YOUCAT Question n. 355 - Part VI. “You shall not have strange Gods before me.” What does that mean?
(Youcat
answer - repeated) This commandment forbids us: to adore other gods and pagan
deities or to worship an earthly idol or to devote oneself entirely to some
earthly good (money, influence, success, beauty, youth, and so on); to be
superstitious, which means to adhere to esoteric, magic, or occult or New Age
practices or to get involved with fortune telling or spiritualism, instead of
believing in God’s power, providence, and blessings; to provoke God by word or
deed; to commit a sacrilege; to acquire spiritual power through corruption and
to desecrate what is holy through trafficking (simony).
A deepening through CCC
(CCC 2121) Simony is defined as the buying or
selling of spiritual things (Cf. Acts 8:9-24). To Simon the magician, who
wanted to buy the spiritual power he saw at work in the apostles, St. Peter
responded: "Your silver perish with you, because you thought you could
obtain God's gift with money!" (Acts 8:20). Peter thus held to the words
of Jesus: "You received without pay, give without pay" (Mt 10:8; cf.
already Isa 55:1). It is impossible to appropriate to oneself spiritual goods
and behave toward them as their owner or master, for they have their source in
God. One can receive them only from him, without payment.
Reflecting and meditating
(CCC Comment)
(CCC 2122)
The minister should ask nothing for the administration of the sacraments beyond
the offerings defined by the competent authority, always being careful that the
needy are not deprived of the help of the sacraments because of their
poverty"(CIC, can. 848). The competent authority determines these
"offerings" in accordance with the principle that the Christian
people ought to contribute to the support of the Church's ministers. "The
laborer deserves his food" (Mt 10:10; cf. Lk 10:7; 2 Cor 9:5-18; 1 Tim
5:17-18).
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