Fr. Don's Daily Reflection - September 29, 2021
Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from you.”
Some of the vices called the seven capital sins seem at least to give us momentary satisfaction. Pride, anger, sloth, gluttony, lust, for instance, maybe even avarice. But envy? Envy has been defined as “sorrow over someone else's good.” There's not even pseudo-comfort in that, only self-torment.
We make ourselves miserable because someone else has some good. We're sad because Mom pampers that shiftless brother, because John got the promotion, because that smiling and even-tempered Cindy has so many friends. Envy is called a capital sin from the Latin word for head because, like the other six sins, it is the source from which other sins arise. Left to grow, envy leads to backbiting, theft, even murder.
In the novel Billy Budd the seaman who envied “the good looks, cheery health and frank enjoyment of life” of the hero eventually gets him killed. Envy makes us think that because someone else has some good, we are diminished. Envy doesn't inspire us to imitate them but to hope that they will fail. Under the influence of envy, we are “unable to admire, respect or be grateful for what is nobler or lovelier or greater than ourselves.”
The answer to envy must be, one, to value what we are, to rejoice in it and use it well. And secondly, to rejoice in the good in others: their accomplishments, artistry, their smiles and laughter. Worship is a school where we can be taught a habit of esteeming what is admirable, good and appealing. In weekly praise of God we might learn to approach our fellow human beings with similar praise. We might say more often, “Wow” or “Magnificent” or “Beautiful” or simply “Thank you.”
Psalm 27: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness / in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord; be strong; / be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!”
