Baltimore Catechism

"l.u.s.t" is the desire for sins of the flesh; for impure thoughts, words, or actions. It comes under the Sixth and Ninth Commandments, and includes all that is forbidden by those Commandments. It is the habit of always violating, or of desiring to violate, the Sixth and Ninth Commandments. l.u.s.t and impurity mean the same thing. The followers of l.u.s.t are, generally, neglect of prayer, neglect of the Sacraments, and final loss of faith.

"Anger" comes under the Fifth Commandment. It is followed by hatred, the desire of revenge, etc.

"Gluttony" is the sin of eating or drinking too much. With regard to eating, it is committed by eating too often; by being too particular about what we eat, by being too extravagant in always looking for the most costly things, that we think others cannot have. With regard to drinking, it is generally committed by taking too much of intoxicating liquors. The drunkard is a glutton and commits the sin of gluttony every time he becomes intoxicated. Gluttony, especially in drink, comes in a manner under the First Commandment, because by depriving ourselves of our reason we cannot give G.o.d the honor and respect which is His due.

Think of how many sins the drunkard commits. He becomes intoxicated, which in itself is a sin. He deprives himself of the use of reason, abuses G.o.d's great gift, and becomes like a brute beast. Indeed in a way he becomes worse than a beast; for beasts always follow the laws that G.o.d has given to their nature, and never drink to excess. They obey G.o.d, and man is the only one of G.o.d's creatures that does not always keep His laws. Think too of the number of insane persons confined in asylums, who would give all in this world for the use of their reason, if they could only understand their miserable condition. Yet the drunkard abuses the gift that would make these poor unfortunate lunatics happy. Again, the drunkard injures his health and thus violates the Fifth Commandment by committing a kind of slow suicide. He loses self-respect, makes use of sinful language; frequently neglects Ma.s.s and all his religious duties, exposes himself to the danger of death while in a state of sin, gives scandal to his family and neighbors, and by his bad example causes some to leave or remain out of the true Church. By continued intemperance, he may become insane and remain in that condition till death puts an end to his career and he goes unprepared before the judgment seat of G.o.d.

Besides all this he squanders the money he should put to a better use and turns G.o.d's gifts into a means of offending Him. If a father, he neglects the children and wife for whom he has promised to provide; leaves them cold and hungry while he commits sin with the means that would make them comfortable. Drunkenness therefore is a sin accompanied by many deplorable evils. There are three great sins you should always be on your guard against during your whole lives, namely, drunkenness, dishonesty, and impurity. If you avoid these you will almost surely avoid all other sins; for nearly all sins can be traced back to these three. They are the most dangerous, first, because they have most followers, and secondly, because they grow upon us almost without our knowing it. The drunkard begins perhaps as a boy by taking a little, even very little; the second time he takes a little more; the next time still more, then he begins to be fond of strong drink and can scarcely do without it; finally he becomes the slave of intemperance and sells his soul and body for it. The pa.s.sions of dishonesty and impurity grow by degrees in the same manner. Therefore avoid them in the beginning and resist them while they are under your power. If you find yourself inclined to any of these sins in your youth, stop them at once.

"Envy" is the desire to see another meet with misfortune that we may be benefited by it. We are glad when he does not succeed in his business, we are sorry when anyone speaks well of him, etc. Envy comes under the Eighth Commandment.

"Sloth" is committed when we idle our time, and are lazy; when we are indifferent about serving G.o.d; when we do anything slowly and poorly and in a way that shows we would rather not do it. They are slothful who lie in bed late in the morning and neglect their duty. Slothful people are often untidy in their personal appearance; and they are nearly always in misery and want, unless somebody else takes care of them. Sloth comes under the First Commandment, because it has reference in a special manner to the way in which we serve G.o.d. How, then, shall we best destroy sin in our souls? By finding out our chief capital sin and rooting it out. If a strong oak tree is deeply rooted in the ground, how will you best destroy its life? By cutting off the branches? No. For with each returning spring new branches will grow. How then? By cutting the root and then the great oak with all its branches will die. In the same way our capital sin is the root, and as long as we leave it in our souls other sins will grow out of it. While we are trying to destroy our sins without touching our capital sin--our chief sin--we are only cutting off branches that will grow again. Indeed a great many people are only cutting off branches all the time and that is why they are not benefited as much as they could be by the prayers they say, Ma.s.ses they hear, Sacraments they receive, and sermons they listen to. But do not imagine that because you are not becoming better, when you pray, hear Ma.s.s, and receive the Sacraments, you are doing no good at all. That would be a great mistake, and just such a thing as the devil would suggest to make persons give up their devotions. What is the use, he might say, of your trying to be good? You are just as bad as you were a year ago. Do not listen to that temptation. Were it not for your prayers and your reception of the Sacraments, you would become a great deal worse than you are. Suppose a man is rowing on the river against a very strong tide. He is rowing as hard as he can and yet he is not advancing one foot up the stream. Is he doing nothing therefore? Ah! he is doing a great deal: he is preventing himself from being carried with the current out into the ocean. He is keeping himself where he is till the force of the tide diminishes, and then he can advance. So they who are trying to be good are struggling against the strong tide of temptation. If they cease to struggle against it, they will be carried out into the great ocean of sin and lost forever. Someday the temptation will grow weaker and then they will be able to advance towards Heaven. We feel temptations most when we are trying to resist them and lead good lives, because we are working against our evil inclinations--the strong tide of our pa.s.sions. We have no trouble going with them.

