and writings; and 3. By indifference in matters of faith, or by actually denying it.

10. When do people become guilty of indifference in matters of faith?

1. When they do not care for any religion, or when they consider all religions as equally good; 2. When they stand in need of being instructed, and neglect to attend the Catechism or Christian doctrine; and 3. When parents or guardians allow their children to be brought up in an erroneous belief.

11. How do we sin against hope?

1. By despair or by distrust; and 2. By presumption or by false confidence.

12. When do we sin by despair or by distrust? When we either do not hope at all for that which we ought to hope for from God,' or when we do not hope for it with confidence in Him."

Examples: Cain and Judas; 2 Moses and the Israelites in the desert.

13. What are we to hope for from God?

We are, above all, to hope for life everlasting, and for whatever is necessary and conducive to it-that is, the forgiveness of our sins and the grace of God.

14. On what grounds are we to hope for these things?

Because God, who is infinitely powerful, merciful, and faithful, has promised them to us, and Jesus Christ has merited them for us.

15. What, then, is Christian hope?

Christian hope is a virtue infused into our souls, by which we most confidently expect all the things which God has promised us through the merits of Jesus Christ.

16. May every sinner hope for pardon?

Yes, every sinner, even the greatest, may and ought

to hope for pardon, provided he will be converted with all his heart, and do penance.

'If the wicked do penance for all his sins which he has committed, and keep all my Commandments, living he shall live, and shall not die' (Ez. xviii. 21).-Examples: The Ninivites, Mary Magdalen, the Thief on the Cross, and others. Parable of the Lost Sheep and of the Prodigal Son (Luke xv.)

17. How far may we also expect temporal goods from God?

As far as they help us, or at least do not hinder us, to obtain eternal salvation.

18. When do we sin by presumption and false confidence ?

1. When, relying on the mercy of God, we continue. to sin without fear, or delay our repentance to the end of our life; 2. When we rashly expose ourselves to a danger from which we confidently expect God will extricate us.

19. Is Christian hope also consistent with fear? Confidence in God does not exclude diffidence in ourselves; therefore, we should neither be excessively timid about our salvation, nor should we throw off all sense of fear and solicitude for it.2

'Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall' (1 Cor. x. 12). 'I am not conscious to myself of anything, yet I am not hereby justified; but he that judgeth me is the Lord' (1 Cor. iv. 4). Justify not thyself before God, for He knoweth the heart' (Ecclus. vii. 5). With fear and trembling work out your salvation' (Phili. ii. 12). 'I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection; lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway' (1 Cor. ix. 27).

20. What sins are chiefly opposed to the love of God?

In general, all mortal sins; but in particular, 1. Indifference and aversion to God and divine things; and 2. Hatred and repugnance to Him and His pater nal dispensations.

21. How do we honor God also exteriorly?

We honor God also exteriorly when we manifest our interior respectful sentiments towards Him by exterior actions; as by our uniting with others in the public services of religion or in prayer, in common with others, by kneeling, and generally by our reverent demeanor during religious exercises.

22. Why are we also commanded to honor God exteriorly?

1. Because the body has been created by God as well as the soul, and, therefore, both should pay Him honor and homage; 2. Because it is quite natural to man to manifest his interior worship of God also exteriorly; 3. Because the interior worship is intensified by exterior worship; and 4. Because exterior worship is conducive and necessary for our mutual edification, for fortifying ourselves in our faith, and for preserving and propagating our Religion.

Example: Daniel, who chose to be cast into the den of the lions rather than to give up the exterior adoration of God as prescribed by the Law (Dan. vi.)

23. How do we sin against the exterior worship of God?

By neglecting to attend divine service, or by behaving irreverently when we are present.

Punishment of the men at Bethsames because they approached the Ark of the Lord in an irreverent manner (1 Kings vi. 19).

24. May we sin in any other way against the reverence due to God?

Yes, we sin also against it by idolatry, superstition, witchcraft, sacrilege, and simony.

25. When does a person commit idolatry?

He commits idolatry (worship of images) when he pays divine honor to any creature or thing, as the heathens did.

26. When do we sin by superstition?

;

1. When we honor God or the Saints in a manner contrary to the doctrine or practice of the Church 2. When we attribute to things a certain power which they cannot have, either by nature, or by the prayers of the Church, or by virtue of Divine dispensation.

For instance: When we consult fortune-tellers and make them tell us our fortunes by cutting cards or by inspecting our hands; or when we have recourse to the interpretation of dreams, or to vain and foolish signs and practices, in order to know hidden things, or to obtain luck or health; still more, when for that purpose we abuse even holy names and blessed things; when we attend circles of spiritists or consult mediums, etc.

27. Is such superstition a grievous sin?

It is generally a very grievous sin, because he who practises such things mostly expects the assistance of the evil spirit, if not openly, at least secretly; but, at all events, puts that confidence in idle or delusive things which he ought to place in God alone.

28. Is it also superstitious to wear on our persons images (medals) of the Saints, or blessed things?

On the contrary, it is praiseworthy, if it is done with a pious intention that is to say, with confidence in God, in the intercession of the Saints, or in the prayer and blessing of the Church.

29. How do people become guilty of witchcraft ? When they try, with the help of the evil spirits, to find hidden treasures, to injure others, or to work wonderful things.

Thus one day that wicked one, Antichrist, will do, Whose coming is according to the working of Satan, in all [deluding] power, and signs, and lying wonders, and in all seduction of iniquity to them that perish' (2 Thess. ii. 9, 10). This God will permit for the just punishment of those who rejected the Christian truth and the Divine miracles.

30. What is sacrilege?

Sacrilege is a profanation of holy things, holy persons, or holy places; for instance, the unworthy re

ceiving of a Sacrament, the ill-treatment of an ecclesiastic, the desecration of a church or of sacred vessels, etc.

Examples: Punishment of King Baltassar (Dan. v.), of Heliodorus (2 Mac. iii.) How Christ cast the sellers out of the Temple, see John ii. 15.

31. When does a person commit simony?

When he buys or sells spiritual things, preferments, and the like, for money or money's worth; as Simon, the Magician, intended to do (Acts viii.) This sin has been forbidden by the church under the most severe penalties, even under pain of excommunication.

Application. Make every day Acts of Faith, Hope, and Charity, and never neglect to say your Morning and Evening Prayers. At church behave with reverence, and pray with attention, on your knees, and with your hands joined. Never use forbidden or suspicious means, in order to cure diseases or to discover hidden things. Are you in doubt whether the use of certain things is permitted or not, ask the Priest or your Confessor.

The First Commandment (continued).

ON THE VENERATION AND INVOCATION OF THE SAINTS.

32. What does the Catholic Church teach respecting the veneration and invocation of the Saints ?

She teaches that it is right and available to salvation to honor and invoke the Saints.

33. But is not the honor which we pay to the Saints against the First Commandment?

By no means; for 1. We pay no Divine honor to the Saints; and 2. We honor and praise in the Saints God Himself, who has shown Himself so powerful and merciful in them.