what are the things that most distresses me I'm one of the things that I write most about in the Catholic Telegraph and the Catholic Herald where I have actually a weekly column one of the animating seems that I write about consistently is our temptation to make politics an idol and the way that we can identify my dad is to ask ourselves are our moral lies more informed by the gospel by our worship of God or are they more informed by a political a particular political system more important than that is RR moralize informed by a particular political party it's my contention that much of what we bemoan as the dilution of faith in the American church is the result of a Failure to observe the first commandment especially as it speaks to the problem of idolatry we can't worship God and worship a political system in the same way that we can't worship God and worship any other politician in the other kind of idle so I want to close tonight by challenging Us in this is going to come up for the next four wakes many many times challenging all of us to think how is it that are primary moral obligations are informed when something when we see something that we don't like in society is our reaction more informed by the political party that we identify with or more broadly speaking with being a good American or is our moral indignation or our moral judgment or more the frustration informed by the gospel and it's a test that we can administer to ourselves by asking do we have the same kinds of reaction to offenses against human dignity offense against human dignity is promulgated by one party of the two major political parties or another if we're more offended by offenses against human dignity by one party then another maybe we aren't worshipping the guy deliberates us but the politics which makes ultimately at the end of the day planes upon us which might be false but isn't it all to say that we can't be good Patriots and that we can't be people who are faithful to our country's not at all but just as we can be good stewards of our money we can be people who take who treat material Goods virtuously we can be good public citizens but just as we can abused money just as we can worship money just as we can worship material without ever bowing down without ever praising it but being ordered by it so too can we be ordered by politics in a way that draws us away from our focus on God better what draws us away from worship of God and that indeed becomes nothing other than a different kind of idolatry subtle but strong this is why I talked about the nature of stories that make claims upon us we need formed by the story of the Gospel the story of the Gospel begins with the Ten Commandments the ten the ten commands begin with a command to worship God and to put away Idols not to worship idols and therefore to order our lives port a true understanding of Catholic Social Doctrine and over over the next four weeks will be unpacking those as we look at the rest of the Ten Commandments where is different orders not necessarily the order that we read them but that will be looking at those and we'll always be asking ourselves when we look at the rest of the of The Commandments will always be asking yourself how do they comport with the first are we worshipping God or we worshipping something else so I look forward to next week and the following weeks at assuming that I'm not disinvited after tonight and and taking us through this this journey of Lent what is Friday evenings up thank you for your attention and I look forward to to being with you next week yep that's fine Donna is suggesting that's fine with me we have some time if there any questions that anybody has it be happy to to address them and if I don't know the answer I'll refer to her to Donna yes isn't nothing nothing I said I don't want anything that I said to be construed as not supporting a political party what I'm saying is that we can't allow our moral lives to be formed by a political party and we can't there because what what typically would what happens is awesome that we in supporting a political party we allow political party to form the way that we think about almost every social or political issue that's the danger and you know when we think about our power political identifications and so forth we often times fail to see that our political identifications are what is driving our moral Lies by no means is that it does that imply that we can identify a political party whose policies are more consistently consonant with Catholic Social Doctrine or with Catholic more life in general we can do that I won't you know you can it's very easy either to read my articles and in the Catholic Telegraph or the Catholic Herald or my Facebook page page Facebook page public so anybody anybody can just real gone to Facebook and type my name in the search bar you'll see that that I am an equal opportunity critic of the parties but I'm also an equal-opportunity endorser of those things that are good from either party now the pro of course is that sometimes leaves us in the political Wilderness and I want us to be people who are not afraid of being in the political Wilderness because of fear of being in the political Wilderness is also somewhat drives us to embrace partisan identification not support of a party or voting for a party but rather partisan identification that begins to completely overtake the way that we think about not just policy issues but the moral life in general but good question thank you and it's a hard one it's a it's a hard question it's hard it's hard to be a conscientious voter and in our pool system I could refer you to an article by a road and right before the last election in our Sunday visitor I'd rather lengthy article I wrote in our Sunday visitor I asking about the problem