Lesson 7 ON THE INCARNATION AND REDEMPTION

"Incarnation" means to take flesh, as a body. Here it means Our Lord's taking flesh, that is, taking a body like ours, when He became man.

"Redemption" means to buy back. Let us take an example. Slaves are men or women that belong entirely to their masters, just as horses, cows, or other animals do. Slaves are bought and sold, never receive any wages for their work, get their food and clothing and no more. As they never earn money for themselves, they can never purchase their own liberty. If ever they are to be free, someone else must procure their liberty. Now, suppose I am in some country where slavery exists. I am free, but I want one hundred dollars; so I go to a slave owner and say: I want to sell myself for one hundred dollars. He buys me and I soon squander the one hundred dollars. Now I am his property, his slave; I shall never earn any wages and shall never be able to buy my freedom. No other slave can help me, for he is just in the same condition as I myself am. If I am to be free, a free man who has the money must pay for my liberty. This is exactly the condition in which all men were before Our Lord redeemed them. Adam sold himself and all his children to the devil by committing sin. He and they therefore became slaves. They could not earn any spiritual wages, that is, grace of G.o.d to purchase their liberty; and as all men were slaves

60 Q. Did G.o.d abandon man after he fell into sin?

A. G.o.d did not abandon man after he fell into sin, but promised him a Redeemer, who was to satisfy for man's sin and reopen to him the gates of Heaven.

"Abandon" means to leave to one's self. Adam and his posterity were slaves, but G.o.d took pity on them. He did not leave them to themselves, but promised to help them.

"Gates of Heaven." Heaven has no gates, because it is not built of material--of stone, or iron, or wood. It is only our way of speaking; just as we say "hand of G.o.d," although He has no hands. Heaven is the magnificent home G.o.d has prepared for us, and its gates are His power by which He keeps us out or lets us in as He pleases. Our Lord, therefore, obtained admittance for us.

61 Q. Who is the Redeemer?

A. Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is the Redeemer of mankind.

62 Q. What do you believe of Jesus Christ?

A. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of G.o.d, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity, true G.o.d and true man.

"True G.o.d." He was true G.o.d equal to His Father from all eternity. He became man when He came upon the earth about 2,000 years ago, and was born on Christmas Day. Now He is in Heaven as G.o.d and man. Therefore, He was G.o.d always, but man only from the time of His Incarnation.

*63 Q. Why is Jesus Christ true G.o.d?

A. Jesus Christ is true G.o.d because He is the true and only Son of G.o.d the Father.

G.o.d the Father, first Person of the Blessed Trinity, is His real Father, and St. Joseph was His foster-father, selected by the Heavenly Father to take care of Our Lord and watch over Him while on earth. A foster-father is not the same as a stepfather. A stepfather is a second father that one gets when his real father dies. A foster-father is one who takes a person, whether a relative or a stranger, and adopts him as his son. It was a very great honor for St. Joseph to be selected from among all men to take care of the Son of G.o.d; to carry in his arms the great One of whom the prophets spoke; the One for whom the whole world longed during so many thousand years; so that next to our Blessed Mother St. Joseph deserves our greatest honor.

*64 Q. Why is Jesus Christ true man?

A. Jesus Christ is true man because He is the Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and has a body and soul like ours.

He has all that we have by nature, but not the things we have acquired such as deformities, imperfections, and the like. Everything in Our Lord was perfect. Above all, He had no sin of any kind; nor even inclination to sin. He could be hungry, as He was when He fasted forty days in the desert. (Matt. 4:2). He was thirsty, as He said on the Cross. (John 19:28). He could be wearied; as we read in the Holy Scripture (John 4:6) that He sat down by a well to rest, while His disciples went into the city to buy food. All these sufferings come from our very nature. We say a thing comes from our very nature when everybody has it. Now, everyone in the world may at times be hungry, thirsty, or tired; but everybody in the world need not have a toothache or headache, because such things are not common to human nature, but due to some defect in our body; and such defects Our Lord did not have, because He was a perfect man. Therefore, Our Lord had a body like ours, not as it usually is with defects, but as it should be, perfect in all things that belong to its nature, as Adam's was before he sinned.

*65 Q. How many natures are there in Jesus Christ?

A. In Jesus Christ there are two natures: the nature of G.o.d and the nature of man.

He was perfect G.o.d and perfect man. His human nature was under the full power of His divine nature, and could not do anything contrary to His divine will. You cannot understand how there can be two natures and two wills in one person, because it is another of the great mysteries; but you must believe it, just as you believe there are three Persons in one G.o.d, though you do not understand it. Those who learn theology and study a great deal may understand it better than you, but never fully. It will be enough, therefore, for you to remember and believe that there are two natures--the divine nature and the human nature--in the one person of Our Lord.

*66 Q. Is Jesus Christ more than one person?

A. No, Jesus Christ is but one Divine Person.

"But one," so that the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Son of G.o.d, the Messias, Christ, Jesus, Our Lord, Our Saviour, Our Redeemer, etc., are all names for the one Person; and, besides these, there are many other names given to Our Lord in the Holy Scripture, both in the Old and the New Testaments.

*67 Q. Was Jesus Christ always G.o.d?

A. Jesus Christ was always G.o.d, as He is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, equal to His Father from all eternity.

*68 Q. Was Jesus Christ always man?

A. Jesus Christ was not always man, but became man at the time of His Incarnation.

69 Q. What do you mean by the Incarnation?

A. By the Incarnation I mean that the Son of G.o.d was made man.

70 Q. How was the Son of G.o.d made man?

A. The Son of G.o.d was conceived and made man by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

*71 Q. Is the Blessed Virgin Mary truly the Mother of G.o.d?

A. The Blessed Virgin Mary is truly the Mother of G.o.d, because the same Divine Person who is the Son of G.o.d is also the Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

*72 Q. Did the Son of G.o.d become man immediately after the sin of our first parents?

A. The Son of G.o.d did not become man immediately after the sin of our first parents, but He was promised to them as a Redeemer.

G.o.d did not say to Adam when He would send the Redeemer, and so the Redeemer did not come for about 4,000 years after He was first promised.

G.o.d permitted this long time to elapse in order that mankind might feel and know how great an evil sin is, and what misery it brought upon the world. During these 4,000 years men were becoming gradually worse. At one time--about 1,600 years after Adam's sin--they became so bad that G.o.d destroyed by a deluge, or great flood of water, all persons and living things upon the earth, except Noe, his wife, his three sons and their wives, and the animals they had in the ark with them. (Gen. 6).

Let me now give you more particulars about this terrible punishment.

After G.o.d determined to destroy all living things on account of the wickedness of men, He told Noe, who was a good man, to build a great ark, or s.h.i.+p, for himself and his family, and for some of all the living creatures upon the earth. (Gen. 6). When the ark was ready, Noe and his family went into it, and the animals that were to be saved came by G.o.d's power, and two by two were taken into the ark. Besides the two of each kind of animals, Noe was required to take with him five more of each kind of clean animals. Clean animals were certain animals which, according to G.o.d's law, could be offered in sacrifice or eaten; they were such animals as the ox, the sheep, the goat, etc. Therefore, seven of each of the clean animals, and two of each of the other kinds. Why did He have seven clean animals? Two were to be set free upon the dry earth with the other animals, and the other five were for food and sacrifice. Noe spent a hundred years in making the ark. At that time men lived much longer than they do now. Adam lived over 900 years and Mathusala, the oldest man, lived to be 969 years old. There are many reasons why men live a shorter time now than then. When the door of the ark was closed, G.o.d sent a great rain that lasted for forty days and forty nights. All the springs of water broke forth, and all the rivers and lakes overflowed their banks. Men ran here and there to high places, while the water rose higher and higher till it covered the tops of the mountains, and all not in the ark were drowned. The big ark floated about for about a year; for although it stopped raining after forty days, just think of the quant.i.ty of water that must have fallen! Think of the rain what would fall during the whole of Lent from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday--forty days. It took a long time, therefore, for the waters to go down and finally disappear. When the waters began to go down, Noe, wis.h.i.+ng to know if any land was as yet above the water, opened the little window, and sent out a raven or crow over the waters.

