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 them[344] 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. In 4:14).

   ENDNOTES

   1 Jn 13:34.

   2 Mk 12:29-31; cf. Deut 6:4-5; Lev 19:18; Mt 22:34-40; Lk 10:25-28.

   3 Rom 13:8-10.

   4 Ex 20:12; Deut 5:16.

   5 Lk 2:51.

   6 Mk 7:8-13.

   7 Eph 6:1-3; cf. Deut 5:16.

   8 Ex 20:12; Deut 5:16.

   9 FC 21; cf. LG 11.

   10 Cf. Eph 5:21b: 4; Col 3:18-21; 1 Pet 3:1-7.

   11 GS 52 # 1.

   12 Jas 1:27.

   13 Cf. GS 47 # 1.

   14 GS 52 # 2.
   15 Cf. FC 46.

   16 Cf. Eph 314.
   17 Cf. Prov 1:8; Tob 4:3-4.

   18 Cf. Ex 20:12.

   19 Sir 7:27-28.

   20 Prov 6:20-22.

   21 Prov 13:1.

   22 Col 3:20; Cf. Eph 6:1.

   23 Cf. Mk 7:10-12.

   24 Sir 3:2-6.

   25 Sir 3:12-13, 16.

   26 Prov 17:6.

   27 Eph 4:2.

   28 2 Tim 1:5.

   29 GE 3.

   30 Cf. FC 36.

   31 CA 36 # 2.

   32 Sir 30:1-2.

   33 Eph 6:4.

   34 LG 11 # 2.

   35 Cf. LG 11.

   36 Cf. GS 48 # 4.

   37 Cf. Mt 18:21-22; Lk 17:4.

   38 Cf. GE 6.

   39 Mt 10:37; cf. 16:25.

   40 Mt 12:49.

   41 Mt 20:26.

   42 Cf. CA 25.

   43 Cf. Rom 13:1-2.

   44 1 Pet 2:13, 16.
   45 Rom 13:7.

   46 Ad Diognetum 5, 5 and 10; 6, 10: PG 2, 1173 and 1176.

   47 1 Tim 2:2.

   48 Mt 22:21.

   49 Acts 5:29.

   50 GS 74 # 5.

   51 Cf. CA 45; 46.

   52 GS 76 # 3.

   53 GS 76 # 5.

   54 Ex 20:13; Cf. Deut 5:17.

   55 Mt 5:21-22.

   56 CDF, instruction, Donum vitae, intro. 5.

   57 Cf. Gen 4:8-12.

   58 Gen 4:10-11.

   59 Gen 9:5-6.

   60 Cf. Lev 17:14.

   61 Ex 23:7.

   62 Mt 5:21.

   63 Cf. Mt 5:22-39; 5:44.

   64 Cf. Mt 26:52.

   65 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II, 64, 7, corp. art.

   66 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II, 64, 7, corp. art.

   67 Cf. Lk 23:40-43.

   68 Cf. Gen 4:10.

   69 Cf. GS 51 # 3.

   70 Cf. Am 8:4-10.

   71 Cf. CDF, Donum vitae I, 1.

   72 Jer 1:5; cf. Job 10:8-12; Ps 22:10-11.

   73 Ps 139:15.

   74 Didache 2, 2: SCh 248, 148; cf. Ep. Barnabae 19, 5: PG 2, 777; Ad
   Diognetum 5, 6: PG 2, 1173; Tertullian, Apol. 9: PL 1, 319-320.

   75 GS 51 # 3.

   76 CIC, can. 1398.
   77 CIC, can. 1314.

   78 Cf. CIC, cann. 1323-1324.

   79 CDF, Donum vitae III.

   80 CDF, Donum vitae III.

   81 CDF, Donum vitae I, 2.

   82 CDF, Donum vitae I, 3.

   83 CDF, Donum vitae I, 5.

   84 CDF, Donum vitae I, 6.

   85 Mt 18:6; Cf. 1 Cor 8:10-13.
   86 Cf. Mt 7:15.

   87 Pius XII, Discourse, June 1, 1941.

   88 Cf. Eph 6:4; Col. 3:21.

   89 Lk 17:1.

   90 Cf. DS 3722.

   91 Cf. Tob 1:16-18.

   92 Cf. CIC, can. 1176 # 3.

   93 Mt 5:21.

   94 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II, 158, 1 ad 3.

   95 Mt 5:22.

   96 Mt 5:44-45.

   97 St. Augustine, De civ. Dei, 19, 13, 1: PL 41, 640.

   98 Cf. Isa 32:17; cf. GS 78 ## 1-2.

   99 Isa 9:5.

   100 Eph 2:16 J.B.; cf. Col 1:20-22.

   101 Eph 2:14.

   102 Mt 5:9.

   103 Cf. GS 78 # 5.

   104 Cf. GS 81 # 4.
   105 GS 79 # 4.

   106 Cf. GS 79 # 5.

   107 Cf. GS 79 # 3.
   108 GS 79 # 4.

   109 GS 80 #3.

   110 Cf. Paul VI, PP 53.

   111 GS 78 # 6; cf. Isa 2:4.

   112 EX 20:14; Deut 5:18.

   113 Mt 5:27-28.

   114 FC 11.

   115 Gen 1:27.
   116 Gen 1:28.

   117 Gen 5:1-2.

   118 FC 22; Cf. GS 49 # 2.

   119 MD 6.

   120 Gen 2:24.

   121 Cf. Gen 4:1-2, 25-26; 5:1.

   122 Mt 5:27-28.

   123 Cf. Mt 19:6.

   124 Cf. Mt 5:37.

   125 Cf. Sir 1:22.

   126 GS 17.

   127 St. Augustine, Conf. 10, 29, 40: PL 32, 796.

   128 Cf. Titus 2:1-6.

   129 FC 34.

   130 GS 25 # 1.

   131 Cf. Gal 5:22.

   132 Cf. 1 Jn 3:3.

   133 Cf. Jn 15:15.

   134 Gal 3:27.

   135 CDF, Persona humana 11.

   136 St. Ambrose, De viduis 4, 23: PL 16, 255A.

   137 CDF, Persona humana 9.

   138 CDF, Persona humana 9.

   139 Cf. 1 Cor 6:15-20.

   140 Cf. Gen 191-29; Rom 124-27; 1 Cor 6:10; 1 Tim 1:10.

   141 CDF, Persona humana 8.

   142 FC 11.

   143 Tob 8:4-9.

   144 GS 49 # 2.

   145 Pius XII, Discourse, October 29,1951.
   146 GS 48 # 1.

   147 Cf. CIC, can. 1056.

   148 Mk 109; cf. Mt 19:1-12; 1 Cor 7: 10-11.

   149 St. John Chrysostom, Hom. in Eph. 20, 8: PG 62, 146-147.

   150 FC 30.

   151 HV 11.

   152 HV 12; cf. Pius XI, encyclical, Casti connubii.

   153 Cf. Eph 3:14; Mt 23:9.

   154 GS 50 # 2.

   155 GS 51 # 3.

   156 Cf. HV 12.

   157 HV 16.

   158 HV 14.

   159 FC 32.

   160 GS 51 # 4.

   161 Cf. HV 23; PP 37.

   162 Cf. GS 50 # 2.

   163 Gen 15:2.

   164 Gen 30:1.

   165 CDF, Donum vitae intro., 2.
   166 CDF, Donum vitae II, 1.

   167 CDF, Donum vitae II, 5.

   168 CDF, Donum vitae II, 4.

   169 CDF, Donum vitae II, 8.

   170 Cf. Mt 5:27-28.

   171 Cf. Mt 5:32; 19:6; Mk 10:11; 1 Cor 6:9-10.

   172 Cf. Hos 2:7; Jer 5:7; 13:27.

   173 Cf. Mt 5:31-32; 19:3-9; Mk 10 9; Lk 16:18; 1 Cor 7:10-ll.

   174 Cf. Mt 19:7-9.

   175 CIC, can. 1141.
   176 Cf. CIC, cann. 1151-1155.

   177 St. Basil, Moralia 73, 1: PG 31, 849-852.

   178 Cf. FC 84.

   179 FC 19; cf. GS 47 # 2.

   180 Cf. Lev 18:7-20.

   181 1 Cor 5:1, 4-5.

   182 Cf. FC 81.

   183 CDF, Persona humana 7.

   184 Cf. FC 80.

   185 EX 20:15; Deut 5:19; Mt 19:18.

   186 Cf. Gen 1:26-29.

   187 GS 69 # 1.

   188 Cf. GS 71 # 4; SRS 42; CA 40; 48.

   189 2 Cor 8:9.

   190 Cf. GS 69 # 1.

   191 Cf. Deut 25:13-16; 24:14-15; Jas 5:4; Am 8:4-6.

   192 Lk 19:8.

   193 Philem 16.

   194 Cf. Gen 128-31.

   195 Cf. CA 37-38.

   196 Cf. Mt 6:26; Dan 3:79-81.

   197 Cf. Gen 2:19-20; 9:1-4.

   198 GS 23 # 1.

   199 GS 76 # 5.
   200 Cf. CA 3.

   201 Cf. SRS 1; 41.

   202 Cf. CA 24.

   203 Cf. GS 63 # 3; LE 7; 20; CA 35.

   204 GS 65 # 2.

   205 Mt 6:24; Lk 16:13.
   206 Cf. CA 10; 13; 44.

   207 CA 34.

   208 Cf. GS 64.

   209 Cf. Gen 1:28; GS 34; CA 31.

   210 2 Thess 3:10; Cf. 1 Thess 4:11.

