Sunday, March 29, 2009

Through the envy of the devil...



The mean reds. (Another interpretation.)
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Miss Manners ;), rather Elena of Tea at Trianon has an excellent sub-post with a passage from Fr. Lovasik on envy and jealousy. Elena correctly points out that it was envy and jealousy which killed our Lord. Envy and jealousy arise from pride, and although often undetected by ourselves, and generally mistaken for some other vice in our neighbor, these sins are at the root of many other sins, which we seem to feel justified condemning in others - while missing the log in our own eye. At least I know I sin in this way, and just when I think I am over that stuff, I get all mean again.
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Envy disrupts social life generally. It sets the child against the father, brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor, and nation against nation. It kills friendship, undermines business relationships, and hinders reconciliation. It is one of the chief sources of misunderstanding, criticism, hatred, vengeance, calumny, detraction, and perverse attacks upon private life.
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Jealousy goes a step further than envy; it not only tries to lessen the good opinion others enjoy and criticizes those who are praised and rewarded, but is characterized by an excessive love of our own personal good and brings on a fear that we will be deprived of it. Jealousy prefers to see good left undone rather than lose a single degree of praise. Read the rest here.
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Ultimately, these sins reveal our lack of charity.

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