by Ottavio De Bertolis

15/* The commandments: ten words to stay free. Do not steal

Let's continue our reflection on the ten words that make us free. The seventh commandment says: "thou shalt not steal", and with this each of us feels exempt from any guilt. In fact, none of us has ever gone to rob a bank, or pickpocket old ladies on the bus. But it is clear that the commandment, or rather the word, has a much more significant meaning.
First of all, I would like to note that there is quite little talk about it. In fact, while the sixth commandment, the one on chastity, is felt to be truly obligatory, a sort of bugaboo on which whether or not being in a state of grace depends, the seventh is quite overlooked, as if the Lord did not like the virtues “public”, but only “private” ones.

And I'm not talking about thefts or embezzlements carried out by politicians: I'm not interested in those, because I want to talk to normal people, like us, in fact. In reality, "not stealing" concerns precisely our relationship with others through that particular mediation which is the things, or goods, of this world (money, but also real objects), and for this reason I spoke of a virtue “public”. It should be clear that paying taxes is not optional, just like honestly preparing the invoice or filling out the tax return or the accounting books smoothly: yet, in fact, it is not, and it is a fact that these things they are felt to belong more to our relationship with the State than with the Lord. But Jesus also wanted to pay tribute to Caesar, for him and for Peter, and stated that what belongs to Caesar must be rendered to Caesar, and what belongs to God to God. In reality, by paying taxes and fulfilling our obligations fiscal, we contribute to the common well-being, that is, to the good of all, and this is a serious task, which we cannot arbitrarily escape. Regularizing relationships with the people who work for us is a morally strong obligation: by doing so we help people to get out of fragile relationships and build a more certain future. Clearly, illegal work is a form of exploitation of the stronger over the weaker: the latter, given his weakness, will be forced to accept, but is kept in his inferiority. The meaning therefore of the word "do not steal" is that of not taking away from the poor (i.e. someone who has less means than me) the possibility of living a more stable life, less exposed to risks, ultimately more worthy of a man. On the other hand, would we accept to suffer, ourselves or our children, certain blackmail situations? I remember a very gentle priest, a holy person, when I was a student in Padua. One day at Mass he himself said: "How much do we make the students of our city pay for rent?". He was commenting on the words of Jesus: "Depart from me, you cursed, because I was hungry and you gave me no food", with what follows. So exploiting a person's de facto situation of weakness is simply stealing. It is unthinkable that a bed in a city costs what is normally charged: it is clear that we are normally thieves. Thus, in the same sense, I remember that, when I was a chaplain in a parish, I happened to see the closets, or under the stairs, in which carers and doormen were placed by their rich and "pious" employers: we would accept it for Our children?
We therefore see that "not stealing" does not only concern those we are used to considering thieves: on occasion, as the proverb says, we are all ready to become one. Yet Scripture says not to harass the workers, to return the pledge received, to give the right wage, or compensation, to one's employees, not to take advantage of someone because he is poor.
In general, the seventh commandment opens us up to very practical considerations: what weight does charity have in my life? In many years I have never heard a person who confessed that he had not given the equivalent of a day of his holidays to the poor. I'm not saying that we shouldn't go on holiday, of course: but if instead of going one or two weeks, we went one day less, and we remembered the poor, do you think the Lord wouldn't bless that family? It takes so little to obtain God's blessing: not because we buy it, of course, but because God has compassion on those who have compassion. And compassion can be seen from things, from money, how we spend it and who we give it to, who we remember and who we don't remember. The good that we have not done because we were trapped in our selfishness is a theft that we have committed.