The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Envy: Satan's Holy Hour

Episode Date: January 6, 2017

Have you ever rolled your eyes at someone else's perfect life and wished they had it a little harder? Jeff explains how envy roots itself in pride and blossoms into hatred. He shows how envy surfaces in many key biblical stories, and he encourages us to ask God for freedom from envy in our lives.

Hey, I'm Jeff Kavins. How do you simplify your life? How do you study the Bible? All the way from motorcycle trips to raising kids, we're going to talk about the faith and life in general. It's the Jeff Kaven Show. This is the Jeff Kaven Show. I'm Jeff Kavins and welcome.

Glad that you can. could join me. I am sitting here and full disclosure, it's getting close to Christmas. And we have been getting all kinds of cards and all kinds of letters in the mail. And I'm sure that you get them too. And the question is, what do you do with them? Some people put them all over their refrigerator and some people put them on a door and others just pile them in a bowl after they read them. That's what we do. And I'm looking at that bowl right now. And I think it's interesting what people write about their families at the end of the year. You know, they write about how everyone is doing in their family.

And some of it is prayer request. You know, things aren't going so well. And some, it's a little bit more difficult. There's really some tragedies going on. But the most of them, for the most part, people are writing about the great successes of their family and all the good things that their kids are doing. And one of the things that I have noticed over the years about these letters is that oftentimes when people read them, at least what they tell me, is that they become a little discouraged because it looks like everybody else is doing so much better than they are. You know, they read the letter from their sister, their brother, and it gives a list of all the accomplishments of their kids, and then they compare it to what's going on in their own family, and they feel a little bit down.

they feel envious. That's what I want to talk about today is I want to talk about envy. You know there's a difference between envy and jealousy, and jealousy is I want what you have, and that's not necessarily sinful, but envy is I don't want you to have what you have. In fact, the fact that you are successful makes me discouraged. It makes me sad.

And we know that from Scripture in the Book of Wisdom, Chapter 2, verses 21 through 24, that envy is really the reason that we have. A lot of the problems that we have. The enemy came into the earth due to envy. Let me just read it to you real quick. Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray for their wickedness blinded them. And they did not know the secret purposes of God, nor hope for the wages of holiness, nor discern the prize for blameless souls. For God created man for incorruption and made him in the image of his own eternity. but here it is verse 24 chapter 2 of wisdom but through the devil's envy death entered the world and those who belong to his party experience it would you like to know how to be free from envy

would you like to know how to walk in wholeness stay with me we'll talk about that we'll be right back this is the jeff caven show it's hard to live out your catholic faith on your own In fact, the Bible reveals that we need a community of people to help us on our journey of faith. If you're interested in finding that community by joining or starting a small group study, visit ascensionpress.com and sign up for a free Ascension account. With your account, you'll get all the tools you need to start walking with others towards Christ. Welcome back. Good to have you. We're talking about envy today. And for me right now, this is getting close to Christmas.

Whatever time you're listening to it, it could be in the middle of the year. But I have found that many times people get cards from their family, they read them, and they slip into envy. And envy is where you become sad at somebody else's success. And it happens at home. It happens among, you know, siblings. It happens at work, even among neighbors. Suddenly you realize that somebody else has won the lottery or they just paid off their home or they just bought a brand new car. and it doesn't give you a lot of joy.

In fact, it kind of brings you down. And that is the opposite of rejoicing with those who are rejoicing and mourning with those who are mourning. So what I'd like to do today is I like to kind of delve into this topic of envy. And I have found that when I bring this topic up, a lot of people will say, well, I don't struggle with that too much. And to that, I would say, really, really. After I talk about it a little bit, I find that most people will say,

you know, that was one of the most helpful things I've ever heard in my life because the truth, truth be known, I do struggle with envy at times. You get that card right before Christmas and it goes something like this. Dear brothers and sisters, hope you're having a wonderful Christmas season and God's blessings are all yours in abundance. By the way, John was just elected to the state senate in Massachusetts. Deborah, she finished medical school. Brian has been accepted for his residency in brain surgery at Massachusetts General. Todd started his second year at the Naval Academy. Carlo was part of the team that found the cure to Alzheimer's and Little Royce.

