PART THREE - LIFE IN CHRIST
SECTION TWO - THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
CHAPTER TWO - "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF"
ARTICLE 10 - THE TENTH COMMANDMENT
- You shall not covet . . . anything that is your
neighbor's. . . . You shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field,
or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or
anything that is your neighbor's.316
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.317
2534 The tenth commandment unfolds and completes the
ninth, which is concerned with concupiscence of the flesh. It forbids
coveting the goods of another, as the root of theft, robbery, and fraud,
which the seventh commandment forbids. "Lust of the eyes" leads to the
violence and injustice forbidden by the fifth commandment.318
Avarice, like fornication, originates in the idolatry prohibited by the
first three prescriptions of the Law.319 The tenth commandment
concerns the intentions of the heart; with the ninth, it summarizes all the
precepts of the Law.
I. THE DISORDER OF COVETOUS DESIRES
2535 The sensitive appetite leads us to desire pleasant
things we do not have, e.g., the desire to eat when we are hungry or to warm
ourselves when we are cold. These desires are good in themselves; but often
they exceed the limits of reason and drive us to covet unjustly what is not
ours and belongs to another or is owed to him.
2536 The tenth commandment forbids greed and the desire
to amass earthly goods without limit. It forbids avarice arising from a
passion for riches and their attendant power. It also forbids the desire to
commit injustice by harming our neighbor in his temporal goods:
- When the Law says, "You shall not covet," these
words mean that we should banish our desires for whatever does not
belong to us. Our thirst for another's goods is immense, infinite, never
quenched. Thus it is written: "He who loves money never has money
enough."320
2537 It is not a violation of this commandment to desire
to obtain things that belong to one's neighbor, provided this is done by
just means. Traditional catechesis realistically mentions "those who have a
harder struggle against their criminal desires" and so who "must be urged
the more to keep this commandment":
- . . . merchants who desire scarcity and rising
prices, who cannot bear not to be the only ones buying and selling so
that they themselves can sell more dearly and buy more cheaply; those
who hope that their peers will be impoverished, in order to realize a
profit either by selling to them or buying from them . . . physicians
who wish disease to spread; lawyers who are eager for many important
cases and trials.321
2538 The tenth commandment requires that envy be
banished from the human heart. When the prophet Nathan wanted to spur King
David to repentance, he told him the story about the poor man who had only
one ewe lamb that he treated like his own daughter and the rich man who,
despite the great number of his flocks, envied the poor man and ended by
stealing his lamb.322 Envy can lead to the worst crimes.323
"Through the devil's envy death entered the world":324
- We fight one another, and envy arms us against one
another. . . . If everyone strives to unsettle the Body of Christ, where
shall we end up? We are engaged in making Christ's Body a corpse. . . .
We declare ourselves members of one and the same organism, yet we devour
one another like beasts.325
2539 Envy is a capital sin. It refers to the sadness at
the sight of another's goods and the immoderate desire to acquire them for
oneself, even unjustly. When it wishes grave harm to a neighbor it is a
mortal sin:
- St. Augustine saw envy as "the diabolical
sin."326 "From envy are born hatred, detraction, calumny, joy
caused by the misfortune of a neighbor, and displeasure caused by his
prosperity."327
2540 Envy represents a form of sadness and therefore a
refusal of charity; the baptized person should struggle against it by
exercising good will. Envy often comes from pride; the baptized person
should train himself to live in humility:
- Would you like to see God glorified by you? Then
rejoice in your brother's progress and you will immediately give glory
to God. Because his servant could conquer envy by rejoicing in the
merits of others, God will be praised.328
II. THE DESIRES OF THE SPIRIT
2541 The economy of law and grace turns men's hearts
away from avarice and envy. It initiates them into desire for the Sovereign
Good; it instructs them in the desires of the Holy Spirit who satisfies
man's heart.
The God of the promises always warned man against seduction by what from
the beginning has seemed "good for food . . . a delight to the eyes . . . to
be desired to make one wise."329
2542 The Law entrusted to Israel never sufficed to
justify those subject to it; it even became the instrument of "lust."330
The gap between wanting and doing points to the conflict between God's Law
which is the "law of my mind," and another law "making me captive to the law
of sin which dwells in my members."331
2543 "But now the righteousness of God has been
manifested apart from law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to
it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who
believe."332 Henceforth, Christ's faithful "have crucified the
flesh with its passions and desires"; they are led by the Spirit and follow
the desires of the Spirit.333
III. POVERTY OF HEART
2544 Jesus enjoins his disciples to prefer him to
everything and everyone, and bids them "renounce all that [they have]" for
his sake and that of the Gospel.334 Shortly before his passion he
gave them the example of the poor widow of Jerusalem who, out of her
poverty, gave all that she had to live on.335 The precept of
detachment from riches is obligatory for entrance into the Kingdom of
heaven.
2545 All Christ's faithful are to "direct their
affections rightly, lest they be hindered in their pursuit of perfect
charity by the use of worldly things and by an adherence to riches which is
contrary to the spirit of evangelical poverty."336
2546 "Blessed are the poor in spirit."337 The
Beatitudes reveal an order of happiness and grace, of beauty and peace.
Jesus celebrates the joy of the poor, to whom the Kingdom already belongs:338
- The Word speaks of voluntary humility as "poverty in
spirit"; the Apostle gives an example of God's poverty when he says:
"For your sakes he became poor."339
2547 The Lord grieves over the rich, because they find
their consolation in the abundance of goods.340 "Let the proud
seek and love earthly kingdoms, but blessed are the poor in spirit for
theirs is the Kingdom of heaven."341 Abandonment to the
providence of the Father in heaven frees us from anxiety about tomorrow.342
Trust in God is a preparation for the blessedness of the poor. They shall
see God.
IV. "I WANT TO SEE GOD"
2548 Desire for true happiness frees man from his
immoderate attachment to the goods of this world so that he can find his
fulfillment in the vision and beatitude of God. "The promise [of seeing God]
surpasses all beatitude. . . . In Scripture, to see is to possess. . . .
Whoever sees God has obtained all the goods of which he can conceive."343
2549 It remains for the holy people to struggle, with
grace from on high, to obtain the good things God promises. In order to
possess and contemplate God, Christ's faithful mortify their cravings and,
with the grace of God, prevail over the seductions of pleasure and power.
2550 On this way of perfection, the Spirit and the Bride
call whoever hears them344 to perfect communion with God:
- There will true glory be, where no one will be
praised by mistake or flattery; true honor will not be refused to the
worthy, nor granted to the unworthy; likewise, no one unworthy will
pretend to be worthy, where only those who are worthy will be admitted.
There true peace will reign, where no one will experience opposition
either from self or others. God himself will be virtue's reward; he
gives virtue and has promised to give himself as the best and greatest
reward that could exist. . . . "I shall be their God and they will be my
people. . . . " This is also the meaning of the Apostle's words: "So
that God may be all in all." God himself will be the goal of our
desires; we shall contemplate him without end, love him without surfeit,
praise him without weariness. This gift, this state, this act, like
eternal life itself, will assuredly be common to all.345
IN BRIEF
2551 "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be
also" (Mt 6:21).
2552 The tenth commandment forbids avarice arising from
a passion for riches and their attendant power.
2553 Envy is sadness at the sight of another's goods and
the immoderate desire to have them for oneself. It is a capital sin.
2554 The baptized person combats envy through good-will,
humility, and abandonment to the providence of God.
2555 Christ's faithful "have crucified the flesh with
its passions and desires" (Gal 5:24); they are led by the Spirit
and follow his desires.
2556 Detachment from riches is necessary for entering
the Kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are the poor in spirit."
2557 "I want to see God" expresses the true desire of
man. Thirst for God is quenched by the water of eternal life (cf. Jn
4:14).
316 Ex 20:17; Deut 5:21.
317 Mt 6:21.
318 Cf. 1 Jn 2:16; Mic 2:2.
319 Cf. Wis 14:12.
320 Roman Catechism, III, 37; cf. Sir 5:8.
321 Roman Catechism, III, 37.
322 Cf. 2 Sam 12:14.
323 Cf. Gen 4:3-7; 1 Kings 21:1-29.
324 Wis 2:24.
325 St. John Chrysostom, Hom. in 2 Cor. 27, 3-4 PG 61, 588.
326 Cf. St. Augustine, De catechizandis rudibus 4, 8 PL 40, 315-316.
327 St. Gregory the Great Moralia in Job 31, 45: PL 76, 621.
328 St. John Chrysostom, Hom. in Rom. 71, 5: PG 60, 448.
329 Gen 3:6.
330 Cf. Rom 7:7.
331 Rom 7:23; cf. 7:10.
332 Rom 3:21-22.
333 Gal 5:24; cf. Rom 8:14, 27.
334 Lk 14:33; cf. Mk 8:35.
335 Cf. Lk 21:4.
336 LG 42 # 3.
337 Mt 5:3.
338 Cf. Lk 6:20.
339 St. Gregory of Nyssa, De beatitudinibus 1: PG 44, 1200D; cf. 2 Cor 8:9.
340 Lk 6:24.
341 St. Augustine, De serm. Dom. in monte 1, 1, 3: PL 34, 1232.
342 Cf. Mt 6:25-34.
343 St. Gregory of Nyssa, De beatitudinibus 6: PG 44, 1265A.
344 Cf. Rev 22:17.
345 St. Augustine, De civ. Dei, 22, 30: PL 41, 801-802; cf. Lev 26:12; cf. 1
Cor 15:28.
