Church Teaching

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that "the Decalogue must first be
understood in the context of the Exodus, God's great liberating event at the center of
the Old Covenant." They can be summarized into two guidelines: (1) the Decalogue
should be presented as "a path of life" (no. 2057); and (2) "the Decalogue is never handed
on without first recalling the covenant" (no. 2060). In the ancient world, the intention of
a covenant was to clearly identify the responsibilities of two parties, whether individuals
or groups, had toward one another. A covenant was an instrument used to maintain
peace between neighbors and rivals. Other cultures, like Egypt and early Israel, adapted
this instrument to their own needs (Benjamin, 2000).

The Ten Commandments constitute the basic imperatives needed for a life in
community. They sketch for us the limits or parameters within which we, the people of
God, must live our life of faith, hope and love in our redeeming Lord and among
ourselves. The Commandments actually point in two directions: they call for reverence
for God and respect for our fellow human persons. While requiring these basic moral
attitudes as constant and unchanging, the Commandments, far from being a code of
rigid rules and don’ts, allow for the greatest flexibility in interpreting their “spirit” as well as
the “letter.” (Catechism for Filipino Catholics, 870). Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI mentions
that the moral life has to be embodied and lived out in community. He states
“concentrating all morality on the twofold commandment of loving God and loving
one’s neighbor, and translating this into practical action” (Ratzinger, 2004). In a similar
way, Pope Francis points out that the Ten Commandments are not a series of rules, but
rather a guide towards authentic Christian life. The commandments help us open our
hearts to receive the mercy of God and to show compassion to others (Pope Francis,
2018). As a guide to Christian formation, keeping the Ten Commandments can lead a
person towards a commitment and a habit to love God and to love others. Let us
now take a look at the commandments in order to understand their meaning and value
to our present life.

The Commandments about our relationship with God

1. The First Commandment

“I’ the Lord, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.
You shall not have other gods besides me.” (Ex. 20:2-3)

The sentiment of the first commandment is reflected in the Mosaic Code. Exodus
23:20-33 tells the people to worship Yahweh only as Yahweh rescued the people of Israel
from Egypt (Smith, 2016). God is merciful and God alone delivers His people. Like those
who were cured of their leprosy in the New Testament accounts, we are called in that
commandment to see that we have been touched by the hand of God. Only that hand
of God saves. The first commandment, therefore, calls us to attention: to wake up to the
history of God’s initiative saving actions in our own lives. Moses made the same point in
Deuteronomy 6-11 which became the foundation of moral life, that is the conformity of
people to the unique character and will of God (Smith, 2016). The commandment calls
us to see how God has kept us in being, through God’s own merciful hand, guiding,
directing, healing, and sustaining us. It commands us then first to consider God’s mercy
in our own specific, ordinary lives and then to recognize the Lordship of the One whose
tender mercies touch us so concretely. For when we know how well we are rescued, we
know that we have encountered God. The first commandment tells what God demands
from us in our relationship with Him. Since God is the source of goodness and compassion
to the world, we must acknowledge our respective roles if we wish to be partners in
continuing God’s intention for the world. Our image of God is intimately connected to
our personal, familial and social understanding of authority. It points to the benevolent
balance of power and love in which we worship from love or hate from fear (Schlessinger,
2005).

In stating the uniqueness and oneness of God, the first commandment stresses a
liberating truth. This truth is the basis of our freedom, unity as brothers and sisters and our
love for one another (CFE 882-883). In accepting the commandment we accept the
idea that God is in relationship with us. If by faith we see God as the standard of bringing
goodness and compassion to the world, we must also acknowledge our respective roles
as part of the relationship. This is the true meaning and essence of our relationship with
God which is not casual but covenantal (Schlessinger, 2005).

The first commandment calls us to bring about the personal presence of God in
our lives. It forbids any other substitute that would take the place of God and receive
priority and worship. Our present divinized economic power, possessions and wealth
transgresses the commandment. The commandment rejects all forms of obsession with
wealth, human sexuality, politics and great devotion to a person, idea or object.

