Catechism of the Catholic Church

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2100 Outward sacrifice, to be genuine, must be the expression of spiritual sacrifice: "The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit...." ¹⁷ The prophets of the Old Covenant often denounced sacrifices that were not from the heart or not coupled with love of neighbor. ¹⁸ Jesus recalls the words of the prophet Hosea: "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice." ¹⁹ The only perfect sacrifice is the one that Christ offered on the cross as a total offering to the Father's love and for our salvation. ²⁰ By uniting ourselves with his sacrifice we can make our lives a sacrifice to God.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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PART THREE: LIFE IN CHRIST

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SECTION TWO: THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

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CHAPTER ONE: YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND

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ARTICLE 1: THE FIRST COMMANDMENT I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them. 3 It is written: "You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve." 4

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II. "HIM ONLY SHALL YOU SERVE"

Notes for the above paragraph:

17 Ps 51:17.

18 Cf. Am 5:21-25; Isa 1:10-20.

19 Mt 9:13; 12:7; Cf. Hos 6:6.

20 Cf. Heb 9:13-14.

English Translation of the Cathechism of the Catholic Church for the United States of America © 1997, United States Catholic Conference, Inc.

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