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December 6, 2018The final two Commandments
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female slave, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor (Ex 20:17).
But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Mt 5:28).
For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be (Mt 6:21).
With the Christmas shopping season upon us in stores, television and cell phones, a common question is, “What do you want for Christmas this year?”
Add to this the many children screaming out “I want that!” or “Buy me that!”
Commercials have a unique expertise for convincing viewers they need these items or can’t live without those items. How many times after watching a commercial for pizza did you say, “That would be great right now!” and ended up reaching for the phone and ordering one?
Too many of us were spoiled by well-intentioned family members who approached us with phrases such as, “Whatever you wish,” Whatever your heart desires,” and “Ask to your hearts content.”
We’ve become addicted to infinite options, choices and having whatever we want, whatever our heart desires, be it people, places or things. The establishment of limits and boundaries has become something bad.
The assumption is that if your heart desires it, and it brings what you understand to be joy and happiness, then it must be good. But, what if the desires of your heart are wrong? What if the desires of your heart lead you away from your greatest love, God? What if having it your way is not having it his way?
The last two Commandments call on us to exercise dominance over one’s own heart. A disciple is aware of one’s own fallen nature and how “what our hearts desire” could just be a subtle temptation that ends up creating a distance between God and us. The heart must be taught, it must be trained, it must be educated; and this cannot be done by always giving in to what it wants, be it people, places or things.
God’s love for us, and our love for God, need to be what guides us in our choices; guides us in our wants. Not everything that seems good, is good. We need to exercise dominion over our heart. We need to appreciate limits, boundaries and saying “No!” If we don’t, we will be slaves to our wants and desires. If we don’t, we have sold our freedom to the highest bidder for what ends up being temporary joy, short-term happiness and a lifetime of regret. Trust God, trust his Commandments, trust his love for us all.
Pope Francis ended his series on the Commandments with these words:
“Here is what it means to seek Christ in the Decalogue: to fertilize our heart so that it is loaded with love and open to the work of God. When man follows the desire to live according to Christ, then he is opening the door to salvation, which cannot do anything else than arrive, because God the Father is generous and as the Catechism says, ‘thirsts for man to be thirsty of him.’”