We see other people fulfill or seek to fulfill their desires, and a kind of craving is born for the same object the other wants. This is why television advertising works. Desire is born from a concrete witness.

To claim that its implementation shouldn't be "coerced" because it takes away the aspect of "charity" is tantamount to saying that coercing slave-owners to free their slaves also impinged on their right to love their slaves and free them of their own volition.

The Beatitudes express the idea that peace comes from peacemakers who are characterized by their poverty of spirit, their ability to mourn for the world and their lack of attachments.

Economic hardship is an opportunity to truly give, not only from our own abundance, but from our own poverty -- even if it's just a gallon of gas, or some attention to someone who needs it.