He's such a young boy, but he won the Pinewood Derby and Cub Scouts. Have a good holiday. And you're thinking to yourself, I hate them. And the question is, why do you do that? Because, you know, the truth be known, you know, on your own Christmas card, it might not look like that. You know, Sally's in prison, Gary's got a rash, they can't figure out, and the youngest one won't go to school. Pray for us.

So, you know, the envy that we experience really says more about us, and we'll get to this, but our relationship with God than anything else. So I want to talk about that a little bit, envy, envy in our lives. You know, a few years ago, I had the privilege of going over to Italy. to Florence. I don't know if you've ever been to Florence. We took a pilgrimage there and on one day we were allowed to go either to Pompeii or Florence or go to Tuscany to see some vineyards. I went to Florence because I like art. I like to paint and I wanted to, I've always wanted to see the David, you know. I've always wanted to go to the academia gallery in in Florence to see that. So I ended up going. Now this masterpiece, the David, I don't know if you've

ever seen it, but the minute you turn the corner and you look at it, it is stunning. Absolutely stunning. Now, it was created by Michelangelo, and he worked on that from about 1501 to 1504, and it's one of the greatest masterpieces in history. The statue of David was cut from actually a rejected piece of marble, which is interesting in itself, and that's a whole another show. But it stands not six feet tall, as I thought it did. I thought, well, the David probably looks a lot like me, you know. But I ended up turning the corner and seeing a statue that was 17 feet tall, 17 feet tall, and it weighs 500 tons.

And it's on display today in the Academia Gallery in Florence. Now, here's an interesting little background on this. In 1991, an artist came into the museum, and back then, the statue of David, Well, originally it was outside in the piazza for many, many, many years. And then they brought it into the museum. And it was basically out there for anybody even to touch it. He couldn't even get really, you know, you could, there was no barrier between you and the, in the statue. Well, anyway, this artist, he came to the museum and he snuck in a sledgehammer.

And he reached out with a sledgehammer and he damaged the left foot of the David. Now, of course, to the art community, This just was absolutely crushing. And when they took him into custody, they asked him why. Why in the world would you try to destroy something so absolutely beautiful? And the man said, and to be honest with you, I think he was quite deranged, but he said it was for, it was Veronesey's beautiful nanny who asked me to hit the David. The guide of the museum was told.

And the man, the artist also said this, and this is the key. He said, I too am an artist. And I simply couldn't swallow the perfection of Michael Angelo. Wow. In other words, this artist, when he saw the beautiful, perfect work of Michelangelo and the David, it made him sad. It ruined his day. And he had to do something about it. He could not live with the perfection of Michelangelo, and he wanted to bring Michelangelo's work down to

his level. How sad. How sad. You know, I heard someone say not too long ago, they said, what's the best way to build the tallest building in a city? They said, well, the easiest way to build the tallest building in the city is to knock down all the other buildings. And you will be the tallest building in the city. That's what this artist was doing. He had to knock down the work. You know, we have to learn to recognize, I think, we have to learn to recognize envy in our lives. Who are you mentally and emotionally taking the hammer to in your life? Is there someone right now in your life as we begin this show talking about envy? Is there a family member? Is there someone at work? Is there a neighbor? Is it someone in your immediate family

that you just have to take the hammer to because you get sad when you're around their quote unquote perfection? It's a sad thing and it makes it makes us less than who. who we are. Basically, what we're saying is that my problem goes away when you fail. And when you fail, it kind of makes me happy. That's envy. And envy is one of the worst things that anybody can experience because there's no win here. There's not even any fleeting pleasure as there is in some other sins. But this capital sin, this one will kill you. This one will separate your family. this one can destroy your marriage in a big way. How many of you remember the Grinch from Dr. Seuss?

