Thou shalt not have strange Gods before me

The First Commandment obliges us to give to God due worship and honour. What this God is, it is impossible to understand. But let it be enough for us to know that His principal attributes are as follows:

1. God is Independent. All things depend on God, but He depends on no one; and, therefore, He possesses all perfections, in regard to which no one can set any bounds to Him.

2. God is Almighty. He can do whatever He wishes; by one act of His Will He created the world. He first created the heavens, and the Angels, who are pure spirits, and He created them in the state of grace. But Lucifer, when he was commanded to adore the Son of God, Who was to be made man, through pride refused to obey, and induced a third part of the Angels to join with him in his rebellion against God. These rebellious angels were instantly banished from Heaven by the Archangel Michael, and condemned to hell. They are the devils, who tempt us to sin, in order to make us companions of their torments. Miserable should we be, if we had not God to assist us. We should not have strength to resist their temptations. But God requires, as the condition of giving us this assistance, that in our temptations we instantly turn to Him, and ask His assistance; if we act otherwise, we shall be defeated by our enemies. The Angels who remained faithful were immediately admitted into the enjoyment of the glory of Paradise; and from among these Angels, the Lord has appointed those who were to be our guardians: He hath given his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways (Ps. xc. 11). Let us every day give thanks to our Angel Guardian, and entreat him to assist us always and never abandon us. Next the Lord created the earth and all those things that we see. He then made man, that is, Adam and Eve. So God is the Lord of all things, for He created all things; and as He created all things by one act of His Will, so by another act He can, if He pleases, destroy all things. This is what is meant by God's Omnipotence, — that is, God is Almighty.

3. God is also Most Wise. He governs all things created without labour or inconvenience. He sees and has before Him all things, past and future, and knows all our thoughts better than they are known to ourselves.

4. God is Eternal. He always has been, and always will be and nothing in Him ever had a beginning, or shall have an end.

5. God is Immense. He is in Heaven, on earth and in all places.

6. God is Holy in all His works, and it is impossible for Him to be in any way evil.

7. God is Just. He leaves no sinful act unpunished, and no good act without its reward.

8. God is all Mercy to penitent sinners, and all Love to the souls that love Him. In a word, God is Infinite Goodness; so that He cannot be better or more perfect than He is.

This God, our Creator and Preserver, we are bound to love and honour, principally by acts of the three Theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity. "God," says St. Augustine, "is to be worshipped by Faith, Hope, and Charity."