of political identification partisan identification and and how we can try to steer a course of conscience Catholic Christians who always are worshipping God oh dang the first commandment and I'm making an idol out of out of either a plug assistant or political party yes yeah it is yeah yeah so a couple of things were first of all I'll communicate with Donna and and she can use whatever communication that the that the parish has to communicate with because it's a great question but here's here's the little secret that many people are not aware of the Vatican website is an amazing Source in because every social and cyclic every is cyclical it is there is a quick as a Google Search and it pops right up and it's always the first one it's in in so you can find it all they're not just the Social Circles but all these circles all the Vatican II documents everything The New American Bible is that look because I'm just there I mentioned earlier the compendium of Catholic Social Doctrine it's their online so that that's that's an amazing resource but in general I would I would cite that book The compendium of social Doctrine but I also I also communicate with Donna other ways to find these resources and other secondary resources that are helpful in trying to to to drill down on Catholic Social Doctrine short well yeah it's oh so yeah I mean no they're not all the same so like when it when a when a when a pope, gates in Sicklerville at he he doesn't say this you know this is a test this is a social Doctrine cyclical identify them as such because of what they address not because what they're called but clearly as I said there is there's a there's a Siri there are a series of encyclicals that are written on the anniversary the real Navarro obviously are written for the purpose of celebrating that anniversary so Quadris Moana in 1931 for example laborem exercens in 1981 in Chisholm is Honduras in 1991 so so if it is if it ends in 9191 it probably is a social encyclical and that's not exhaustive cuz possum and pterosaurs 1963 and and are there exceptions to that but I think again the compendium of Catholic Social Doctrine has a list it very well may it may be that they even the Vatican website has a way of categorizing the musical goes I don't know that that's the case because if I want to read one or look at 1 or make reference to wine I don't have handy in a hard copy I'll just you know I'll just whatever sick love is so that that I wanted whatever Church document it is so I want I'll just type the name of the search bar in pops right out I know now I know there isn't any way so if we believe I tell my I can tell my students that the entirety of the moral being city of moral theology is contained in the first chapter of Genesis it's all right there in the first chapter in Genesis and what I mean by that is the first chapter of Genesis tells us that all lower things are ordered toward man for his benefit and good and all things including God Arendt including man right. Brad rather are oratory God and if we are properly ordered toward God if we properly love God then then now nobody does properly love God including myself for all Sinners of Saint Paul but if we properly love God least theoretically then we will not do wrong because to love is to will the good of the other to will the good of God is to obey God's Commandments no it's not surprising but let me just add this we contribute that is we Catholics contribute to the decline in a worship of God by our failure worship God and to be a witness to the broader community of worshipping God even those of us sometimes who come to mass are we worshipping God this is what I mean by being being actually formed by the Liturgy and not being formed by something else so no it shouldn't be a surprise to us as as any Community takes its eyes away from that and toward which were all ordered that the stations that we make are there for themselves going to be disordered and I think it really I think it's a better way of thinking about social problems as not a social sins but it's disorder cuz that's really what it is if our lives are ordered toward God commandant then they're going to be disoriented disordered in virtually every other way sure can you can you cool that you mask down you're far enough away from everybody yeah oh absolutely I will have will have more than one opportunity to discuss to discuss that so so absolutely we'll talk along the way we'll talk about the distinguish between Mortal and venial and what are the elements of mortal sin in the context of specific commandment especially the fifth commandment for example in the 8th commandment which I treat together and the 10th the tenth commandment so absolutely I will do that as we go through in more than once in reference to specific Commandments and in that context as well we'll also talk about those Commandments those Commandments which speak more to a realm of Prudential judgment and what that means and those that speak to more absolute moral norms and we'll make those distinctions as we go along as well because that's related to your question 2 anything else alright thank you thank you so much Doctor Ken I love how you brought out narrative theology that we are formed by our stories and that's so true that we are formed by God's revelation to us of being created in His image and and that therefore how we get our dignity now that forms all of our actions and I love the four pillars of the Catholic Social Doctrine can't wait to hear how those are applied through the different Commandments next week we'll meet same time same place go over the second and third Commandments entitled religion as Justice and Leisure so thank you all for coming have a safe trip home and a blessed week

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