I mean, you remember the old Dr. Seuss books. Many of them in my generation, many people in my generation grew up with Dr. Seuss. Do you remember his habit, the Grinch that stole Christmas, the Grinch? He had this unusual habit, and that was that he would always bite himself whenever someone else was blessed with something good. He would bite himself. And so, you know, I ask you, maybe you're in the car right now on the way to work or you're going home or maybe just sitting on the back porch and having something to drink and listening to the show. But do you bite yourself?

No, I don't mean literally, but even though the Grinch did. But do you bite yourself when your brother-in-law gets a raise? Do you bite yourself when your best friends just inherited a lake home? Do you bite yourself when your sister's kids were just accepted at Harvard? or do you bite yourself when you hear that your colleague just paid off their home in there only 27 envy envy is like a burning coal it it consumes itself in the words of of john chrysostom a quote he says as a moth gnaws at a garment so envy consumes a man consumes you and this truth is illustrated in an ancient jewish rabbinic story that I

I want to share with you real quickly here, and it tells of an angel visiting a storekeeper and offering to give him whatever he wished. Can you imagine that an angel coming into your store and you're just kind of whistle while your work and doing your thing? And all of a sudden an angel shows up and says, I'll give you whatever you wish. Whatever. Now, knowing that his main rival would get twice as much, the man was wondering what to do because the angel said, ask whatever you wish, and I'm going to give your competitor double.

I'm going to give them double. Now, that's an unusual situation to be in. If an angel said, I'm going to give you whatever you want, but whatever you ask for, I am going to give your competition across the street double. So if you want to ask for $100, I'm going to give your competition $200. You ask for a million? I'm going to give them $2 million. You ask for $10 million? I'm going to give him $10 million.

And so the man thought for a while. The angel said, I'm going to be back in a while. And the angel finally returned after about a week and said, have you had time to think about it? He said, yeah, I have. The angel said, you do understand that whatever you ask for, I'm going to give your competition double. Yes, I thought about it, Mr. Angel. And here's my conclusion. I want you to poke out one of my eyes.

which you know what that means, that he's wishing that his competition had both eyes poked out. He can't stand the success of his competition. It's sad. Envy is distinguished from greed and from competitiveness. Unlike the greedy man, the man afflicted by envy does not necessarily want the goods he resents another having. He simply does not want the other to have them. and he differs from the competitive man in that his aim, unlike that of the competitive man, is not to win, but simply to keep that other man from winning. What a sad existence. What a sad existence.

Well, we know where envy came from, and I mentioned this at the top of the show in Wisdom Chapter 2, verses 21 through 24, it gives us a description of envy, and it tells us that it was through the devil's envy, the death entered the world. What was the devil envious of? He was envious of the praise and Thanksgiving that went to God. Any time that God was praised, it made him sad. And he couldn't stand it. He could not stand it at all.

That was the entrance to evil in the world and to death in the world. So envy is considered by many the chief and defining characteristic of the devil. Through the devil's envy of all of salvation history has been affected. It's all been affected. It's sad. It's very, very sad. So envy has roots, and the roots itself, the roots are, let me say this. Envy has roots in pride, and it flowers and blooms.

in hate. It begins with the devil. And we've got a lot of different stories in the Bible where we see envy at work that it does not end well at all. We see that, for example, back in Genesis 4, Kane was envious of Abel. And what did he do? He killed him. Joseph's brothers were envious of his status with Jacob in Genesis 37.

We have a sibling rivalry, and what did they do? They put him in a pit and they sold him into bondage because they were envious. of his father's love. Remember the coat of many colors that he wore, signifying his place of pride in his father's heart. You've got 1st Samuel 18 with Saul. He was envious of David. In 1st Kings chapter 3,

you have the story of two women who were arguing over a baby, and one said it's mine. The other said, no, it's mine. And finally Solomon solved that problem, but the whole thing came out of envy. You've got Ahab in 1st Kings 21. Ahab was envious for Nabat's vineyard.