   211 Cf. Gen 3:14-19.

   212 Cf. LE 27.

   213 Cf. LE 6.

   214 Cf. CA 32; 34.

   215 Cf. LE 11.

   216 CA 48.

   217 Cf. CA 37.

   218 Cf. LE 19; 22-23.

   219 Cf. CA 48.

   220 Cf. Lev 19:13; Deut 24:14-15; Jas 5:4

   221 GS 67 # 2.

   222 Cf. LE 18.

   223 Cf. SRS 14.

   224 SRS 9.

   225 Cf. SRS 17; 45.

   226 CA 28; Cf. 35.
   227 Cf. SRS 16.

   228 Cf. CA 26.

   229 Cf. SRS 32; CA 51.

   230 SRS 47 # 6; cf. 42.
   231 Mt 5:42; 10:8.

   232 Cf. Mt 25:31-36.

   233 Mt 11:5; cf. Lk 4:18.

   234 CA 57; cf. Lk 6:20-22, Mt 8:20; Mk 12:41-44.

   235 Eph 4:28.
   236 Cf. CA 57.

   237 Jas 5:1-6.

   238 St. John Chrysostom, Hom. in Lazaro 2, 5: PG 48, 992.

   239 AA 8 # 5.

   240 St. Gregory the Great, Regula Pastoralis. 3, 21: PL 77, 87.

   241 Cf. Isa 58:6-7; Heb 13:3.

   242 Cf. Mt 25:31-46.

   243 Cf. Tob 4:5-11; Sir 17:22; Mt 6:2-4.

   244 Lk 3:11.

   245 Lk 11:41.

   246 Jas 2:15-16; cf. 1 Jn 3:17.

   247 CDF, instruction, Libertatis conscientia, 68.

   248 Deut 15:11.

   249 Jn 12:8.

   250 Am 8:6; cf. Mt 25:40.

   251 P. Hansen, Vita mirabilis (Louvain, 1668).

   252 EX 20:16; Cf. Deut 5:20.

   253 Mt 5:33.

   254 PS 119:90; Cf. Prov 8:7; 2 Sam 7:28; PS 119:142; Lk 1:50.

   255 Rom 3:4; Cf. PS 119:30.

   256 Jn 1:14; 8:12; Cf. 14:6.

   257 Jn 12:46.

   258 Jn 8:32; Cf. 17:17.

   259 Jn 16:13.

   260 Mt 5:37.

   261 DH 2 # 2.

   262 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II 109, 3 ad 1.

   263 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II, 109, 3, corp. art.

   264 1 Jn 1:6.

   265 Jn 18:37.
   266 2 Tim 1:8.

   267 Acts 24:16.

   268 Cf. Mt 18:16.

   269 AG 11.

   270 St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Rom. 4, 1 SCh 10, 110.

   271 St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Rom. 6, 1-2 SCh 10, 114.

   272 Martyrium Polycarpi 14,2-3 PG 5,1040; SCh 10,228.

   273 Eph 4:24.

   274 Eph 4:25; 1 Pet 2:1.

   275 Cf. Prov 19:9.

   276 Cf. Prov 18:5.

   277 Cf. CIC, can. 220.

   278 Cf. Sir 21:28.

   279 St. Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises, 22.

   280 St. Augustine, De mendacio 4, 5: PL 40: 491.

   281 Jn 8:44.

   282 Cf. Sir 27:16; Prov 25:9-10.

   283 CIC, Can. 983 # 1.

   284 Cf. IM 11.

   285 IM 5 # 2.

   286 IM 8.

   287 IM 12.
   288 IM 12 # 2.

   289 Wis 13:3, 5.

   290 Wis 7:25-26.

   291 Wis 7:29-30.

   292 Wis 8:2.

   293 Gen 1:26.

   294 Cf. Wis 7:16-17

   295 Cf. Pius XII, Musicae sacrae disciplina; Discourses of September 3 and
   December 25, 1950.

   296 Heb 1:3; Col 2:9.

   297 Cf. SC 122-127.

   298 Ex 20:17.

   299 Mt 5:28.

   300 Cf. 1 Jn 2:16.

   301 Cf. Gal 5:16, 17, 24; Eph 2:3.

   302 Cf. Gen 3:11; Council of Trent: DS 1515.

   303 John Paul II, DeV 55; cf. Gal 5:25.

   304 Mt 15:19.

   305 Pastor Hermae, Mandate 2, 1: PG 2, 916.

   306 Mt 5:8.

   307 Cf. 1 Tim 4:3-9; 2 Tim 2:22.

   308 Cf. 1 Thess 4:7; Col 3:5; Eph 4:19.

   309 Cf. Titus 1:15; 1 Tim 1:3-4; 2 Tim 2:23-26.

   310 St. Augustine, Defide et symbolo 10, 25: PL 40, 196.

   311 Cf. 1 Cor 13:12; 1 Jn 3:2.

   312 Cf. Rom 12:2; Col 1:10.

   313 Wis 15:5.

   314 St. Augustine, Conf. 6, 11, 20: PL 32, 729-730.

   315 GS 58 # 4.

   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.

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