A Christian Preface

We have serious reasons for urging the consistent use of the Catechism and for calling on others to do the same. It is deeply troubling to see how many pastors and preachers are negligent in this duty, bringing shame on both their office and the teachings of that small but vital book. Some neglect it out of a misplaced sense of superiority; others simply out of laziness and self-indulgence. These men behave as though they became pastors and preachers solely for their own comfort, as if their only responsibility in life were to enjoy the church's resources, just as they had grown accustomed to doing under the Papacy.

Today, sound books lay everything out clearly and accessibly, placing within easy reach all that should be taught and preached. These resources now deliver in substance what older titles once only hinted at in name: "Sermons That Speak for Themselves," "Sleep Securely," "The Well Equipped and Their Treasures." And yet these men can't be bothered to buy such books, or if they already own them, to open and read them. They are shameful gluttons, consumed by their own appetites. They would be far better suited to herding swine or keeping dogs than to watching over souls and shepherding Christian people.

Now that they've been freed from the useless and exhausting ritual of the seven daily prayer hours, I would hope they could at least read a page or two each morning, midday, and evening from the Catechism, a prayer book, the New Testament, or some other portion of Scripture, and pray the Lord's Prayer both for themselves and for the people in their care. If they did this, they would show genuine honor and gratitude toward the Gospel, which has freed them from so many burdens and obligations. They would also have reason to be deeply ashamed that, in their former state, they saw in the Gospel nothing more than a license for corrupt and shameful self-indulgence. As it stands, people already take the Gospel far too lightly, and even our most determined efforts produce little fruit. What can we possibly expect, then, if we become lazy and negligent, just as we were under the Papacy?

Beyond this, a destructive and insidious problem has taken hold among us. A certain smugness and complacency has led many to treat the Catechism as a minor, second-rate document. They view it as something to be read once and then shelved permanently, not worth returning to. On top of this, even among the nobility there are petty, mean-spirited individuals who argue that pastors and preachers are no longer necessary. They claim that everything worth knowing is already in books, which anyone can read on their own, and without any twinge of conscience they allow parishes to deteriorate and fall apart. Pastors and preachers are left to starve, which is exactly what you'd expect from reckless Germans. We have such disgraceful people among us, and we are forced to bear with them.

As for myself, I am a doctor and a preacher, as learned and experienced as any of those who carry themselves with such arrogance and self-assurance. Yet I approach the Catechism the way a child approaches his first lessons. Every morning, and whenever I find the time, I read and recite the Ten Commandments, the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Psalms, and so on. I study the Catechism daily, and still I cannot master it as thoroughly as I would like. I must remain a student of it, a child still learning, and I am genuinely glad to be so. Yet these prim and self-satisfied fellows presume to rank themselves among the greatest scholars after reading the Catechism once, as though there were nothing left for them to discover. This tells us everything we need to know: they have no real concern for their calling, for the souls in their care, or even for God and His Word. They cannot fall any further, because they have already fallen as low as one can go. What they truly need is to become children again and start from the very beginning, the same beginning they imagine they left behind long ago.

For this reason, I urge these lazy, self-important saints to accept, for God's sake, that they are not nearly as learned or as accomplished as they believe. I beg them not to assume they have mastered the Catechism or absorbed all it has to offer, even when they feel confident they know it well. Even if their grasp of these texts were perfect, which is simply not possible in this life, it would still be enormously valuable to read them every day, to reflect on them, and to discuss them with others, provided that such reading, reflection, and conversation are accompanied by a genuine seeking of the Holy Spirit, so that He might bring greater clarity and deepen one's devotion. In this way, our love for this teaching and its hold on us will grow, just as Christ promised: "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt 18:20).

Nothing is more effective against the world, the flesh, the devil, and all evil thoughts than keeping yourself occupied with God's Word, whether in active engagement with it or in meditation. Ps 1:2 calls those blessed who meditate on the Law of the Lord day and night. No incense or pleasant fragrance will be as offensive to Satan as your engagement with God's commandments and words, speaking them, singing them, and turning them over in your mind. This is the truly holy water, the sacred sign that Satan avoids and flees from.

