Greed
Have you ever known a greedy person? What was it that made
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you describe them that way? Perhaps it is because even though
they had much, they always wanted more. For the greedy person,
there is no such thing as “enough.” Greed is the insatiable desire
for more.
In its section on the tenth commandment, the Catechism of the Catholic
Church says this: “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.” (CCC 2536)
In the 1987 movie Wall Street, the main character, Gordon Gekko,
coined the phrase, “Greed is good.” Unfortunately, we live in a culture
that breeds that attitude. In our consumer oriented society, we’re told
(through nearly every form of media and entertainment) that we don’t
have enough. There’s always something better, something more to make
you happy. This attitude dulls our sense of greed. It makes us mistake
our wants for needs, so that we always feel we need more, instead of just
want more.
Jesus gives a stark warning against greed in Luke 12:15. Jesus said to
the crowd, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be
to lead us further into the deadly sin of envy.
The virtue to help us guard against greed is generosity.
For further study:
CCC 1866, 2536-2541, 2552
Luke 12:13-15