The 10th Commandment:
"You shall not covet your neighbor's goods." (Ex 20:17)
- Is my heart greedy? Do I want more, more, more, instead of a spirit of poverty where I’m content with what I have?
- Is my heart set more on earthly possessions than on the true treasures of heaven?
- Am I envious, moody or gloomy about what I don’t have?
- Do I wish I had a bigger house, a better-paying job or a nicer anything, like those that belong to others? Because of these desires, I’ve failed to set an example of how to be content with what God has given me.
- Have I tried to obtain what others own through unjust means, such as stealing or using money that was needed for something else?
- Do I wish God had made me to be like Father Diorio or Mother Angelica or anyone else who's famous? Do I consider myself to be too much of a nobody to do what God has called me to do?
- Do I so strongly wish that I lived in a cheaper or warmer or more luxurious part of the country or world, I’m forgetting to appreciate where God has put me now?
- Have I ever wished that someone would die so I could receive his or her inheritance? Or that someone would lose his or her job so I could move into it? Or that someone’s calamity would make what he or she owns available to me?
- When have I refused to do good to someone who asked for it, because I thought he or she had enough help? Or when did I refuse to give money to someone, thinking he or she already had enough? Or when have I turned my back on someone because I was jealous of that person?
- How often have I sought consolation in the abundance of material goods? How much have I rejected God and trusted in possessions more? The reason I don’t have more possessions is because God doesn’t want me to have them right now, and that’s because He’s protecting me from getting into more sin. Do I dislike believing that?
- Do I hate myself for my sinfulness? Am I unwilling to forgive myself? Am I jealous of those who seem holier than me? In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, I will be set free. God will forget my sins.
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