To see how you might use one of these points in your catechesis, read “How to lead a 90-minute catechetical session.”
The Way of Faith
Explain that the seventh commandment forbids us from stealing.
In the news
Battered by the recession and the deepest and most widespread budget deficits in several decades, a large majority of states are slicing into their social safety nets—often crippling preventive efforts that officials say would save money over time. (States Slashing Social Programs for Vulnerable )
In the readings
The community of believers was of one heart and mind,
and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common…. There was no needy person among them…. (Acts 4:32-35)
In the tradition
St. John Chrysostom vigorously recalls this: “Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life. The goods we possess are not ours, but theirs.” “The demands of justice must be satisfied first of all; that which is already due in justice is not to be offered as a gift of charity”:
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.
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2446)
