s we have an example of the evil
results of associating with persons not of the true religion. One would
think that the Israelites, knowing the true God, might have converted
their pagan neighbors to the true religion by the influence of their
teaching and example; but, on the contrary, they lost the true faith
themselves, as nearly always happens in such cases. How do we sometimes
worship false or strange gods? By making dress, money, honor, society,
company, or pleasure our god--that is, by giving up the worship of God
and sinning for their sake, and thus making them god, at least for the
time being, by giving them our heart, mind, and service.

*316 Q. How does the First Commandment help us to keep the great
Commandment of the love of God?
A. The First Commandment helps us to keep the great Commandment of the
love of God because it commands us to adore God alone.

317 Q. How do we adore God?
A. We adore God by faith, hope, and charity, by prayer and sacrifice.

318 Q. How may the First Commandment be broken?
A. The First Commandment may be broken by giving to a creature the honor
which belongs to God alone; by false worship; and by attributing to a
creature a perfection which belongs to God alone.

"Creature"--that is, anything created; anything but God Himself, for all
other persons and things have been created. If one knelt before a king
and adored him, he would be giving to a creature the honor due to God
alone. "False worship"--that is, worshipping God not as He directs us by
His Church, but in some ways pleasing to ourselves. For example, to
sacrifice animals to God would now be false worship; to offer now any of
the sacrifices commanded in the Old Law would be false worship, because
all these were figures of the real sacrifice of the Cross and Mass, and
were to put the people in mind that one day Christ the promised Redeemer
would offer up the one great sacrifice of His own body and blood to blot
out all the sins of the world. And now that we have the real sacrifice
it would be sinful to use only figures, and it would be a false worship
displeasing to God. So, too, all those who leave the true Church to
practice a religion of their own have a false worship, for they worship
God not as He wishes, but as they wish.

Heaven is a reward, and when we see how the saints labored to secure it
we must be ashamed of the little we do for God. Take out of a whole
year--that is, 365 days or 8,760 hours--the time you gi