Quick — what do Cain, Satan, and Claudias (Uncle of Hamlet) have in common? And do you have it in common with them?
Bad Company
I’m talking here about envy, one of the seven deadly sins. They all had it — Satan still has it — and if you have it, well, suffice it to say you may not want to be in their company.
To diagnose whether you have envy — or whether envy has you — consider what it is. Envy is the act of being saddened by another's qualities or good fortune as if that good constituted a threat to our own superiority.
Many times envy may include desiring to see another person deprived of that particular quality or good fortune that offends us. Unchecked, envy becomes an extremely destructive force. Lucifer is said to have rebelled because he was envious of the Word, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. Those ruled by envy are dangerous and cause terrible divisions in families, neighborhoods, the business world, and in the Church.
This appalling vice is rooted in pride because the envious must always be superior. Always perceiving others as threats, the envious can never allow potential rivals to collaborate with them unless they can retain control. Their envy always fastens on some brilliant quality, virtue, or aspect of character of another. When others achieve recognition or success, the envious are saddened and are moved to do everything in their power to destroy the object of their envy. Thus the envious may employ character assassination, calumny, and physical harm — even murder — in their quest for dominance.
Moreover, the envious create terrible dissension. Christian unity is lost in communities where the envious contend. The envious know no interior peace because they are always seeking anything that will further their quest for superiority. They ruthlessly seek positions of power and do all that they can to remain in power, even if this means destroying those in their way. They use excessive work as a means of satisfying this inner lust for supremacy. The envious live in unending torment until they can eclipse those they perceive to be their rivals. Many obsessed with envy are made insane with power and commit horribly destructive acts or become mentally ill.
Human history provides abundant examples of envy. From the Bible, Cain envied his brother Abel; Joseph was envied by his brothers; and the Prodigal Son was envied by his older brother. Shakespeare illustrates this sin in Hamlet. Claudius, Hamlet's uncle, envied Hamlet's father, his brother. His envy spawned lust and murder, and led to the innocent deaths of Ophelia, Gertrude and Hamlet.
For some strange reason, the sin of envy is a cancer within much of the clergy. Many holy and zealous priests are frustrated in their ministry precisely because their brothers do not want them to succeed. As you can see, envy is a terrible sin.
The Envy Trap
Envy is a mortal sin when the impulses are fully consented to and put into action; one is then fully culpable. Its effects are very corrosive. Furthermore, envy is classified as a capital sin, one of those sins so pernicious that in the words of the Catechism, “it engenders other sins, other vices” (1866). This terrible sin is made more terrible because it arouses sentiments of hatred toward those we may envy. All capital sins can be mortal sins, but not all mortal sins are capital sins. The capital sins, or deadly sins, are at the root of other sins.
“They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house, he began to ask them, 'What were you arguing about on the way?' But they remained silent. They had been discussing among themselves on the way who was the greatest” (Mk 9: 33-34).
The Apostles fell into the envy trap. As fallen creatures they were prone, like us, to sin. Jesus continually taught His disciples how they must be. Even at the Last Supper, the Apostles were seeking places of honor, and Jesus gave them a final lesson by assuming the office of a slave by washing their feet. Jesus gives us the antidote for envy. He reminds us once again that every true disciple must be humble. “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all” (Mk 9: 35).
Be Transformed
Ambition is a very powerful force in the human psyche. Jesus does not tell us to live passive and uninteresting lives. He challenges us to channel our ambition by dying to our selfish tendencies and living out the spirit of service so characteristic for those who desire to live authentic Christianity.
To drive His point home, Jesus points to an innocent child and says, “Anyone who welcomes one of these little children in My name, welcomes Me; and anyone who welcomes Me welcomes not Me but the One Who sent Me” (Mk 9: 37).
The lesson here is clear: serve one another without looking for anything in return. Commonly we form friendships in order to get ahead or achieve a particular goal. This is especially true in the business world. But Jesus is telling us to serve without any hidden selfish motives.
What does all of this have to do with envy? If we break the cycle of selfishness, envy will disappear, too. But dying to self is not an easy enterprise. True Christianity demands intense daily mortification and a profound spiritual life.
However, selfishness is a serious problem for many Catholics nowadays, one unrecognized cause being the hardening of hearts through the contraceptive mentality so prevalent today. It saddens me to hear married practicing Catholics affirm that they do not want to have any more children. Such egotism generates other forms of selfishness as well. Envy is one of them, and the lack of volunteerism is another — as is not putting our fair share in the Sunday collection basket — and so is failure to use the sacrament of Confession.
We need to eradicate all forms of selfishness from our lives if we really want to be transformed into authentic Christians. The ultimate goal of the Christian way of life is transformation into Christ. He is the way, the truth and the life. Selfishness has to be dealt with very seriously and the terrible sin of envy must be rooted out as the danger it is. We need to die to our egotism so that we may become more and more like the Risen Lord.
© Copyright 2006 Catholic Exchange
Father James Farfaglia is Pastor of St. Helena of the True Cross of Jesus Catholic Church in Corpus Christi, Texas. Originally from Ridgefield, Connecticut, Father has founded and developed apostolates for the Catholic Church in Spain, Italy, Mexico, Canada and throughout the United States. He may be reached by email at Icthus@GoCcN.org.
