FINALS

• Seventh commandment


  Forbids unjustly taking or keeping the goods of one's neighbor and wronging him in any way with respect to his goods
• Seventh commandment


  • Commands justice and charity in the care of earthly goods and the fruits of men's labor
  • Requires respect for the universal destination of goods and respect for the right to private property
  • Christian life strives to order this world's goods to God and to fraternal charity
• Universal destination of goods

  • God entrusted the earth and its resources to take care of them, master them by labor, and enjoy their fruits
  • The goods of creation are destined for the whole human race
• Private ownership of goods


  The earth is divided up among men to assure the security of their lives, endangered by poverty and threatened by violence
• Right to private property


  Exists provided the property is acquired or received in to guarantee the freedom and dignity of individual persons by helping them to meet the basic needs of those in their charge and also of others who are in need
• State's responsibility regarding labor

  • It is the role of the State to guarantee individual freedom and private property, as well as a stable currency and efficient public services
  • It is also the State's responsibility to oversee and direct the exercise of human rights in the economic sector
  • According to circumstances, society must help citizens to find work
• Right to work


  Access to secure and honest employment must be open to all without unjust discrimination and with respect for free economic initiative and fair compensation
• Other forms of stealing

  • Forcing up prices by taking advantage of the ignorance or hardship of another
  • Corruption in which one influences the judgment of those who must make decisions according to law
  • Appropriation and use for private purposes of the common goods of an enterprise
  • Work poorly done
  • Forgery of checks and invoices
  • Excessive expenses and waste
  • Willfully damaging private or public property
• The seventh commandment encompasses other commandments such as murder, adultery, and coveting
• Different forms of stealing

  • Plagiarism - taking other people's word
  • Kidnapping - stealing life for profit, ransom, and different purposes
  • Corruption - criminal activity, abusive and misuse of power
  • Unpaid debt - failed to pay and accomplished remaining debt
  • Robbery - a theft that involves using violence, intimidation, or threats to obtain property
  • Embezzlement - the theft of assets (money or property) by a person who has been trusted to keep those assets safe
  • Fraud - stealing that involves convincing the victim to surrender his or her money or property under false pretenses
  • Shoplifting - this theft crime involves stealing goods from a retail establishment
• Love for the poor


  • Love for the poor is even one of the motives for the duty of working to be able to give to those in need
  • It extends not only to material poverty but also to the many forms of cultural and religious poverty
  • Love for the poor is incompatible with immoderate love of riches or their selfish use
  • When we attend to the needs of those in want, we give them what is theirs, not ours
  • More than performing works of mercy, we are paying a debt of justice
• MOSES: '"You shall not set your heart on your neighbor's house, on his field, his servant, his ox, his donkey or anything that is his. (Deuteronomy 5:21)"'
• JESUS: '"None of you can be my disciple unless he gives up all his possession." (Luke 14:33)'
• 10th Commandment


  "YOU SHALL NOT COVET YOUR NEIGHBOR'S GOODS."
• The tenth commandment unfolds and completes the ninth, which is concerned with concupiscence of the flesh
• It forbids coveting the goods of another, as the root of theft, robbery, and fraud, which the seventh commandment forbids
• "Lust of the eyes" leads to the violence and injustice forbidden by the fifth commandment
• Avarice, like fornication, originates in the idolatry prohibited by the first three prescriptions of the Law
• The tenth commandment concerns the intentions of the heart; with the ninth, it summarizes all the precepts of the Law
• Together with the seventh commandment


  They govern our basic relationship in justice with others
• The 7th commandment deals with our outward actions regarding possession and social structures


  The 10th commandment focuses on the inner desires of our hearts from which our external actions originated
• Spirit of Frugality


  The greedy are never satisfied with their possessions, while the poor in spirit are contented and serene, because they trust the Divine Providence and are contented with what they have
• Envy


  Sadness and annoyance at the sight of another's well-being and the desire to acquire unjustly what others have
• Anyone who wishes other people ill commits a serious sin
• Envy decreases when we try to rejoice more and more in the accomplishments and gifts of others, when we believe in God's benevolent providence for ourselves as well, and when we set our hearts on true wealth, which consists of the fact that we already participate in God's life through the Holy Spirit
• It was out of envy that the Devil brought sin and death into the world, and for the same sin that Cain killed his brother Abel
• Greed


  The sensitive appetite leads us to desire pleasant things we do not have, e.g., the desire to eat when we are hungry or to warm ourselves when we are cold. These desires are good in themselves; but often they exceed the limits of reason and drive us to covet unjustly what is not ours and belongs to another or is owed to him
• We must not exceedingly crave for material possessions; as Jesus said: "Do not store up treasure for yourselves on earth but store up treasures for yourselves in heaven. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also"
• The tenth commandment forbids greed and the desire to amass earthly goods without limit. It forbids avarice arising from a passion for riches and their attendant power. It also forbids the desire to commit injustice by harming our neighbor in his temporal goods
• Attitude a Christian should take toward other people's property

  A Christian must learn to distinguish reasonable desires from those that are unreasonable and unjust and to acquire an interior attitude of respect for other people's property
• What a person should yearn for most

  The ultimate and greatest longing of a person can only be for God. To see him, our Creator, Lord, and Redeemer, is unending blessedness
• Desire for true happiness frees man from his immoderate attachment to the goods of this world so that he can find his fulfillment in the vision and beatitude of God. "The promise of seeing God surpasses all beatitude. In the scriptures, to see is to possess. Whoever sees God has obtained all the goods of which he can conceive"
• Commands of the 7th commandment

  1. To respect our neighbor's property
  2. To share with the needy
  3. To return stolen property
  4. To work