And even in the New Testament, if you look at the betrayal of Jesus and the arrest and the execution of Jesus, Matthew 27 and Mark 15, you see that there was the envy of the Jewish leadership for Jesus could not stand his success. So in every story, there is a distinction made

between have and have-nots. And envy finds its way of raising its ugly head right in the middle of it. I was looking up some different, doing research on envy, you know, prior to the show and came across an interesting statement by Ralph, of all people, Ralph Waldo Emerson, you know, who said, he said, envy is the tax which all distinction must pay. I love that. envy is the tax which all distinction must pay in romans chapter one in verse 29 it gives paul gives a list of of the most heinous of traits and they were all filled with all manner of wickedness evil covetousness

malice full of envy murder strife deceit uh and then he goesops so he lists this this whole list of heinous traits and envy is right there in the middle in the middle of it so so what's the result of envy? I mean, what does envy actually do to us? Because maybe you don't struggle with envy, but maybe you do, and maybe you are actually in the middle of the fruit of it, and you're living with the consequences of being envious. The goal of this show is to help you become free from that, but we have to recognize where we're at right now. First of all, I would say that envy is a poison. It's a poison that affects not just one area or two areas, but it literally affects every area of your life.

It affects your health. It will certainly affect your relationships. It affects your dreams. And most importantly, it affects your relationship with God. You enter a distortion field, literally, when you walk in envy. Kind of like the distorted mirrors at the carnival. You remember going to those, I remember as a kid, going to the county fair, the state fair,

and for a dollar, you get to walk through the house of mirrors, and you walk in there, and every mirror you look into is a distortion. It's not really you. I mean, it's you, but you're not seeing it correctly. And that's what envy does to us. You're seeing the situation, yeah. Yeah, Johnny, your sister's brother, your sister's son, was elected to the state senate. That's true.

You're seeing that, but it's distorted now. It's totally distorted. It affects your physical health. Scripture even says this. And I think I mentioned this on the last show, and we spoke. about anger a little bit? At Mayo Clinic, talking to a doctor down there, not only did he mention that anger can affect your cardiovascular system, but envy can actually affect your physical health. And that's what Scripture says too. Proverbs chapter 14 and verse 30 says, a tranquil mind

gives life to the flesh, but envy, ready for this? Envy rots the bones. That's not something we want to be involved in. You literally can't be envious and happy at the same time. That, my friend, is an impossibility. You can't be envious and happy at the same time. If you struggle with envy or you know of someone who struggles with envy, they can't not be happy at the same time. It is an impossibility.

Trust me, it is an impossibility. The great philosopher, Socrates, once said, the envious person grows lean with the fatness of their neighbor. So this is not a diet you want to be on. Trust me. When your neighbor is fat in riches, you become lean because of the envy that is in you. But perhaps more important than your physical health or your mental health or any of that is your spiritual health. Your spiritual health. Being solid with God.

and having a good well-being when it comes to your mental health. I want to say something here, and I mean this with all of my heart, envy is an insult to oneself. You no longer see your value in terms of your relationship with God. No, that's out the window. You don't see your relationship in terms of your relationship with God and all that he has given you. And the riches, as Paul says to the Ephesians, riches of the inheritance of the saints, but instead you see it in relationship to what you don't have. And what you don't have can oftentimes look far, far great, far greater, far more than what

you do have. So rather than adoring the Lord, you get into the devil's adoration. Rather than adoring the Lord and all his riches and everything that he's given us, you kind of get into the devil's adoration. You begin to focus on what you don't have. So we could say in a way, you want to look at it a little bit differently, that envy is the devil's holy hour.

Yeah. Envy is the devil's holy hour. It's counterfeit adoration. It's focusing on what is not there and what is not real and what is not substantive. Wow. It's like reading, remember that,

what's the name of that? that the imitation of Christ, the imitation of God, the imitation of Christ, that wonderful, wonderful book, envy is sort of like the imitation of Satan, you know, and hopefully that's not your devotional book. So if you want to know what the enemy experience before the fall, experience envy. some have wondered how could the enemy fall? Then we'd have to ask ourselves, how could I be entrapped by envy in my own life? I mean, look at this, I'm an American. I live in America.

I have access to the riches of America, medical care and food and home and clothing and everything else. What could I possibly want more? It's not what I want more. It's that I want you to have less, and that's envy. So it ruins relationships, too. not only your spiritual and mental health, but it absolutely will ruin relationships. And you should be concerned with God's will being played out in your life,

but so often we're concerned with God's will being played out in other people's lives. So envy is kind of like meditating on the devil's will for someone's life and smiling. We hope that we hope that things don't go so well for them this year. So envy, it puts you in a position where you are. in total opposition to God's will for someone else's life. Put another way, envy is the antithesis of God's love. I'll say that again, you might even want to pull over and write this one down. Envy is the antithesis of God's love. Envy is the antithesis of all we are called to, in fact. For example, we're called to mourning. When someone mourns among us,

we should mourn with them. And if someone is happy, we should rejoice with them. But watch what the enemy does here. The enemy turns this upside down into what I would call a counterfeit church. What does he do? The enemy would get us to a place where we rejoice when others mourn and we mourn when others rejoice. My friends, this is totally backward, totally backward. Archbishop Fulton Sheen said

Every envious word is based on a false judgment of our own moral superiority. So basically, we could say that envy doesn't recognize that we are connected to each other as family. We are one in Christ, that is true, but envy does not connect us as family. In fact, what envy does is it rips the body of Christ apart. It is, in a biblical sense, it is a decreation.

It's a decreation. and we fail to see the good things that God has given us because we resent the good things that someone else has. I'm going to take a break when I come back. I'm going to talk to you a little bit about Mozart and how Mozart had a friend of his so-called friend, Salieri, who was so filled with envy. Maybe you saw the movie, Amadeus,

so filled with envy that he literally went crazy. You're listening to the Jeff Kaven show, We'll be back right after this. There might be an upcoming Ascension event happening near you, and we'd love for you to attend. Almost every week, our inspiring Catholic speakers travel to parishes, schools, and organizations around the country to ignite hearts with the love of Christ. Discover and register for upcoming ascension events at ascensionpress.com slash events. Welcome back to the Jeff Kaven Show.

Good to have you with us. We're talking about, of all things right now, envy. and envy is when you become sad at the blessing of somebody else. We've all been there. It's a matter of dealing with it in a proper way, and we're going to talk about that in just a little bit. Before the break, I was mentioning Mozart. You saw that movie Amadeus?

You remember that with that wildly contagious laugh that Mozart had in the movie? Well, there's a book that I read on virtues by a wonderful modern scholar, Donald DeMarco, And he does a wonderful job of explaining the difference between good pride and bad pride, envy, by using the movie Amadeus. It's the story of Antonio Salieri and Mozart. And here's how it goes. It's really interesting. Salieri is a composer in his own right. Of course, nothing like Mozart because Mozart's like a child prodigy.

But Salieri wants to be known as a great composer. And he's good. Don't get me wrong. But he's not great. and he has pride until Mozart comes along. Mozart composes with such ease and brilliance, and this bothers Salieri. He sees Mozart as a little brat.

Because he is proud, when he sees Mozart, that pride turns to envy. Every time he hears a review on Mozart, any time he hears anyone praising Mozart, it drives him nuts and he wants him stopped and it has totally consumed his life that he can't even go forward with his own compositions because he's so caught up in the past with Mozart's now envy is described as sorrow with the other person's good fortune so rather than rejoice with Mozart salieri becomes sad because it feeds into his pride

His envy turns to anger, and he decides to murder Mozart. Kind of remind you of Cain and Abel, isn't it, a little bit in Genesis 4? But before he murders Mozart, he tries to get Mozart to write a requiem. With the idea that the Requiem, which is a funeral mass, with the idea that the requiem will be played at Mozart's funeral, and Salieri will claim to have written the incredible piece. He'll then get the praise of all the people. So he tries to get Mozart to write this incredible requiem,

which Mozart has no idea that it's really for his own funeral. And then once Mozart dies, Salieri will publicly announce this requiem for Mozart that, of course, he wrote, which isn't true. Well, he ends up, Salieri that isn't a mental institution. This thing totally, totally absorbs him, you know, consumes him. And he ends up in a mental institution, rolling around in a wheelchair, forgiving everyone for the sin of mediocrity. Oh, envy.

