528. What is forbidden by the ninth commandment?
(Comp 528) The ninth commandment forbids cultivating thoughts and desires connected
to actions forbidden by the sixth commandment.
“In brief”
(CCC 2531) Purity of heart
will enable us to see God: it enables us even now to see things according to
God. (CCC 2532) Purification of the heart
demands prayer, the practice of chastity, purity of intention and of vision.
To deepen and
explain
(CCC 2517) The heart is the
seat of moral personality: "Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder,
adultery, fornication...." (Mt 15:19). The struggle against carnal
covetousness entails purifying the heart and practicing temperance: Remain
simple and innocent, and you will be like little children who do not know the
evil that destroys man's life (Pastor
Hermae, Mandate 2, 1: PG 2, 916). (CCC 2518)
The sixth beatitude proclaims, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they
shall see God" (Mt 5:8). "Pure in heart" refers to those who
have attuned their intellects and wills to the demands of God's holiness,
chiefly in three areas: charity (Cf. 1 Tim 4:3-9; 2 Tim 2:22); chastity or
sexual rectitude (Cf. 1 Thess 4:7; Col 3:5; Eph 4:19); love of truth and
orthodoxy of faith (Cf. Titus 1:15; 1 Tim 1:3-4; 2 Tim 2:23-26). There is a
connection between purity of heart, of body, and of faith: The faithful must
believe the articles of the Creed "so that by believing they may obey God,
by obeying may live well, by living well may purify their hearts, and with pure
hearts may understand what they believe" (St. Augustine, De fide et symbolo 10, 25: PL 40, 196).
Reflection
(CCC 2519) The "pure
in heart" are promised that they will see God face to face and be like him
(Cf. 1 Cor 13:12; 1 Jn 3:2). Purity of heart is the precondition of the vision
of God. Even now it enables us to see according
to God, to accept others as "neighbors"; it lets us perceive the human
body - ours and our neighbor's - as a temple of the Holy Spirit, a
manifestation of divine beauty.
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