In a season of giving, remember not to steal…

My next “Faith Perspectives” column for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch appeared just in time for Christmas, a reminder (quoting Pope Francis) that “Thou Shall Not Steal” is about more than just not taking what doesn’t belong to us. You can read my column below or online here: http://bit.ly/2rQMm6U

It’s the season of giving, of asking, hoping and receiving. We need look no further for proof of that than our mailboxes filled with the daily onslaught of requests for donations from our favorite (or not so favorite) non-profit organizations, religious orders, and missions. It’s an important time of year for all of these organizations, all of which are vying for our attention and our checkbooks as we race to the end of year.

When we give to others — whether from our bounty or from our want — we generally think we are “committing charity,” so to speak, giving to others out of the goodness of our hearts. Christians are called to be charitable, and we usually feel pretty darned good about ourselves when we do so.

But in a recent address as part of his series of talks on the Ten Commandments, Pope Francis reminded us that there is something much more important at stake when we give (or don’t give) to others. It’s the commandment, “Thou shall not steal.”

At first glance, “Thou shall not steal” is one of the simpler of the commandments to wrap our minds and hearts around. It’s easy to teach our children to never take what doesn’t belong to them. Indeed, most people will tell you that they do not steal, just as they do not kill.

But like so many basic concepts, “Thou shall not steal” is not as simple as that. Pope Francis challenged us to take a broader view of stealing, pointing out that it is about much more than just taking another person’s property. Stealing, he said, needs to be seen within a larger social doctrine of the Church that teaches that the “goods of creation” are meant to provide for everyone. When we hoard our possessions and wealth and refuse to share, we are stealing from others what is as rightfully theirs as it is ours. That’s much more difficult to stomach for many of us. After all, it’s our hard-earned cash, right?

While the world itself may be abundant and wealthy enough to provide for everyone’s basic needs, the people who live in it are falling far short of accomplishing that. Pope Francis decried that many people live in “scandalous poverty” and that resources used without discernment continue to deteriorate. We see a world of haves and have-nots, but, “there is just one world! There is one humanity,” he said during his November 7 weekly general audience.

“No one is absolute master over resources,” he said, citing the Church’s catechism and emphasizing our roles as stewards and administrators of the goods in our lives, which should be viewed as not “exclusive” to ourselves but, rather, “common to others as well.”

This is not socialism dressed up in church clothes. This is the teaching of Jesus, who insisted that that all those around us – and especially the poor and “least” among us – are the extensions of the incarnated Christ who we celebrate during these seasons of Advent and Christmas.

The tighter we hold on to our possessions, it seems, the further we fall from the presence of God. What we fail to remember when we clench our fists around our checkbooks or spend only on those able to spend on us in return, is that everything we have is a gift. No matter how hard we work for our money and possessions, ultimately we are called to provide for others and direct our gratitude to the giver of all good things.

During this season, we come face-to-face with what it means to be rich. “If I know how to give, I am open, I am rich,” the Pope said. “In fact, if I am unable to give something it is because that thing owns me. I am a slave, the thing has power over me. What makes us rich are not goods, but love.”