Christopher Wendt: Good evening, everyone. Good evening, Your Excellency.
Bishop Schneider: Good evening.
Christopher Wendt: I greet all of you guests, all members of the confraternity. Tonight’s broadcast is going to be a continuation of the Roman Catechism, the Catechism that comes from the Council of Trent, and His Excellency is going to teach us on the Ninth and the Tenth commandments. And up next month, the month of July, we’re going to learn. We’re going to start a new section of the Catechism. It’s called the section on prayer. So I’m very excited about that. He’ll give us good coverage on the Pater Noster, the Our Father, but without further ado, I’ll ask His Excellency to start us off with a prayer.
Bishop Schneider: In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.
Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto, sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
Christopher Wendt: Amen. Just a little pitch for His Excellency’s book. If you haven’t got your copy of his book Crado, it’s been out for a while. I can’t remember. It’s been translated into many languages. If you don’t have a copy, you can get this book wherever you can. It came out with Sophia Press, and it’s great. It covers a lot of the questions that the other catechisms that really teach the true faith don’t really dive into. There have been a lot of new things since the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Without further ado, I’ll turn it over to His Excellency to give us a lesson on the ninth and 10th commandments. Thank you.
Bishop Schneider: So, the ninth and tenth commandments say, according to the text of Holy Scripture, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, neither shalt thou desire his wife, nor his servant, nor his handmaid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is his.”
It is to be observed, in the first place, that these two precepts, which were delivered last in order, furnish a general principle for the observance of all the other commandments. What is commanded in these two amounts to this, that if we wish to observe the preceding precepts of the law, we must be particularly careful not to covet. For he who does not covet, being content with what he has, will not desire what belongs to others, but will rejoice in their prosperity, will give glory to God, will render Him boundless thanks, and will observe the day of the Lord, that is, will enjoy perpetual repose, and will respect his superiors.
In fine, he will injure no man in word or deed or otherwise, for the root of all evil is concupiscence, which hurries its unhappy victims into every species of crime and wickedness.
Keeping these considerations in mind, we should be diligent in observing these commandments. These two commandments are here in our lesson united, since their subject matter is similar. They may, therefore, be treated together.
The one covetousness looks only to utility and self-interest, the other to unlawful desire and criminal pleasure. He, for instance, who covets a field or house pursues profit rather than pleasure, while he who covets another man’s wife yields to a desire of pleasure, not of profit.
The promulgation of these two commandments was necessary for two reasons.
The first is to explain the sixth and seventh commandments. Reason alone shows that to prohibit adultery is also to prohibit the desire for another man’s wife, because where the desire is lawful, its indulgence must be so too. Nevertheless, many of the Jews, blinded by sin, could not be induced to believe that such desires were prohibited by God. Even after the law had been promulgated and become known, many who professed themselves its interpreters continued in the same error, as we learn from these words of the Lord: “You have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery.’ But I say to you,” and so on. The Lord then explains the evil desire.
The second reason for these two commandments is that they distinctly and in express terms prohibit some things of which the sixth and seventh commandments do not contain an explicit prohibition.
The seventh commandment, for instance, forbids an unjust desire or endeavor to take what belongs to another. But this commandment further prohibits even coveting it in any way, even though it could be acquired justly and lawfully, if we foresee that by such acquisition our neighbor would suffer some loss.
These two commandments teach God’s love for us and our need to observe God’s law, especially this commandment, which concerns an interior disposition.
By the preceding commandments, God had, as it were, fenced us round with safeguards, securing us and ours against injury of every sort. But by the addition of these two commandments, God intended chiefly to provide against the injuries which we might inflict on ourselves by the indulgence of inordinate desires, as would easily happen were we at liberty to covet all things indiscriminately.
By this law, then, which forbids us to covet, God has blunted, in some degree, the keenness of desire, which excites us to every kind of evil, so that by reason of His command, these desires are to some extent diminished, and we ourselves, freed from the annoying importunity of the passions, are enabled to devote more time to the performance of the important duties of prayer and of our union with God.
The divine law is to be observed not only by the external performance of duties but also by the internal disposition of our heart. Between divine and human law there is this difference, that human laws are fulfilled by external compliance alone, whereas the laws of God, since He reads the heart, require purity of heart, sincere and undefiled integrity of soul.
The law of God, therefore, is a sort of mirror in which we behold the corruption of our own nature, and hence these words of the Apostle: “I had not known concupiscence if the law did not say, ‘Thou shalt not covet.'”
