Published in the bulletin of Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Knoxville, TN, on 26th 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 2531.
The Ninth Commandment, ‘You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife’ calls us to purity of heart. The Catechism highlights purity of heart repeatedly: when considering the struggle against carnal covetousness and the practice of temperance; when considering how we look at each other; when considering what is required in order to be pure of heart. Here, we focus on how we look at each other.
In the Catechism Saint John Paul II (+2005) linked the Ninth Commandment with the Beatitude ‘Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God“ (cf. Exodus 20:17; Deuteronomy 5:21; Matthew 5:8).
While we should long to see God face to face in Heaven in the hereafter, even here below we can look at things as God does, to the extent we allow His grace to work in us. If our hearts and eyes are ravenous like wolves then we will look at each other accordingly. Before the advent of filth on the internet, the work of Hugh Hefner (b. 1926) and Bob Guccione (+2010) exacerbated lustful looks. To the extent our hearts and eyes are converted then we will see brothers and sisters in Christ, heirs of Heaven, tabernacles of God most high…
In 2008 some $100 billion was ”made" by the global pornography industry. Internet traffic is said to be at least 60% focused on pornography and other such sites. That there are addictive behaviors is a given. That sins of lust are just as susceptible to such addictive behaviors is also a given. If we try to be saints or holy on our own we will fail. We are not stoics. While the virtue of chastity is a natural virtue, as followers of Jesus Christ, true God and true man, who calls us to be pure of heart, we know from whence we get our human nature and what reward He holds out to us when we live chaste lives.
I highlight the following resources which together with God’s grace, have helped many to leave sin and vice behind and to lead lives of virtue and holiness in light of the Ninth Commandment and the Beatitude ‘Blessed are the pure of heart.’
Butler, Brian, Evert, Jason. Theology of the Body for Teens: Discovering God’s Plan for Love
and Life. Milwaukee, WI: Ascension, 2011.
Collins, George. Breaking the Cycle: Fee Yourself from Sex Addiction, Porn Obsession, and
Shame. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger, 2011.
John Paul II. Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology of the Body. Michael Waldstein,
trans. Boston, MA: Pauline, 2006
Leahy, Michael. Porn Nation: Conquering America’s # 1 Addiction. Chicago, IL: Northfield,
2008.
Wilson, Gary. Your Brain on Porn: Internet Pornography and the Emerging Science of
Addiction. Margate, Kent, UK: Commonwealth, 2015.
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr