 7 Deadly Sins & 7 Life Giving Virtures "Envy is contrary to
love, whence the soul derives its spiritual life...Now both the object
of love and the object of envy is the neighbor's good, but by contrary
movements, since love rejoices in the neighbor's good, while envy
grieves over it." (Thomas Aquinas) Envy is a violation of
the great law of love which is the centerpiece of the teaching of
Jesus. "This is my commandment: love one another." (John
15:17) Envy stands in stark contrast to the all-embracing love
taught in Scripture: "See that no one returns evil for evil; rather,
always seek what is good for each other and for all." (1 Thes. 5:15) The truth is that our
personal value and worth are conferred on us by a loving God; and
purely material possessions, whether in our own hands or those of
others, can neither substitute for that nor diminish it. Bernard
Haring summarizes a lot of Christian wisdom when he advises: "The
danger of the sin of envy is best met by meditation on the loving
generosity of God toward all men and women...by childlike submission of
self to the all-wise disposition of providence." As we uncover one layer
after another of envy, we begin to see that envy is not only opposed to
love of neighbor, it is opposed to true self-love as well. If we
draw our self-worth as persons from what we possess rather than from
how we stand before God, we will naturally resent those who possess
more than we because this fact in some way diminishes our dignity and
value in our own eyes. True self-love emerges
when we believe and accept a profound truth about ourselves: namely,
that we are made in the image and likeness of God, are profoundly loved
by God and lavishly gifted by him. If such faith is the basis of
our own self-love, envy of another's possessions will hardly be a
problem. It is always important to practice the love of God above
all and the love of our neighbor as ourselves. -thoughts taken from Choosing Virtue in a Changing World: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins Please Email Us With Any Comments or Feedback At ©2005 CopperCountry.com,Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. |
