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It’s Day 326!!
ARTICLE 10: THE TENTH COMMANDMENT
THE DISORDER OF COVETOUS DESIRES
THE DESIRES OF THE SPIRIT
We shall not covet anything, even goods
The goods of our neighbor
The good things that our neighbor does
There is a danger in jealousy and envy
They are both wrong
Paragraph 2538 says, “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. Envy can lead to the worst crimes. ‘Through the devil’s envy death entered the world’. 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.”
Let’s pray!!
Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we give you praise and glory in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Please send your Holy Spirit. Your Holy Spirit of truth and of light, your Holy Spirit of freedom and of joy, so that we can be satisfied with what we have. That we can have a certain poverty of Spirit so that we can be rid of the desire, covetous desires, greedy desires, avaricious desires. Lord God, whatever kind of jealousy we might have, whatever kind of envy we might have in our hearts, we ask that you please purify that. Transform our hearts. Lord God, as we continue to press play on this Catechism in a Year, as we continue to return to the teachings of your Church, we know that we are not just looking for more information. And you don’t just want to give us more information. We are looking for transformation. And you want the depth of our conversion, not merely the conversion of our actions, but truly the conversion of our hearts. So Father, in the name of your Son, Jesus, send your Holy Spirit to convert our hearts and make us like you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”
So there we have it!!
Paragraph 2534 says, “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. Avarice, like fornication, originates in the idolatry prohibited by the first three prescriptions of the Law. The tenth commandment concerns the intentions of the heart; with the ninth, it summarizes all the precepts of the Law.”
Everything we do flows from the human heart
Every good
Every evil
The Ninth and Tenth Commandments are all about the disorder of the human heart and about controlling that desire
Paragraph 2535 says, “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.”
Paragraph 2536 says, “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 good is immense, infinite, never quenched. Thus it is written: ‘He who loves money never has money enough.’”
When is enough enough?
If we do not check our hearts, that greed can continue to grow
Let’s listen to Fr. Mike talk about video rental stores and pizza…
We have become so desensitized and what happens is we don’t necessarily know when to say no because we don’t know when enough is enough
Paragraph 2537 says, “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.”
Let’s listen to Fr. Mike’s example about your neighbor who has a nice bicycle…
Jealousy is not always a horrible thing
Jealousy can be the right thing at times
For example, God says that He is a jealous God
Why?
Because He is jealous of His people’s heart
So if His people are not faithful to Him, He is a jealous God
He does not want the people to go off to another false god
For husbands and wives, to be legitimately jealous is legitimate
Their romantic love is for each other alone
If that love is given to someone else, jealousy is the proper response
There are other times when jealousy is not the proper response
There are times when jealousy can drive a person to evil and violence
Envy is different
Envy is sadness at the blessings of another
“I would be happy if you did not have what you have.”
Paragraph 2539 says, “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.’ ‘From envy are born hatred, detraction, calumny, joy caused by the misfortune of a neighbor, and displeasure caused by prosperity.’”
IN FACT…
The Book of Wisdom says, “By the envy of the Devil, death entered the world.”
The Devil knows he can’t be God
The Devil cannot have all the things God has
BUT…
Envy is, “I don’t care that I can’t have what God has.”
The Devil knows that he can’t have what we have as Christians and have been adopted by the Father as His sons and daughters
The Devil says, “I know I can’t have it. I want to make it so that you can’t have it.”
Paragraph 2540 says, “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.”
Jealousy can be bad when it leads to theft
Envy is less like theft and more like vandalism
Let’s listen to Fr. Mike talk about his first day of senior year in high school and their house got robbed…
Jealousy is, “I want to take this for myself.”
Envy is, “I don’t even need to have it. I just don’t want you to have it.”
That is the form of sadness at someone else’s blessings, talents, or their good life
We need to battle against envy by exercising our good will
We want people around us to be blessed
We want people around us to have every good thing
So often we are sad at the success of others
We must struggle against that envy by exercising good will
We must struggle against envy by praying for them and praying that God gives them even greater blessings
What does that do?
It praises God
That is the kind of heart God wants for us
That is the kind of heart we are all made to have
Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!
Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!
I cannot WAIT…
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