Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Worshiping Idols

The ancient pagans, men who were highly civilized for the age in which they lived, invented idols for themselves and found different ways of adoring them. Many civilized men of our day -- new pagans -- raise up idols which are still better constructed and more sophisticated. In our day there seems to be real adoration and idolatry for everything that makes its appearance in the name of progress or that provides yet more material well-being, pleasure or comfort ... It seems that man also completely forgets the fact that he is a spiritual being destined for eternal life. Those words of Saint Paul ... are all too topical. Their God is the belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things (Phil 3:19). It is the modern idolatry that tempts Christians who no longer give any thought to the immense treasure of their faith or the great richness of the love of God.

We break the first commandment of the decalogue when we put other things, even good things, before God, because then we love them in a disorderly way. When he does this man distorts the right order of created things and uses them for an end opposed to, or different from, that for which they were created. When the divine order taught by the decalogue is broken, man no longer finds God in creation: he then fabricates his own God, and radically hides himself within his own selfishness and pride ... Because of this very real temptation, each man, each woman, needs to often ask themselves ... whether God is truly the first thing in their lives, the most important, the Highest Good, who guides the way they behave and make decisions.

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