Saturday, July 13, 2013
527. What is required by the ninth commandment? (part 2 continuation)
(Comp 527 repetition) The ninth commandment requires that one overcome carnal concupiscence in
thought and in desire. The struggle against such concupiscence entails purifying
the heart and practicing the virtue of temperance.
“In brief”
(CCC 2528) "Everyone
who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his
heart" (Mt 5:28). (CCC 2529) The ninth
commandment warns against lust or carnal concupiscence. (CCC 2530) The struggle against carnal lust involves purifying
the heart and practicing temperance.
To deepen and
explain
(CCC 2516) Because man is a
composite being, spirit and body,
there already exists a certain tension in him; a certain struggle of tendencies
between "spirit" and "flesh" develops. But in fact this
struggle belongs to the heritage of sin. It is a consequence of sin and at the
same time a confirmation of it. It is part of the daily experience of the
spiritual battle: For the Apostle it is not a matter of despising and
condemning the body which with the spiritual soul constitutes man's nature and
personal subjectivity. Rather, he is concerned with the morally good or bad works, or better, the
permanent dispositions - virtues and vices - which are the fruit of submission (in the first case) or of resistance (in the second case) to the saving action of the Holy Spirit.
For this reason the Apostle writes: "If we live by the Spirit, let us also
walk by the Spirit" (John Paul II, DeV
55; cf. Gal 5:25).
Reflection
(CCC 405) Although it is proper to each individual (Cf.
Council of Trent: DS 1513), original sin does not have the character of a
personal fault in any of Adam's descendants. It is a deprivation of original
holiness and justice, but human nature has not been totally corrupted: it is
wounded in the natural powers proper to it, subject to ignorance, suffering and
the dominion of death, and inclined to sin - an inclination to evil that is
called concupiscence". Baptism, by imparting the life of Christ's grace,
erases original sin and turns a man back towards God, but the consequences for
nature, weakened and inclined to evil, persist in man and summon him to
spiritual battle. (CCC 407) The doctrine of original sin, closely connected
with that of redemption by Christ, provides lucid discernment of man's
situation and activity in the world. By our first parents' sin, the devil has
acquired a certain domination over man, even though man remains free. Original
sin entails "captivity under the power of him who thenceforth had the
power of death, that is, the devil" (Council of Trent (1546): DS 1511; cf.
Heb 2:14). Ignorance of the fact that man has a wounded nature inclined to evil
gives rise to serious errors in the areas of education, politics, social action
(Cf. John Paul II, CA 25) and morals. [END]
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