Day 324: The Ninth Commandment (2514-2519)

• It’s Day 324!!

• ARTICLE 9: THE NINTH COMMANDMENT

• PURIFICATION OF THE HEART 

• Exodus 20:17 says, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

• Matthew Ch 5, “Everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

• Even though the Sixth Commandment deals with actions related to human sexuality and the Seventh Commandment deals with actions related to the possession of goods, the Ninth and Tenth Commandments remind us where the tensions in our lives come from

• Where do battles in our lives come from?

• They come from a broken heart

• They come from the fact that we have concupiscence

• We have this desire for what is not good for us and for what is not meant for us

• We are taking another look at the human heart

• Let’s pray!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we give you praise and glory. Thank you. We thank you for giving us guidance, for giving us your Commandments because your Commandments are a reminder that you have brought us into covenant with you. Your Commandments are a reminder that you want a relationship with us. Your Commandments are a reminder that we matter to you. And that our choices matter to you. And not only our choices, but even our heart. That the state of our heart matters to you. And we thank you. We thank you for caring about us, when sometimes we don’t even care about ourselves. But you care, and you love, and so we thank you and we just praise you. And today we give you permission to care about us. Today we give you permission to let us matter to you. Today we give you permission to love us. Help us to love you back. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”

• So there we have it!!

• The Ninth and Tenth Commandments are kind of recapitulations of the Sixth and Seventh Commandments

• We have concupiscence in us that attracts us to what is not good for us

• Paragraph 2514 says, “St. John distinguishes three kinds of covetousness or concupiscence: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life. In the Catholic catechetical tradition, the ninth commandment forbids carnal concupiscence; the tenth forbids coveting another’s goods.” 

• Lust of the eyes is greed, meaning I want to possess another thing

• Lust of the flesh is wanting to possess and use another person

• They come from the same place even though they manifest differently

• “I am willing to take what is not mine.”

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike tell a story about a man who went to a resort for a conference…

• The treats weren’t his

• The women on the beach were not his either

• This is the same brokenness

• BUT…

• It is also the same beginning of a solution

• Because when he saw the candy, he said those are not his so he would not take them

• He decided not to entertain the thought about taking a second glance at the women on the beach because they don’t belong to him, they belong to themselves

• Hopefully they belonged to the Lord too

• The lust of the flesh and lust of the eyes can be tempered by the same statement of truth

• THIS IS NOT MINE

• We experience concupiscence in different ways

• BUT…

• The brokenness is the same in all of us

• For some people lust of the flesh may not be a big deal

• But maybe lust for food, cigarettes, etc. has a hold on them

• How do they get free from that?

• Paragraph 2517 says, “The heart is the seat of moral personality: ‘Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication…’ The struggle against carnal covetousness entails purifying the heart and practicing temperance: Remain simple and innocent, and you will be like little children who do not know the evil that destroys man’s life.”

• Temperance means these treats are nice, but they are not mine

• They are not meant for me to use them

• I can say no to this

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike talk about Anastasia who asks her dad for advice on whom to marry…

• The person who can fast and be temperate and say no to their concupiscence will also be able to say no to himself in many other desires

• Temperance doesn’t happen all at once

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike talk about a man who struggled with lust of the flesh…

• Some people have the experience where they go to the Lord and He heals them automatically

• Most of us experience gradual progress in freedom

• Paragraph 2518 says, “The sixth beatitude proclaims, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.’ ‘Pure in heart’ refers to those who have attuned their intellects and wills to the demands of God’s holiness, chiefly in three areas: charity; chastity or sexual rectitude; love of truth and orthodoxy of faith. There is a connection between purity of heart, of body, and of faith: The faithful must believe the articles of the Creed ‘so that by believing they may obey God, by obeying may live well, by living well may purify their hearts, and with pure hearts may understand what they believe.’” 

• One of the Articles of the Creed is that Jesus Christ suffered and died for you so that you could be set free

• Jesus Christ has conquered death and sin by His life, death, and Resurrection

• He has given us new freedom

• Do you believe that or not?

• Do you really believe that in your life and with all your sins and attractions to sin?

• Do you really believe that Jesus Christ and the power of His Cross can actually set you free?

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike talk about his best friend Nick and his wife, Jocelyn who were not yet Catholic…

• God can give us a new and pure heart

• It is not just about modifying behavior

• If we do not believe that Jesus Christ truly has conquered sin and death, then why obey Him?

• If we do not believe that He can actually set us free, then why should we even try?

• We believe these Articles of the Creed

• We know what Jesus has done for us

• We know the Power of the Holy Spirit in us

• By believing the Articles of the Creed, we can obey God

• When we obey God, we live well

• Too often, people see obedience as slavery

• As opposed to by obeying the Lord, this is a good life

• This is what it is to live well

• By living well, your heart becomes more and more aligned to the truth

• We can now see God more and more clearly

• And then with pure hearts, we can understand what we believe

• Paragraph 2519 says, “The ‘pure in heart’ are promised that they will see God face to face and be like him. Purity of heart is the precondition of the vision of God. Even now it enables us to see according to God, to accept others as ‘neighbors’; it lets us perceive the human body-ours and our neighbor’s-as a temple of the Holy Spirit, a manifestation of divine beauty.”

• We can actually not just see the person as parts that are more attractive or less attractive

• We can see the human person

• We can see the human body and see the human person

• St. John Paul II said, “The body and it alone is capable of making visible what is invisible, the spiritual and the divine.” 

• And so the more and more we are living in obedience to God, the clearer and clearer we see

• So when we see people’s bodies, we are not tempted to reduce them to parts or use them for our own lust

• When we see the body, then we see the person because the body and it alone is capable of making the visible the invisible, the spiritual and the divine

• So we pray for that gift of sight so that we can see people and love people as they are, and be loved by people as we are

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!

• I cannot WAIT…