2. The Second Commandment

“You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God in vain. For the Lord will not leave him
unpunished who takes his name in vain.” (Ex. 20:7)

The purpose of the second commandment is to protect true worship. We can only
approach God on God’s terms. No image can be made to be a contact point between
the relationship of God and humans (Smith, 2016). The commandment wonderfully
reminds us that uttering another’s name discloses the speaker’s estimation of the one
named. From the beginning of our journey in faith, God has invited us to be attentive to
the way we voice the Lord’s name. The commandment tells us about the holiness of
God. It reveals the sacred nature of our relationship with God and our respective
responsibilities to one another in God’s name (Schlessinger, 2005). Today the same
commandment urges us in our ordinary human intercourse to get into the habit of
expressing the Lord’s name with loving reverence, for our benefit and for our cultures. A
name plays an important role in identifying and defining someone. The name stands for
the person and makes him/her present and active. God's name reveals the presence of
God himself/herself. The name of God was God’s gift to His covenant people. To swear
falsely, using God’s name was to break the covenant (CFC, 895).

The second commandment tells us of a universal God who fulfilled a covenantal

promise to his people. This God was not manipulated by human desires or magical
incantations but rather by divine and eternal intent that depended on human
participation. More importantly the commandment tells us that God should not be used
as a tool for serving human or earthly desires (Schlessinger, 2005). The commandment is
very applicable with regards to the lack of reverence to God and also to the lack of
respect to other human persons. In reverence for God, oaths and vows are made on
solemn occasions. These promises (oaths and vows) should not be made for trivial
purposes nor fulfilled rashly but they must be truthful and enduring. With regard to respect
for others, religion must not be used to frighten or threaten people for both are concrete
violations of the second commandment, that is, a misuse of power in the name of
God. What the commandment enjoins positively is the joy-filled praise with regard to the
name of God (CFC, 901).

3. The Third Commandment

“Remember to keep holy the Sabbath Day.” (Ex. 20:8)

According to the Torah, God created the Sabbath whereby He blessed and
sanctified it. By creating a sacred time, we focus on the bigger question of spiritual
survival. The Sabbath is the time to re-create ourselves. We return to our humble
beginnings. By refilling ourselves with God’s breath that brought Adam to life (Genesis
2:7). The Sabbath reminds us that we are dispensable to our work and to the world but
not to our family, community, and God (Schlessinger, 2005). The Sabbath as sacred time
reminds us that we are at home with the divine, a dimension in which humans aspire to
the likeness and the presence of the divine (Heschel, 1951). God wants us to delight in
His Word, enjoy His creation, celebrate beauty and love, and rejoice in the harvest. God
intended for His people to enjoy their relationship with Him and each other by valuing the
Sabbath.
 Understanding the purpose of the third commandment is understanding what
God wants for us. That is, like all the commandments, the third one exists because God
wishes for us through it. Just as God gave us the fourth commandment so that we would
love and respect our elders and the fifth so that we would live peaceably with one
another, God gave us the third commandment so that we would “rest”, “celebrate”,
and “gather”. For these reasons God commands us to keep the Lord’s day holy. In the
Old Testament, the commandment appears primarily to imitate God, who rested on the
Sabbath. One of the most productive scholars here at Weston Jesuit, the New Testament
theologian Dan Harrington, ascribes to the third commandment by saying that God
wanted us to rest. This man, who writes books more than anyone I know and is dedicated
to understanding and teaching the Scriptures, does no work on Sunday. He begins
keeping the day holy by worshiping God. He celebrates the liturgy on Sunday precisely
to acknowledge that he participates in the rest that God enjoys. Sabbath as a day on
which to be still and to contemplate the quiet working of a world maintained by Yahweh
alone. The action of telling the stories of the works that Yahweh had completed and the
contemplation of resting to appreciate the work that Yahweh is doing are comparable
(Benjamin, 2000). The reason for the third commandment then is to teach us to recognize
our limits and to enjoy them as God-given. The second reason is celebration. Interestingly,
the early Christians did not rest on Sundays. On the contrary, lest they be understood as
idle, they worked as everyone else did. But when they gathered to worship they honored
the Lord’s day by celebrating it. Here we see, too, that the very meaning for the Christians
celebrating the Lord’s day is through the Eucharist, which itself means “thanksgiving”.
Through the Eucharist, Christians gather to keep holy the Lord’s day, by celebrating in our
lives the one who redeemed us by his body and blood and who promises to come again.
Our celebration is at once an act of memorial and an act of anticipation: we remember
what Jesus Christ has accomplished and we express our expectation of what he pledges.
Nothing conveys this more than our response to the consecration in the Eucharistic
prayer: “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.”

The Commandments about our relationship with other people

4. The Fourth Commandment

“Honor your father and your mother, that you may have a long life in the land which the
Lord, your god is giving you.” (Ex. 20:12)

The fourth commandment speaks of respect, reverence, and care that the
Israelites need to show to the elders. It is primarily a great piece of social and
humanitarian legislation (Barclay, 1973). Aurelio states that for the Israelites, “wisdom was
considered the gift of old age, and upholding tradition and continuity with the past was
the indispensable responsibility of the aged” (Aurelio, 1990). In a community that consists
more of the young than the elderly, this particular commandment guides the entire
community towards maturity as people. Pope Emeritus Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI states
that “this is in fact the Magna Carta of the family… This basic and enduring respect for
the human being is the most important aspect of the commandment” (Ratzinger, 2002).

The commandment calls us to move beyond reconciliation and beyond the

narratives that we have analyzed, accepted, and shared. It urges us to respect, promote,
and protect the integrity of the family as society’s basic unit. We are called to let those
before us obedience, but now to speak again, not as parents commanding obedience,
but as adults sharing with us their formative years and their experiences that occurred
before we were born. We are called to become familiar with their memories, so as to
honor them. We are invited to know them as they knew us; as children, teenagers, young
adults. We are summoned to walk with them as they talk and as they move eventually
toward a new childhood of their own.

Our relationship with our parents is the foundation for our future relationships and
choices. Here’s how Paul explained to new believers in Ephesians that the choice to
honor your parents has consequences like enjoying a long life.

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father
and mother’—which is the first commandment with a promise— ‘so that it may go
well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth’” (Ephesians 6:1-3).

Through the command of honoring parents, we can save our families and help
retain respect back into our society which is in dire need of it. Following the Jewish
tradition that envisions the ultimate homecoming for Messianic redemption, the
commandment aspires for “The hearts of the parents will be returned to their children,
and the hearts of the children returned to their parents…” (Schlessinger, 2005)

5. The Fifth Commandment

“You shall not kill.” (Ex. 20:13)

In order to understand the Fifth commandment we need to go back to the

creation story. In Genesis 1:27, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of
God. He created them; male and female He created them.” Human life is not only a gift
from God but more importantly our very existence is tied with God. Humans are unique
in their essence because God “blew into his nostrils the soul of life; and man became a
living being” (Genesis 2:7). Having said this, humans are endowed with the radiance of
the divine (Schlessinger, 2005). Wherever we find the Ten Commandments in Christian
writings, whether the new Catechism or the Tridentine one, whether Luther’s Large or
Small Catechism or Calvin’s Institutes, we always see the Christian’s respect for life before
engaging the specifics of the commandment’s prohibition. We only understand the
seriousness of the fifth commandment when we appreciate the sacred importance of
human life. In fact, John Paul II has helped us to appreciate more than the sacredness of
life by elaborating on that teaching. Prior to his papacy, sanctity of life basically
considered human life as God’s dominion: what belonged to God was not ours to violate.
Simply put, life was God’s property; we had no options on it. This use of “sanctity”
appeared elsewhere. For instance, the sanctity of marriage meant that Christian
marriage was God’s Bond; we had no right to violate the bond that belonged to God.
Likewise, we spoke of the sanctity of the temple. In applying “sanctity” to life, then,
sanctity was not derived from anything belonging to our nature: like the sanctity of
marriage or of temple, sanctity derived from the Owner. Gerry Coleman, the previous
writer of the CHURCH column on moral theology, wrote eight years ago: “What makes
killing forbidden is that it usurps a divine prerogative and violates divine rights”.
Sacredness rested not on anything intrinsic to the bond, the temple, or life, but rather
simply the fact they were divine possessions. The fifth commandment was, then, about
not violating God’s property and sovereignty. John Paul II expanded on this tradition.
Early, in Celebrate Life (1979), he signaled his interest: “The Church defends the right to
life, not only in regard to the majesty of the Creator, who is the first giver of this life, but
also in respect of the essential good of the human person.” The Pope suggested that
God created within the human person something that made human life sacred. Later in
his encyclical Donum vitae (1987) he expanded on this:

Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the ‘creative action of God’
and it remains forever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. God
alone is Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can in any circumstance, claim
for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being (Intro., 5).

This passage is in fact key for understanding all his later writings on life, precisely
the text introduces the fifth commandment in the new Catechism. The Pope brings then
the question of God’s dominion into play with us as created persons, not properties in
relationship with God. To take the life of someone wrongfully can be considered as
stealing from God or can be seen as the killing of something divine. It follows that the
commandment is not limited to the wrong taking of another life but also includes the
taking of one’s own life. This means that the gift of life is endowed with a purpose, that
is, the challenge to find meaning in our lives (Schlessinger, 2005). Furthermore, the
commandant extends to the preservation of life. We are told in the book of Leviticus that
“you shall not stand while your fellow’s blood is shed,...” (Leviticus 19:16). The passage
implies that we must come to the aid of someone who is in trouble. We are our brother’s
keeper. The ability to grasp the sacredness of life, entails an attitude of willingness to lay
down our lives for the benefit of others (Deffinbaugh, 2014).
6. The Sixth Commandment

“You shall not commit adultery.” (Ex. 20:14)

Marriage acknowledges that the relationship between a husband and a wife is

sacred. It reflects a sacred covenant that cannot be broken. The hebrew word kadosh
which is commonly translated as “holy” can also be defined as “set aside for a special
godly purpose. This means that a marriage partner is set aside for a special godly
purpose. Marriage therefore is not just a contract between two people but rather a
sacred covenant, much like the relationship between God and people (Schlessinger,
2005).

Adultery is the sin of a married man having sexual relations with anyone other than
his wife or a married woman having sexual relations with anyone other than her husband.
In the Old Testament, adultery was understood as sexual relations between a married (or
betrothed) woman and a man other than her husband. It was therefore a sin against the
husband. In the New Testament, Jesus extended the definition of adultery to include
sexual relations between a married man and a woman other than his wife (Mk. 10:11-12,
Luke 16:18, Matthew 5:27-28). Jesus called his followers to faithfulness in marriage. In a
sense, it follows that adultery violates the promises in marriage. Paul explained to the
Corinthians how to avoid sexual immorality by being faithful to one’s spouse. “But since
sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife,
and each woman with her own husband” (1 Corinthians 7:2).

The sixth commandment stands as a witness to the fact that it is in our bodies that
we declare ourselves for one another. In marriage, this is classically expressed in sexual
relations. But when we realize that our relationships depend on our bodies, then we
realize that the sixth commandment is not only talking about sexual relations, but also
about every corporeal expression. A kiss, a touch, an embrace, and a smile
communicate the essence of a variety of relationships. The sixth commandment stands
then as a reminder that every time we physically extend ourselves to another we nurture
the faithful bonds we share with one another. It also warns us against any inappropriate
expressions. Above all, it warns us that violating our vows is not “just a physical thing.”
Violating them is an act of betrayal. We cannot distinguish our vows from our embodied
relationships with one another. But those vows are not only violated by inappropriate
sexual activity but also through any physical action that contradicts the vow. A slap, a
punch, a sneer, or a shove contradicts any vowed relationship we have. Just as these
actions are violations, similarly the failure to extend oneself to one’s spouse is an
abandonment of that relationship.
 For the Christian one need not simply leave one’s dwelling to abandon one’s
spouse; rather withholding any evidence of affection, tenderness, care or concern is itself
an act contradicting the pledge to one another. In a manner of speaking the sixth
commandment is specifically addressed to married people, but it serves also as a
paradigm for all other relationships. For just as the relationship between Christ and the
people of God serves as a model for married people, so too married people in the
humanity of their relationship to one another serve as a model for all relationships. But it
also serves as a sign to their children and their children’s children that love shows itself in
deeds rather than in words, and that loving deeds are always deeply, physically human
ones. God’s intentions for us are clear. We need to live holy lives, sanctifying our human
desires and appetites. In keeping our faithfulness with our spouse, we remain faithful to
God and keep the covenantal relationship. God commanded his people to be faithful
in marriage and to respect other people’s vows as a model of faithfulness in relationship
with God. Adultery devalues the commitment made between a husband and wife and
to God. Interestingly, God’s command to not commit adultery was an equal standard
for men and women.

7. The Seventh Commandment

“You shall not steal.” (Ex. 20:15)

God considers the possession of things important including respecting ownership

of things. God gave humans the earth and all that is on it. Once a person legitimately
acquires a thing, it becomes part of himself. In the seventh commandment, God expects
us to respect the properties of other persons. Stealing is an offense against the person
who owns the property and also against God following the covenant relationship. Loving
our neighbor also implies respecting the ownership of properties of other people
(Schlessinger, 2005). The commandment reminds us of the meaning of
ownership. Ownership Is a responsibility. The Pope tells us that we can only truly possess
“that which we know how to give and If there are things which we cannot give away, it
is because those things possess me, have power over me, and I am a slave to it (Pope
Francis, 2018).

A summary of Pope Francis’ message to the General Audience in 2018 elaborates

further the seventh commandment:

The seventh commandment deals specifically with theft and with respect
for the property of others. Yet it also invites us to consider, in the light of faith and
the Church’s social doctrine, that the goods of creation are destined for the entire
human race. The universal destination of goods does not detract from the right to
private property, but sets that right in proper perspective. The Catechism of the
Catholic Church teaches that “the ownership of any property makes its holder a
 steward of Providence, with the task of making it fruitful and communicating its
benefits to others” (No. 2404). Our world has sufficient resources to meet the
primary needs of all its inhabitants, yet so many members of our human family
continue to suffer extreme want and even starvation for lack of sound economic
decisions inspired by solidarity and justice (Pope Francis, 2018).

The message of Pope Francis echoes the Church’s teaching on the seventh
commandment that extends beyond the original prohibition against
kidnapping. Specifically, the commandment addresses the areas that pertain to the use
of personal freedom. The command “You shall not steal” includes public properties,
social structures, and conditions that should serve the common good (CFE,
1143). Furthermore, the scope of the commandment inevitably challenges us to rethink
our attitude towards the care for creation. We are called to respect the dignity and
integrity of creation (CFE, 1146). In this time where environmental exigencies are rising,
the seventh commandment demands us to be morally responsible in addressing our
present environmental issues and concerns (PCP II, 321-324). This, Pope Francis says, is
the perspective that allows us to understand the deeper and fuller meaning of the
commandment “You shall not steal.” Ownership, he says, is a responsibility; we can only
truly possess “that which we know how to give.” If there are things which we cannot give
away, “it is because those things possess me, have power over me, and I am a slave to
it.

8. The Eighth Commandment

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” (Ex. 20:16)

The book of Proverbs tells us why God considers lying a major wrong;

“There are six things that the Lord hates,

seven that are an abomination to him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue
And hands that shed innocent blood,....” Proverbs 6:16-17

“Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord” Proverbs 12:22

To a certain extent, lying is more serious than stealing. In lying, a person

transgressed the covenant relation wherein he/she expected to be a being for the
benefit of his/her neighbor and God (Schlessinger, 2005). Lying is the most common and
direct offense against truth (CCC, 2482-87; CFE, 1233).

In his Catechesis devoted to the eighth commandment, Pope Francis told pilgrims
that Christians are called to be:
 “truthful not only in our words but in our entire way of acting towards others. When
a person is not communicating authentically, underlined the Pontiff, it is a serious
matter because it inhibits relationships and therefore inhibits love. Where there is a
lie, he continued, there is no love. You shall not bear false witness against your
neighbor, bid us live this new life to the full, and thus bear true witness to God’s
saving love. This is the great truth” (Pope Francis, 2018).

We need to recognize the challenge today to speak what we believe. We need

to recognize the call for clear leadership to guide all one of us in the pursuit of the truth.
We need to invite one another to speak the truth as we understand it, so that in a loving
and respectful context we may together discover and articulate the truth as it really is.
That’s not an ideal; it is a command. A concrete example of a transgression of the eighth
commandment is gossiping. For Pope Francis, gossiping kills “because the tongue kills,
like a knife”. Although Christians are not exceptional women and men, the Pope reminds
them that they “are, however, children of our heavenly Father, who is good and does
not disappoint us, and places in our hearts the love for our brothers and sisters” (Pope
Francis, 2018).

To conclude, lying is a very serious matter that can affect our personal, marital,
and social relationships. Telling the truth is a must and we should assume that all forms of
lying are forbidden. Unless there is a specific benefit and without any components of
self-service, we should always think twice before moving our lips. All attempts to bring
honesty into our concrete lives removes the guilt of a false existence. In doing so we
bring ourselves closer to the divine quality of truth. Living a life of lies can create a living
hell for us, that is often worse than facing the truth (Schlessinger, 2005). The eighth
commandment heightens our responsibility of recognizing and promoting the dignity of
the human person (cf CFC, 1230; DH, 2).