Concupiscence, which is the fuel of sin, and which originated in sin, is always inherent in our fallen nature. From it we know that we are born in sin, and therefore we humbly fly for assistance to God, who alone can efface the stains of our sins.
There are two parts of this commandment, the negative part, “Thou shalt not covet,” and the positive part.
It is not, then, the mere power of desire, which can move either to a good or a bad object, that is prohibited by these commandments. It is the indulgence of evil desire, which is called the concupiscence of the flesh and the fuel of sin, and which, when accompanied by the consent of the will, is always sinful.
Therefore, only that covetousness is forbidden which the Apostle calls the concupiscence of the flesh, that is to say, those motions of desire which are contrary to the dictates of reason and outstep the limits prescribed by God.
This kind of concupiscence is condemned by God either because it desires what is evil, such as adultery, drunkenness, murder, and other crimes, of which the Apostle says, “Let us not covet evil things, as they also coveted,” or because, although the objects may not be bad in themselves, there is some other reason which makes it wrong to desire them, as when, for instance, God or the Church prohibit their possession. For it is not permitted us to desire those things which it is altogether unlawful to possess.
Such were, in the Old Law, the gold and silver from which idols were made, and which the Lord, in Holy Scripture, forbade anyone to covet.
Another reason why this sort of vicious desire is condemned is that it has for its object that which belongs to another, such as a house, a field, and many other things, all of which the law of God forbids us to covet simply because they belong to another person. The desire for such things, when consented to, is criminal and is numbered among the most grievous sins.
For sin is committed the moment the soul, yielding to the impulse of corrupt desires, is pleased with evil things, and either consents to them or does not resist them.
As Saint James the Apostle, pointing out the beginning and progress of sin, teaches when he says, “Every man is tempted by his own concupiscence, being drawn away and allured. Then, when concupiscence has conceived, it brings forth sin, but sin, when it is completed, begets death.”
When, therefore, the law says, “Thou shalt not covet,” it means that we are not to desire those things which belong to others. A thirst for what belongs to others is intense and insatiable, for it is written, “A covetous man shall not be satisfied.”
In such a one, the prophet Isaiah says, “Woe to you that join house to house and field to field.” He is never satisfied with these evil desires.
There are various objects which are forbidden to covet. Holy Scripture enumerates them very concretely in the Old Testament: the house, the ox, the servant, and even the wife.
The commandment which forbids us to covet the goods of our neighbor is followed by another which forbids us to covet our neighbor’s wife, a law that prohibits not only the adulterer’s criminal desire for his neighbor’s wife, but even the wish to marry her.
For of old, when a bill of divorce was permitted, it might easily happen that she who was put away by one husband might be married to another. In the Old Testament, Moses permitted this, but the Lord forbade the desire for another’s wife, lest husbands might be induced to abandon their wives, or wives conduct themselves with such bad temper toward their husbands as to make it necessary to send them away, as happened under the law of Moses.
But now this sin is more grievous because the wife, although separated from her husband, cannot be taken in marriage by another until the husband’s death.
He, therefore, who covets another man’s wife will easily fall from this into another desire, for he will wish either the death of the husband or the commission of adultery.
The same principle holds good concerning women who have been betrothed to another. To covet them is also unlawful, and whoever strives to break their engagement violates one of the most holy of promises.
If to covet the wedded wife of another is entirely unlawful, it is on no account right to desire in marriage the virgin who is consecrated to religious life.
Then the positive part of these commandments is detachment, the interior detachment from riches and possessions. If riches abound, we should not set our hearts upon them, but be prepared to sacrifice them for the sake of our spiritual life and of eternal life, the salvation of our soul. We should contribute to relieve the poor, help others, and so on.
The desire for heavenly and spiritual things is also enjoined in this commandment implicitly.
Likewise, this commandment requires us to desire with all the ardor and all the earnestness of our soul the consummation, not of our own wishes, but of the holy will of God, as it is expressed in the Lord’s Prayer.
Now it is God’s will that we be made eminent in holiness, that we preserve our souls pure, that we practice those duties of mind and spirit which are opposed to sensuality, that we subdue our unruly appetites and enter, under the guidance of reason, upon a virtuous course of life, and finally, that we hold under restraint those senses, in particular, which supply matter to the passions, to extinguish the fire of passion.
It will be found most efficacious to place before our eyes the evil consequences of the passions. Among those evils, the first is that, by obedience to the impulse of the passions, sin gains uncontrolled sway over the soul.
Hence, the Apostle warns us, “Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body, to obey the lusts thereof.”
Just as resistance to the passions destroys the power of sin, so indulgence in the passions expels us from God’s kingdom. Again, concupiscence, as Saint James teaches, is the source from which flows every sin. Likewise, St. John says, “All that is in the world is the concupiscence of the flesh, the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life.”
Another evil of sensuality is that it darkens the soul. The mind, blinded by passion, comes to regard whatever a person desires as lawful.
Finally, concupiscence stifles the seed of the divine word sown in our souls by God. “Some,” it is written in St. Mark, “are sown among thorns. These are they who hear the word of God, and the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust after other things, entering in, choke the word, and it is made fruitless.”
There are chief ways in which these two commandments are violated. Such are the following. Those who are addicted to improper amusements or who are immoderately given to pleasures. Merchants who wish for scarcity and who cannot bear that other buyers or sellers hinder them from selling at a higher or buying at a lower rate. Those who wish to see their neighbor reduced to want in order that they themselves may profit in buying or selling. Soldiers who thirst for war in order to enrich themselves with plunder. Physicians who wish for the spread of disease. Lawyers who are anxious for a great number of cases and litigations. Artisans who, through greed for gain, wish for a scarcity of the necessities of life in order that they may increase their profits.
They too sin gravely against this commandment who, because they are envious of the praise and glory won by others, strive to tarnish, in some degree, their fame, particularly if they themselves are idle and worthless characters, for fame and glory are the reward of virtue and not of indolence and laziness.
Then there are the ways to overcome concupiscence. We must realize that the avoidance of concupiscence demands much labor, for it is based on something within us. It is in the heart. It is hard to capture an enemy within one’s own household. However, this desire can be overcome in the following ways.
Firstly, by fleeing external occasions, such as, for instance, bad company, and, in fact, whatever may be an occasion for this sin. The second way is by not giving an opening to thoughts which of themselves are the occasion of lustful desires, and this must be done by mortification of the flesh. As Holy Scripture says, “Chastise…” St. Paul says, “I chastise my body and bring it into subjection.” The third way is perseverance in prayer, to pray. The fourth way is to keep oneself busy with wholesome occupations. Idleness has taught much evil. St. Jerome says, “Be always busy in doing something good, so that the devil may find you ever occupied.”
Then come the reasons for the commandments which prohibit evil desires.
The first reason for the commandment is that man’s desire has no limits, because desire itself is boundless. For he who is wise will aim at some particular end, for no one should have aimless desires. St. Augustine says, “Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in Thee.” Nothing, therefore, less than God can satisfy the human heart.
The second reason is that covetousness destroys peace of heart. The covetous man is ever solicitous to acquire what he lacks and to hold on to that which he has.
Thirdly, covetousness in a man of wealth renders his riches useless both to himself and to others, because he desires only to hold on to them. As Holy Scripture says, “Riches are not becoming for a covetous man.”
The fourth reason is that it destroys the equality of justice.
Finally, covetousness produces all kinds of wickedness.
Covetousness, concupiscence, and evil desires are the root of all evil, says Saint Paul, and when this root is implanted in the heart, it brings forth murder, theft, and all other kinds of evil.
“They that will become rich fall into temptation, and into the snare of the devil, and into many unprofitable and hurtful desires, which draw men into destruction and perdition. For the desire of money is the root of all evil.”
And so, covetousness is a mortal sin when one covets one’s neighbor’s goods without reason, and even if there be a reason, it is a venial sin, says the Catechism of the Council of Trent.
And now we may do a summary of the Ten Commandments.
These are the ten precepts to which our Lord referred when He said, “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.”
There are two main principles of all the commandments, namely, love of God and love of neighbor.
The man who loves God must necessarily do three things.
He must have no other god, and in support of this is the commandment, “Thou shalt not have strange gods.”
He must give God all honor, and so it is commanded, “Thou shalt not take the name of God in vain.”
He must faithfully take his rest in God. Hence, “Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day,” the Day of the Lord.
But to love God worthily, one must first of all love one’s neighbor, and so, “Honor thy father and thy mother.”
Then one must avoid doing harm to one’s neighbor in act. “Thou shalt not kill” refers to our neighbor’s person.
“Thou shalt not commit adultery” refers to the person united in marriage to our neighbor.
“Thou shalt not steal” refers to our neighbor’s external goods.
We must also avoid injury to our neighbor, both by word, “Thou shalt not bear false witness,” and by thought, “Thou shalt not desire thy neighbor’s goods,” and “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.”
So this is the summary.
These two last commandments complete all the other commandments and show that Christianity, our Christian life, does not consist only in the external observance of the commandments, which is necessary, of course, but also in the attitude of our soul, of our mind, of our interior life.
Therefore, the Christian faith is a faith which always unites before God our interior life and desires with our external acts.
Christopher Wendt: Okay, I’m back. Sorry about that. I wanted to… I was drinking my coffee while I was listening. I just don’t want to disturb everyone by hearing me drink my coffee.
Anyway, I wanted to ask you a question. It sounds like the ninth and tenth commandments are really all about what’s inside our heart, right? It’s not really about externals. So when we examine our conscience, we’re really just going inside and assessing our desires and motives. Is that right, Your Excellency?
Bishop Schneider: Of course. When we pray the Confiteor at the beginning of the Holy Mass, we say, “I have grievously sinned… in my thoughts.” Then we continue, “in my words, in what I have done, and in what I have failed to do.”
Christopher Wendt: It seems like a lot of times the ninth and tenth commandments are kind of like add-ons. We tend to focus on the sixth and seventh commandments. Do you have any advice on how we can grow in examining our conscience, or in growing in that mystery of perfecting our desires in our hearts, and properly examining our conscience, so that we give those commandments their due, just as we do the sixth and seventh commandments?
Bishop Schneider: Yes, it is very important in our life to always and regularly examine our intentions, our motivations, and our thoughts, because from these come our acts. This is the root, as our Lord said when the Pharisees accused Him that the Apostles did not wash their hands or did not wash these vessels. He said, “It is from the heart that all these bad deeds come,” and our Lord enumerates them. So the heart must be clean.
People are inclined, of course, to keep themselves clean, and this is good. Our body must be clean and pleasant, and especially women like to wear makeup and so on. But sometimes people are exteriorly clean, even wearing perfume and makeup, while interiorly they are foul-smelling and dirty because of bad thoughts and bad desires.
By bad thoughts, I mean those to which we consciously consent. Sometimes there are bad thoughts which we do not desire. These are temptations of the devil or memories of our past life which we do not desire. Sometimes it is even a kind of suffering to endure such thoughts that we do not desire.
We must not consent to them or entertain them. Rather, we should simply flee from these thoughts by a short prayer, asking for the help of the Lord and invoking our guardian angel, and thus exercise ourselves in purifying the mind. This is very important.
Christopher Wendt: Thank you, Excellency. So it really seems that when we’re examining our conscience, we’re really looking to see whether we gave consent, not merely whether there was a temptation, but whether we gave consent to it.
I guess, as you said before, when we make an examination of conscience, we can pray to our guardian angel, pray to Our Lady, pray to the Holy Ghost, and ask for enlightenment so that we can give an honest account of our desires.
I think this is really a great lesson because I’m thinking that the ninth and tenth commandments kind of do not receive their full attention. There is such a focus on external deeds. But this is a great lesson today to remind us that our thoughts and our desires really need to be pure as well.
Yes, that’s all the questions I have for you, Your Excellency. I guess you’ll close us with a prayer for holy popes.
Bishop Schneider: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Kyrie Eleison! Christe Eleison! Kyrie Eleison! Lord Jesus Christ.
You are the Good Shepherd! With Your almighty hand, You guide Your pilgrim Church through the storms of each age.
Adorn the Holy See with holy popes who neither fear the powerful of this world nor compromise with the spirit of the age, but preserve, strengthen, and defend the Catholic Faith unto the shedding of their blood, and observe, protect, and hand on the venerable liturgy of the Roman Church.
O Lord, return to us through holy popes who, inflamed with the zeal of the Apostles, proclaim to the whole world: “Salvation is found in no other than in Jesus Christ. For there is no other name under heaven given to men by which they should be saved” (see Acts 4:10-12).
Through an era of holy popes, may the Holy See, which is home to all who promote the Catholic and Apostolic Faith, always shine as the cathedra of truth for the whole world. Hear us, O Lord, and through the intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mother of the Church, grant us holy Popes, grant us many holy Popes! Have mercy on us and hear us! Amen.
Dominus vobiscum.
Christopher Wendt: Et cum spiritu tuo.
Bishop Schneider: Benedictio Dei omnipotentis, Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti, descendat super vos et maneat semper. Amen.
Praise be Jesus Christ!
Christopher Wendt: Now and Forever! Thank you, Your Excellency.
This is all for our broadcast this evening. Again, I want to thank you all for being here. Next month, on August 13, we are going to learn more about the prayer part of our faith. Until next time, Ave Maria.