Published in the bulletin of Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Knoxville, TN, on 27th 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 2532.
When considering the Ninth Commandment, ‘You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife,’ Mother Church juxtaposes the Beatitude, ‘Blessed are the pure of heart.’ Here we consider the four fold requirements for being pure of heart as spelled out in the Catechism.
Purity of heart demands prayer. If we never pray we will never be pure of heart. Sadly, society today promotes all sorts of lies, such as: there is no such thing as sin; because there is no such thing as sin, there are no such thing as sexual sins, sins of lust. The way we dress is sometimes so provocative as to provoke lustful desires and behaviors.
Purity of heart demands the practice of chastity. Chastity is a virtue which regulates our desires and actions in relation to sexual pleasure. Virtues require good habits. Good habits are acquired through repeated actions. The more we practice chaste actions the more chaste we will be, the more pure of heart we will be. The vice opposite the virtue of chastity is lust.
Purity of heart demands the purity of intention. The classic picture of a father cleaning his shotgun while a suitor asks permission to marry his daughter comes to mind: are your intentions pure? It is better for us to think of the inspired prayer recorded in Tobit 8:7–9: “Lord God of our fathers, may the heavens and the earth, and the sea, and the fountains, and the rivers, and all thy creatures that are in them, bless You. You made Adam of the slime of the earth, and gave him Eve for a helper. And now, Lord, You know, that not for fleshly lust do I take my sister to wife, but only for the love of posterity, in which Your Name may be blessed for ever and ever.”
Purity of heart demands purity of look. How is it that we look at each other? Do we recognize a brother or sister in Christ? Do we recognize a temple of the Holy Spirit? Do we recognize and heir of Heaven? Or do we only see potential for sexual pleasure? Do we have wolfish eyes directed by a wolfish heart?
Saint Thomas Aquinas, OP, (+1274) recognizes that purity and chastity are sometimes used to designate each other. While purity and chastity are related, Saint Thomas highlights their difference: purity regards the external signs such as impure looks, impure kisses, and impure touches, while chastity regards the purity or impurity of the sexual union (cf. Summa Theologiae II-II, Q. 151, A. 4).
May we keep all the holy Commandments of God, including those which exhort us to purity and chastity, is Christ’s preferred way for us to show Him our Love (cf. John 14:15).
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr