Published in the bulletin of Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Knoxville, TN, on Pentecost Sunday.
My dear Parishioners,
Peace! There are fourteen (14) “In Brief” articles in the
Catechism of the Catholic Church addressing the Seventh Commandment of the Decalogue, ‘You shall not steal.’ The following is a reflection on CCC 2459.
When considering the Seventh Commandment, ‘You shall not steal’ Mother Church has us consider the economic life and social life of the human person as well as God’s positive will and plan regarding the goods of creation as well as the virtues of both justice and charity. Here we consider these in turn.
Man is the author of economic life. There are various forms of economic systems, for example capitalism, communism, socialism, mercantilism… These various systems have been developed and practiced by human beings, some to better outcomes than others. It is not the angels nor the beasts which engage in the buying and selling of goods and services. It is the human person who produce and sell and buy the various works of our hands and our machines. Without human beings there is no human economy. Private property does play a role in free market economic system and seems to have a certain connaturality to the Seventh Commandment. The goods and services that I buy or sell are my goods and services or yours.
Man is the center of economic life. Not only do economic systems have their origin in the human being but are also centered upon us, for our good.
Man is the end of economic life. The goal of all economic activity is the good of the human person who engages in trade so as to have the wherewithal required for an honest life on God’s good Earth.
Man is the author of social life. We have not been made for isolation but for life in common, in society. We are social creatures made for communion, mirroring the eternal communion of the Blessed Trinity in whose image we have been made.
Man is the center of social life. Social life is to revolve around the human being.
Man is the end of social life. The goal of all social life is the good of the human being…
Social questions are to decided based on God’s good creation for all is enjoyed by all. This is not an invocation of Emily Post (+1960) and her rule of etiquette. In the understanding of the Church “social questions” have to do with life lived in common. The sunshine and the air we breathe are a part of our common inheritance from God.
Both justice and the aid of charity are a part of God’s good order and plan for humanity. The virtue of justice call for the giving to each that which is due, namely and honest wage for honest labor and an honest price for an honest purchase, respecting the right of each to private property. The love (charity) of neighbor requires us to care for the needy in our midst for God’s sake.
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr