“Love is patient, love is kind; it does not envy.” 1 Corinthians 13:4.
The Modern Catholic Dictionary gives a comprehensive definition of envy. It defines it as, “sadness or discontent at the excellence, good fortune, or success of another.” But even beyond that, envy as a vice leaves a person feeling depraved. Depraved of what another has, while believing the envious one is deserving of it. Envy not only finds misery in another’s goodness, but finds deprivation in life.
Envy makes it impossible to be happy.
If we live in envy, we wish we had what we don’t, and we find unfilled in what we do. It is the surest road to discontent. When Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden, they had everything. They had food and shelter, a husband and wife to love, the hand of God over them. Adam and Eve did not have a care in the world. Yet as soon as Satan showed Eve the Forbidden Fruit, told her she could have more, she ate it. She lost fulfillment in her life and sought what she did not have. It is what drove Eve way from God and pulled her husband to sin with her.
The movie It’s a Wonderful Life is a good example of how envy can cloud our lives. George Bailey watches all his friends have exciting jobs and move to big cities. Even while he’s happy enough in his small town, married and raising children, he is blind to real fulfillment. It’s not until he sees how everything he loves could be lost that he becomes truly grateful for it.
Love Cannot Envy.
Love cannot envy because love wills the good of the other. I used to wonder, as a kid, how my parents could be so content getting what was “worse.” How could they give us the best bit of food? Why were they okay giving up time to relax to play with us? How did they keep sacrificing sleep when we needed them? Why were they okay to miss fun things to take care of the babies? Now I know how easy it was for them. Looking at my kids, I know exactly why my parents did everything for us. They truly loved us, and they could not feel envy towards us.
Love is patient. It is kind. Love does not envy. It wills the good of the other. Love makes life fulfilling. It makes life meaningful.
Envy destroys peace and weakens love. It causes misery and discontent. Envy leads to sin, leads to sadness, leads away from the life God gave us.
“Don’t allow any sadness to dwell in your soul. For sadness prevents the Holy Spirit from acting freely.” ~ St. Padre Pio.