Published in the bulletin of Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Knoxville, TN, on 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time.

My dear Parishioners,
Peace! There are six (6) “In Brief” articles in the Catechism of the Catholic Church addressing the Ninth Commandment of the Decalogue, ‘You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.’ The following is a reflection on CCC 2528.
The Spanish version of the Ninth Commandment, ‘You shall not covet your neighbors’s wife’ is more encompassing: ‘Do not consent to impure desires.’ Think of a smart aleck student in high school saying: “I am not married and she is not married… so it’s ok, right?” We are not to covet anyone, married or otherwise, male or female, adult or minor. In the Sermon on the Mount the Lord God calls us to be pure of heart. It is in this context that the Catechism juxtaposes Exodus 20:17 with the Sermon on the Mount: “Whoever looks at a woman with covetousness in his heart has already committed adultery with her” (Matthew 5:28).
For his part, Saint John Paul II (+2005) cites these passages in chapter two of the first part of his Theology of the Body (cf. TOB, 24–63, 16 April, 1980 – 6 May, 1981) “Christ Appeals to the Human Heart.” Physiologically a husband and wife who engage in the marital act with each other can not commit adultery, but if they do so with lust in their hearts and minds and deeds they may commit “adultery in the heart” (TOB, 43, 8 October, 1980). While the original English translation of Theology of the Body often confused the terms “desire” for “lust,” here the Ninth Commandment warns us against lust, a disordered desire or disordered deeds. Sexual desire can and should be wholesome, especially within Holy Marriage, leading to both generative and unitive aspects of that Sacrament of Service by which God means the human race to be fruitful and multiply (cf. Genesis 1:28). Apart from the nuptial embrace proper to husband and wife, within Marriage, open to life, sexual desire and activity requires circumspection. The “modern world” is content to say there is no such thing as sin, let alone sexual sin. Yet Christ the Lord, Bridegroom of Mother Church died on Calvary’s Cross not only to save us from sins of lust but all sins, be they of envy, greed, gluttony, pride, sloth, or wrath. Saint Thomas Aquinas (+1274) treats the various vices in his Summa Theologiae II-II (Q. 35–36, 148, 153–154, 158, 162). Saint Thomas, when addressing lust specifically cites Saint Augustine (+430) and Saint Isidore of Seville (+636) to the effect that whoever sows in the flesh shall reap corruption, with sowing in the flesh referring to venereal pleasures, belonging to lust and that a lustful person is one who is debauched with pleasures, with venereal pleasures above all debauching our minds (ST II-II Q. 153). Lust consists essentially in exceeding the order and mode of reason in the matter of venereal acts and desires, the Sixth Commandment warns against the acts, the Ninth Commandment warns against the desires.
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr