466 ENVY

YOUCAT Lesson 466

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

466  What is envy, and how can you fight against it?

Envy is sadness and annoyance at the sight of another’s well-being and the desire to acquire unjustly what others have.  Anyone who wishes other people ill commits a serious sin.  Envy decreases when we try to rejoice more and more in the accomplishments and gifts of others, when we believe in God’s benevolent providence for ourselves as well, and when we set our hearts on true wealth, which consists of the fact that we already participate in God’s life through the Holy Spirit.  [2538-2540, 2553-2554]

This is a photo Amber Room of Catherine Palace near St Petersburg Russia before World War II.  It was stolen by envious Nazis in 1941. …..466

Do not be provoked at evildoers, do not envy the wicked;  For the evil have no future, the lamp of the wicked will be put out.--Proverbs 24:19-20

“As rust consumes iron, so envy consumes the soul that is afflicted by it.”  St. Basil the Great (ca. 330-379) in his Rule

[2538-2540, 2553-2554]

 
2538 The tenth commandment requires that envy be banished from the human heart. When the prophet Nathan wanted to spur King David to repentance, he told him the story about the poor man who had only one ewe lamb that he treated like his own daughter and the rich man who, despite the great number of his flocks, envied the poor man and ended by stealing his lamb.(Compare 2 Samuel 12:14.)³²³ Envy can lead to the worst crimes.( Compare Genesis 4:3-7; 1 Kings 21:1-29.)³²⁴ "Through the devil's envy death entered the world"( Wisdom 2:24.)³²⁵ --Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

We fight one another, and envy arms us against one another. . . . If everyone strives to unsettle the Body of Christ, where shall we end up? We are engaged in making Christ's Body a corpse. . . . We declare ourselves members of one and the same organism, yet we devour one another like beasts.(St. John Chrysostom, Hom. in 2 Cor. 27,3-4:PG 61,588.)³²⁶ –CCC

2539 Envy is a capital sin. It refers to the sadness at the sight of another's goods and the immoderate desire to acquire them for oneself, even unjustly. When it wishes grave harm to a neighbor it is a mortal sin: --CCC

St. Augustine saw envy as "the diabolical sin."(Compare St. Augustine, De catechizandis rudibus 4,8:Patrologia Latina 40,315-316.)³²⁷ "From envy are born hatred, detraction, calumny, joy caused by the misfortune of a neighbor, and displeasure caused by his prosperity."(St. Gregory the Great, Moralia in Job 31,45:PL 76,621.)³²⁸ –CCC

2540 Envy represents a form of sadness and therefore a refusal of charity; the baptized person should struggle against it by exercising good will. Envy often comes from pride; the baptized person should train himself to live in humility: --CCC

Would you like to see God glorified by you? Then rejoice in your brother's progress and you will immediately give glory to God. Because his servant could conquer envy by rejoicing in the merits of others, God will be praised.( St. John Chrysostom, Hom. in Rom. 71,5:PG 60,448.)³²⁹ –CCC

IN BRIEF

2553 Envy is sadness at the sight of another's goods and the immoderate desire to have them for oneself. It is a capital sin. --CCC

2554 The baptized person combats envy through good-will, humility, and abandonment to the providence of God. --CCC