Man, alive. Don't let this grab you. Don't let it grab you. You know, not only with our relationships does it play havoc, but it ruins the vocations given to us by God. You know, it takes a father away from a wife and children. It takes a mother away from husband and children. Colleague with promotion, when I come home, I can't focus on my kids.

I can't focus on my wife. All I can focus on is my colleague got a promotion. He was blessed, and I think I should have got that, and I can't stand his success. Wow. It's amazing. So envy narrows life to this world, really, and that's what it does. It kind of shrinks your world rather than an eternal perspective. As Christians, we should have an eternal perspective.

And as Christians, we're not focused on just the accomplishments of this world and the things of this world. But that's kind of the gambling chips of envy, you know, the things of this world, the temporal things, and that life is only what we gain and the toys we gain in this world and the acceptance and the praise and the accolades. It's just this world. And that's what envy does. It kind of shrinks your world. But living in love, in the new law of love, with Christ, has an eternal perspective. I like what Archbishop Fulton Sheen said.

I'm such a fan of his. I've got to tell you, I'm doing this show from my office surrounded by a treasure trove of great authors. And I have a whole shelf of Sheen that I turn to regularly. He's such an amazing, an amazing figure. in church history. Anyway, about envy, he said, if envy is on the increase today, as it undoubtedly is, it is because of the surrender of the belief of a future life and righteous divine justice. If this life is all, they think they should have all. From that point on, envy of others becomes the rule of life. That's from his book on victory over vice.

Isn't that something? What a great insight into envy. I'm just going to read that again because it's hitting me right now that, man, he is really struck on something valuable and eternal here. If envy is on the increase today, as it undoubtedly is, here's why. It is because of the surrender of the belief of a future life and righteous, divine justice. So he says if this life is all, all, then they think that they should have all. Isn't that true? From that point on, in envy of others becomes the rule of life. So the lie of envy is that others' blessings seems to diminish our good. What a distortion. At the heart of envy is a wounded or distorted. Get this.

Get this, get this, get this. You might want to pull over on this one. You might want to. At the heart of envy is a wounded or. distorted relationship with God and a distorted relationship concerning eternity. You know why? Because if you really believe that God loves you and he's your father, you are going to be content with what he gives you and provides in your life.

If there's any doubt about the justice of God and, quote, unquote, fairness of God, to be politically correct today, you're going to struggle. You're going to struggle. And you're going to struggle if all you're going to struggle. if all you think life is, is this life. But if your father, if your father has a cattle of a thousand hills and your father is generous and your father knows you and he knows what you need and your life is eternal and not just here on earth, then you are not going to be measured by the toys of this earth, but you'll be measured

by the virtue. You'll be measured by the works that will last through judgment. See, don't let the enemy shrink your world. don't let the enemy shrink your scope. The enemy is, in a sense, saying to us with envy, this world, honey, is all there is, and you're losing. Game on. See, envy takes our focus off of God's blessings in our life,

and it puts it on what we don't have, which is fairly limited, or limitless, I should say. Fairly limitless. He takes our focus off of God's blessings and puts it on what we don't have. And if you spend your time looking at what you don't have versus what you have, good luck. Have a happy life.

And this is the Garden of Eden right there. Did God say you can't eat of the tree? Did he say you can't eat of the tree? What did he say? He said you can eat of any of these trees. You've got so much. But of the one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it.

For in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die. You will surely die. so you could say this this is another way of putting it i love this statement i learned this years ago envy it pokes the eyes out of gratitude doesn't it it pokes the eyes out of gratitude we're supposed to be people who live with gratitude and so thankful for all we have envy will poke those eyes right out and you won't see it anymore you won't see the good that god has given you anymore It pokes the eyes out of gratitude.