The raven did not come back, because it is a bird that eats flesh, and it found plenty of dead bodies to feed upon. Then Noe sent out a dove, and the dove came back with the bough of an olive tree in its mouth.

From this Noe knew that the earth was becoming dry again. After some days, the ark rested on the top of a mountain named Ararat. When all the waters had dried up, Noe and his family and all the animals pa.s.sed out of the ark. He offered a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and he and his family settled once more upon the earth. For a while, the descendants of Noe were good, but when they became numerous they soon forgot the deluge and its punishments, and became very wicked. Many forgot the true G.o.d altogether, and began to wors.h.i.+p the sun, moon, and stars. Some wors.h.i.+pped animals, and others idols of wood or stone. They offered up human victims and committed all kinds of sins most displeasing to G.o.d.

Many were in slavery; masters were cruel; and things were becoming daily worse, till just before the coming of Our Lord the world was in a terrible condition of misery and sin. The lawmakers tried to remedy these evils by their laws, and the teachers and professors by their teaching; but all was of no avail. G.o.d Himself must save the world.

G.o.d gave many promises of the Redeemer. The first one was given in the garden to our first parents. G.o.d said (Gen. 3:15) to the serpent: I will put enmities, that is hatred, between thee and the woman; that is, between the devil and the Blessed Virgin--whom the holy writers call the second Eve; because as the first Eve caused our fall, the second Eve helped us to rise again. I will put also a great hatred between the devil and your Redeemer. The next promise of the Redeemer was made to Abraham. (Gen. 15). Another was made to Isaac, and another to Jacob; and later these promises were frequently renewed through the prophets; so that during the four thousand years G.o.d encouraged the good people, by promising from time to time the Redeemer.

Some of the prophets foretold to what family He would belong, and when He would be born, and when and what He would suffer, and how He would die. They also foretold signs or things that would come to pa.s.s just before the advent or coming of the Messias (Gen. 49:10); so that when the people saw these things coming to pa.s.s, they could know that the time of the Messias was at hand. Thus when Our Lord came, the whole world was waiting and looking for the promised Redeemer, because the signs foretold had appeared or were taking place. But the majority did not recognize Our Lord when He came, on account of the quiet, humble, and poor way in which He came. They were expecting to see the Redeemer come as a great and powerful king, with mighty armies conquering the world; and in this they were mistaken. If they had studied the Holy Scriptures they would have learned how He was to come--poor and humble.

*73 Q. How could they be saved who lived before the Son of G.o.d became man?

A. They who lived before the Son of G.o.d became man could be saved by believing in the Redeemer to come, and by keeping the Commandments.

We have seen that G.o.d promised the Redeemer during four thousand years.

Now, those who believed these promises and kept all G.o.d's Commandments, and observed all His laws as they knew them, could be saved. They could not, it is true, enter into Heaven after their death, but they could wait in Limbo without suffering till Our Lord opened Heaven for them.

They were saved only through the merits of Our Lord. And how could this be when Our Lord was not yet born? Do you know what a promissory note is? It is this. When a man is not able to pay his debts just now but will be able afterwards, he gives those to whom he owes the money a promissory note, that is, a written promise that he will pay at a certain time. Now, those who died before Our Lord was born had the Holy Scripture promising that Christ would pay for them and for their sins when He would come. So G.o.d saved them on account of this promise and kept them free from suffering till Our Lord came. If any died when they were little infants, their parents answered for them as G.o.dfathers and G.o.dmothers do now for infants at Baptism.

74 Q. On what day was the Son of G.o.d conceived and made man?

A. The Son of G.o.d was conceived and made man on Annunciation Day--the day on which the Angel Gabriel announced to the Blessed Virgin Mary that she was to be the Mother of G.o.d.

"Annunciation Day" is the 25th of March. You can easily remember that feast. Everybody knows that St. Patrick's Day is on the 17th of March, and therefore eight days after it comes Annunciation day. There is another feast coming in between them, the feast of St. Joseph, on the 19th of March. Therefore it is easy to remember these three feasts coming all in March and almost together. Annunciation is the name given to that day after the angel came, but it was not called so before.

Annunciation means to tell or make known, and this is the day the angel made known to the Blessed Virgin that she was selected for the high office of Mother of G.o.d. The Blessed Virgin was expecting the Messias, and was probably praying for His speedy arrival, as were the rest of her people, when suddenly the angel came and said: Hail, full of grace. (See Hail Mary Expl.).

75 Q. On what day was Christ born?

A. Christ was born on Christmas Day in a stable at Bethlehem, over nineteen hundred years ago.