Transcript

Edmund: Man, the thing about social media…like, look at these ox.

One of the Commandments forbids you from doing a little thing called “coveting.” Now you might not know what that is or have been concerned that you’ve ever done it. 

“Man, I want an ox like that. Look how tall it is.” 

But some Scripture translations help us out a little bit. In Scripture, this translation says “You shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbors.” 

God has a lot of wisdom to teach us in the Ten Commandments. And I think, in today’s day of social media and social media-related feelings, God has a lot of wisdom to teach us through this Commandment. 

“Where can I buy an ox?”

And I think if you took a little more time to think about this Commandment, you’d find some wisdom to live a happier life with Jesus. So today, let’s talk about coveting. 

Look, we all have desires — it’s good that we have them. We’re created that way; they’re natural. Desires help you seek out the things that you don’t have. For instance, when you’re hungry, you desire food. When you’re cold, you desire to be warm. And you’ll seek those things out.

But sometimes our desires can lead us to covet—or want—things that are not ours. So, maybe you’ve heard of Cupid, Greek mythical God of desire? The word “covet” comes from a similar Latin word, which means “to desire.”  But here’s the thing: to covet is a disorderly form of desire. 

So when God reveals the Tenth Commandment that forbids coveting, He’s saying that we can’t allow our desires to get out of hand and get in the way of having a “right relationship” with our neighbors. And the reality of social media—and even just being a human—means that other people’s stuff is in your face all the time! So we might actually be breaking this Commandment and sinning if we’re comparing ourselves to others, and these desires are getting in the way of having a good relationship; a “right relationship” with other people. When wanting what other people have starts getting in the way of our relationship with God and our relationship with our neighbors, that’s when we begin to sin. 

See, God created this whole world and things in it as means to have our basic human needs met. And every human person has a right to having his or her basic human needs met. So it’s normal for us to experience some desire when we’re scrolling through social media or when we see things that correspond to our natural desires for things that we might not have right now. 

So how do we know when these desires start crossing over into the territory of coveting? Well, it’s when these desires start stirring up in us resentment or desire to take away from others these things that we want and when these desires start ruling us and taking away our ability to even be charitable to those people, because of the things that they have. And this is when we’re no longer able to be appropriately happy for our friends when we see them experiencing happiness or fulfillment from God’s created things. 

The Catechism reminds us in paragraph 2539. It says this: “Envy is a capital sin. It refers to the sadness at the sight of another’s goods and the immoderate desire to acquire them for oneself, even unjustly. When it wishes grave harm to a neighbor it is a mortal sin.”

So you can see how you can start asking yourself these questions as you’re scrolling social media or seeing other people. You can notice “What feelings do you have when you come away from seeing a friend, a neighbor, a loved one, with something that you also desire?” Do you walk away with a feeling of sadness or resentment? Or do you walk away being happy for that person?

So here’s the reality. The internet today might put us in more situations to be tempted to have these feelings of sadness or envy or covetous desires, especially coveting our neighbor’s goods. But envy and coveting has been a temptation since the very beginning; since Adam and Eve’s time. And before that actually! The Bible and the Catechism explain that the devil was tempted by envy: “Through the devil’s envy death entered into the world.” And while we can remove ourselves from social media, we still need God’s help to overcome envy and covetous desires that are in our hearts due to sin. 

Here’s the good news: the Catechism reminds us of the antidote to these covetous desires in paragraph 2540. It says this: “Envy represents a form of sadness and therefore a refusal of charity; the baptized person should struggle against it by exercising good will. Envy often comes from pride; the baptized person should train himself to live in humility”. 

So, the Tenth Commandment forbids us to covet. And social media and our modern life can put us in situations where we’re tempted to feel these desires. And the antidote is practicing good will and charity; practicing generosity and a generosity of heart. It means giving to others, but also rooting for other people; encouraging other people; affirming other people. And fostering this attitude of humility can help us—along with praying for God’s grace—to begin to overcome these temptations of envy and coveting.

So as you’re scrolling social media, be aware of the feelings you’re having. And if you close out that app and have these negative, sad feelings, I would encourage you for a time to try practicing praying the Litany of Humility. Look it up. I’ve found this prayer helpful because of how specific it gets in naming these temptations of the heart. And it’s a way of asking God specifically to purify our hearts and to resist these temptations. It’s a great way to help us cooperate with God’s grace and develop this purity of heart and the right attitude towards ourselves, our neighbors, and the created goods in the world.  

Because ultimately, envy and coveting leads to sinfulness and sadness because it’s a disordered way to live in relation to God and the rest of the world. But following God’s Commandments lead us to having a more abundant life of joy in Jesus Christ. Because not only does God want us to find happiness in the things that we have and the gifts that He’s given us, He also wants us to find joy in other people and in other people’s happiness and goodness. And this is the path God lays before us in the Tenth Commandment.  We should treat created things as a gift from God and respect with a pure heart how God distributes His gifts.