9. The Ninth and the Tenth Commandments

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor
his male or female slave, nor his ox, nor anything else that belongs to him.” (Ex. 20:17)

The impulse for wanting is a natural and necessary part of being human. Without
it, people will be inert or inactive, not productive. Possessions can provide people with
enjoyment, reward, comfort, security or a measure of achievement. At the same time,
human nature desires more than it needs. Unlike animals and plants, there are clear limits
to their acquisition, mainly for survival and reproduction. Humans have options and
reasoning abilities to find benevolent and fair means to accomplish their goals. They
have freedom to decide on moral or immoral choices in order to achieve their
projects. When we do not set limits on what we master and possess, the world becomes
small and limited in resources in order to satisfy our infinite yearnings. In this context, we
lose sight of the ultimate good of acts or things, that is, their service to godliness
(Schlessinger, 2005).

Our desires are, then, about those whom we love. In fact, if we were to talk about
moral theology or ethics, as Saint Augustine once did, we would call it the ordering of
love. The ethical enterprise is about putting our love in order. In this way we achieve our
deepest desires. Pope Francis said that the last two Commandments are united by the
common root of “evil desires” that lurk in the human heart (Pope Francis, 2018).

Our ordered love helps us to realize them. For this reason the ninth commandment
reminds us that we ought to put no other person in the way of our ordered lives. No other
person ought to be the cause of our jeopardizing those loves and our deepest desires.
Pope Francis recapitulates that the Ten Commandments teach us how to live rightly with
one another and with God, and show us our need for a change of heart. For the Pope,
“We must let our mask be taken off by these commandments about desire, because
they show us our poverty so as to bring us to a life of holy humility” (Pope Francis,
2018). The ninth commandment warns us against the possibility of throwing the entire
complexity of our relationships aside by another relationship. We know this possibility to
be true. Husbands or wives who pursue another spouse harm not only themselves and
the other’s spouses, but the children, parents, and friends involved in those marriages.
The damage from adultery is far more extensive than what is felt by two or three persons
involved. But the ninth commandment concerns not only married persons. Single people,
clergy, and vowed religious know that it is possible to endanger so many of our
relationships by the emotional pursuit that contradicts the commitments we presently
enjoy. We know how certain personal entanglements can compromise us and our
relationships and we know that so many people can be adversely affected by such
entanglements. Coveting is such an ordinary disposition that we do not recognize how
frequently we do covet until we really stop and think about it. Some of us cover success
more than property.

We would like the parish in such a neighborhood; we would like to be selected for
this particular board or committee; we would like to win a particular recognition. Though
we may not be aware of everything we covet, we can be sure that there are several
things in life that we covet. Sometimes it is good to list what we really covet if only to find
out what it is we would like to have. Bringing what we covet to the surface or our own
consciousness keeps us from being blind to the subtle messages that influence many of
our ordinary decisions. For what we covet usually reminds us of where our dissatisfaction
really is. The tenth commandment is a perfect complement to the first one. The first one
reminds us that God is God, that God delivers and protects us, and that in gratitude we
should place no false gods. Before us. Likewise, the last commandment reminds us that
we have much to be grateful for and that we should not pine after what is not ours; it
warns us against false idols. It invites us to see where we are, to reflect on our lot as more
gift than achievement, and to have hope in the future, accepting it as an opportunity
for moving dynamically forward with a liberating sense of satisfaction with how well life’s
journey is going. The tenth commandment is like all the other commands from God, a
command leading us to our happiness. It is a gift that warns us against a double misery
and offers instead a double happiness: a happiness with our present lot and a calm
expectation for our future.

The ninth and tenth commandments are the most interesting commandments
because it deals with the arena of the mind and heart. Murder, stealing and lying are
mainly concerned with concrete acts or behaviors. It is very clear that God is concerned
with our hearts and thoughts. In Proverbs 6:18, where it is written “A mind that hatches
evil plots.” That God values and judges our hearts “a man sees only what is visible, but
the Lord sees into the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:6). What is crucial in these commandments
revolves around what goes on in our minds. The actual doing of a forbidden or immoral
act does not begin with the act. It all begins in the mind and heart that can and often
lead to the breaking of the previous commandments. In the ninth and tenth
commandments, God is reminding us that our evil acts emanate from unpleasantness or
ugliness from our hearts. In desiring someone’s possession or wife, we question God’s will
or apportionment. This shows a lack of faith and trust in the Lord. The last two
commandments are the final exclamation on the first commandment, to believe in and
trust God (Schlessinger, 2005). In the words of the Pope, “It is futile to think of purifying our
heart through a titanic effort of the will. We must open ourselves to a relationship with
God, in freedom and in truth” (Pope Francis, 2018).