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 These six:

1. To abstain from servile work and to hear Mass on all Sundays and Holy days of obligation.

2. To fast and to abstain on the days appointed by the Church.

3. To confess our sins at least once a yearly.

4. To receive worthily the Blessed Eucharist at Easter or within the time appointed.

5. To contribute to the support of our pastors.

6. Not to marry persons within the forbidden degrees of kindred or otherwise prohibited by the Church; nor to solemnize marriage at the forbidden times.

5. Why has the Church given us these Commandments?

To explain the Commandments of God more precisely, and to determine more particularly how they are to be kept; and 2. To lead us to a religious and penitential life, and thereby to secure our eternal salvation.

6. How do these Commandments of the Church bind us?

They bind us strictly — that is, under pain of grievous sin.

Application. Be determined always humbly and conscientiously to observe the Commandments and Ordinances of the Church, that one day Jesus Christ may own you as a faithful sheep of His flock, which He has charged St. Peter and his successors to feed.

I. What are we commanded by the First Commandment of the Church?