We should eagerly read, speak, think about, and practice the Catechism, even if it offered us no other benefit than this: that it drives away the devil and evil thoughts. Satan cannot bear to hear God's Word. God's Word is not idle chatter like the old tales of Dietrich of Berne and others; as Paul says, it is "the power of God" (Rom 1:16). And so it proves itself, inflicting burning pain on Satan while giving us boundless strength, comfort, and help.

But why go on at length? Time and paper would both run out before I could list all the blessings that flow from God's Word. Satan is called the master of a thousand arts, but what title should we give to God's Word, which easily defeats that master along with all his cunning and power? God must surely be far more than a master of a thousand arts, and we who would be pastors and preachers should be ashamed to treat the power, blessing, strength, and fruit of His Word with careless contempt. If we do, we deserve to go hungry, to be thrown out like refuse, and to be set upon by dogs. We need God's Word for daily strength just as we need our daily bread. We constantly require it to resist the relentless attacks and ambushes of this Satan, skilled as he is in his thousand arts.

If that's not enough reason to read these teachings every day, consider God's direct command. That alone should settle the matter. Deut 6:7-9 solemnly instructs us to meditate on God's Word at all times, whether sitting, walking, standing, lying down, or rising up, and to keep it as a constant reminder before our eyes and on our hands. God didn't issue that command without reason. He knows the dangers we face and the needs we have. He knows how relentlessly and furiously the devil attacks and tempts us. So He warns us and equips us with protection and armor against "the fiery darts of the evil one" (Eph 6:16). He gives us an antidote to the poison of the devil's corrupting suggestions. What reckless fools we are! Surrounded by such powerful enemies as the devils, among whom we must constantly live and move, we still neglect our own defenses, too lazy to give them a second thought.

Consider the arrogance and complacency of those who refuse to study the Catechism daily. They apparently think themselves wiser than God Himself, wiser than all the saints and angels, the patriarchs and prophets, the apostles and every Christian who has ever lived. God Himself is not too proud to teach these things every day, knowing nothing better to teach; He returns to this same material again and again, never adding something new or different. All the saints know nothing better or more worthy of study, and none of them has ever managed to exhaust it. Yet we consider ourselves remarkable enough to think that after reading or hearing it once, we've mastered it entirely and have no further need to return to it. We apparently believe we can absorb in a single day what God Himself cannot finish teaching, even though He has been teaching it from the beginning of the world to the end of time, and all the prophets and saints continued to learn from it throughout their lives, always remaining students and never graduating beyond it.

Anyone who truly knows the Ten Commandments, as a result, knows the whole of Scripture. Such a person is equipped to offer counsel, help, comfort, and sound judgment in any situation, whether the matter is practical or spiritual. They are qualified to evaluate all doctrines, callings, spirits, and laws, along with everything else in the world. What is the entire Psalter, after all, but a collection of thoughts and spiritual reflections rooted in the First Commandment? I am quite certain that these lazy, self-indulgent people, or these arrogant spirits, don't understand a single Psalm, let alone the whole of Scripture, and yet they claim to have mastered and moved beyond the Catechism, which is nothing less than a concise summary of all Holy Scripture.

For this reason, I urge all Christians once more, and especially pastors and preachers, not to declare themselves experts too quickly or to assume they already know everything. Our empty self-confidence works much like a faulty measuring tool: it always comes up short. Instead, let them study their Catechism carefully every day and put its lessons into consistent practice, guarding with the greatest care and diligence against the poisonous spread of such complacency and arrogance. Let them keep reading and teaching, learning and reflecting and turning things over in their minds. Let them never stop until they have solid reason to believe that the devil has been killed by their teaching and that they themselves have grown wiser than God and His saints.

If they bring this kind of diligence to the task, I give them my word, and their own experience will confirm it, that they will see rich fruit from their labor and that God will shape them into people of genuine quality. In time, they will arrive at the honest confession that the longer and more deeply they study the Catechism, the less they feel they have mastered it and the more they find there is still to learn. The Catechism that they now, in their bloated sense of abundance, can't even stand to look at will become, in their hunger and thirst, a truly sweet fragrance to them. To that end, may God grant His grace. Amen.