YOUCAT Question n. 353 - Part II. Why do we worship God?
(Youcat
answer - repeated) We worship God because he exists and because reverence and
worship are the appropriate response to his revelation and his presence. “You
shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve” (Mt 4:10).
A deepening through CCC
(CCC 2098)
The acts of faith, hope, and charity enjoined by the first commandment are
accomplished in prayer. Lifting up the mind toward God is an expression of our
adoration of God: prayer of praise and thanksgiving, intercession and petition.
Prayer is an indispensable condition for being able to obey God's commandments.
"[We] ought always to pray and not lose heart" (Lk 18:1). (CCC 2099)
It is right to offer sacrifice to God as a sign of adoration and gratitude, supplication
and communion: "Every action done so as to cling to God in communion of
holiness, and thus achieve blessedness, is a true sacrifice" (St.
Augustine, De civ. Dei 10, 6: PL 41,
283).
Reflecting and meditating
(Youcat comment) Worshipping God, however, is also beneficial
to men, for it frees them from servitude to the powers of this world. When God
is no longer worshipped and when he is no longer thought to be Lord over life
and death, others assume that position and put human dignity at risk.
(CCC Comment)
(CCC 2100)
Outward sacrifice, to be genuine, must be the expression of spiritual
sacrifice: "The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit...."
(PS 51:17). The prophets of the Old Covenant often denounced sacrifices that
were not from the heart or not coupled with love of neighbor (Cf. Am 5:21-25;
Isa 1:10-20). Jesus recalls the words of the prophet Hosea: "I desire
mercy, and not sacrifice" (Mt 9:13; 12:7; Cf. Hos 6:6). 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
(Cf. Heb 9:13-14). By uniting ourselves with his sacrifice we can make
our lives a sacrifice to God.
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