It mutes the voice of thankfulness and grinds the teeth that would have been the source of praise. So envy is running as fast as you can from who you were created to be. With each day you walk in envy, you look more and more like you were created in the image of someone else rather than God. So what's the solution to this? I want to talk to you a little bit about the solution. What do we do if we're facing envy? I'm going to take a break right now, and when we come back, I'm going to give you some real solid points on what you can do to fight envy in your life.

Don't go away. You're listening to The Jeff Kaven Show. Hi, this is Father Mike Schmitz. And if you're looking for a way to learn more about your Catholic faith, I invite you to check out the Ascension Presents YouTube channel. You're going to find tons of free videos featuring Catholic presenters like Matt Frad, Leodero, Jackie Bobby Angel, and Emily Wilson. Go to YouTube.com slash ascension presents.

That's YouTube.com slash ascension presents. And if you like what you see, please share and subscribe. Welcome back, my friend. This is the Jeff Kaven Show. I'm Jeff. And we've been talking on today's show about envy and kind of going through the ravages of envy and what it is.

It makes you sad when someone else is blessed, particularly those Christmas cards that we so often get. and they run down of how the family is doing, and you get to the end of it, I hate them. And that has more to do with you than it does them. And it has more to do with your relationship with God than your relationship with things. And that's what we're looking at. And I want to share now a little bit about how do we deal with this? What's the remedy?

And I would start by saying this. Number one, we've got to recognize, and we have to acknowledge that envy is a spirit, problem, okay? This isn't a problem of things, and it's not a problem of economics and the haves and the have-nots, just, you know, simply. This is a spiritual problem, and not just a social problem. It's a spiritual problem. At the heart of the problem is our perception of and our relationship with God. That's basically what's happening here. And I don't have the time to go into it in great detail, but I would ask you to write down Matthew chapter 20, because Matthew chapter 20 is the parable of the workers in the vineyard. And the workers in the vineyard,

some were given, you know, say, 10 bucks to work from early morning till evening. Then guys came around noon. They were given 10 bucks to work from noon to evening. And then late afternoon, some guys came to work. They got 10 bucks. And they only had to work a little bit. And it drove the guys earlier. They drove him a little batty. Because they said, hey, you know, this is not fair. This is not fair. You paid them the same amount as you're paying us, and we worked all day, and they only worked a few hours. And I love the Lord's response to them. His response in layman's language is, what's that to you? Are you bugged that I'm so generous? Does that really bother you that I'm so generous? I'm generous with everyone. So the Lord's response when others were blessed was,

are you envious because I'm generous? Are you envious because I'm generous? Maybe we should sign every Christmas card we get with that little line at the bottom, after all your siblings write those letters, write, am I envious because God was generous to my sister, to my brother? We must learn to be content, and that's number one. We've got to learn to be content with God and what he has given us. I like what Paul said to the Philippians.

He said, not that I complain of want, this is Philippians 4 versus 11 through 13, by the way. Not that I complain of want, for I have learned in whatever state I am to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. In any and all circumstances, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance, and want. And then he gives the key here. It's a pullover point. Pull over. You're going to write it down.

I can do all things in him who strengthens me. And then Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 6, verses 6 through 8, and he gave another great bit of advice as a foundation to deal with envy. He said, there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we shall be. be content. So we've got to learn to be content. So here's a number of ways to battle envy.

Number one, recognize it in your life. Let's be honest about it. Let's stop playing game, shall we? I mean, we're talking about serving God. We're talking about being modern-day disciples. We're talking about eternity in mind. We're talking about making a better world. Let's recognize it in our own life. Let's call a spade, spade. If we're dealing with envy, let's admit it. Let's admit it. I would really encourage you to go to confession once you identify it. And when you go to confession, you know, you go in and you say, you know, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Father bless me for I have sinned. My last confession was and tell them, might be a month ago, three months ago, a year ago, whatever. But be honest, I'm saying, Father, I struggle with

envy. My family's blessing, my friend, my colleague's blessing makes me sad. And it's eating me alive. I want to confess it as sin. And then you begin to develop a plan to build a good attitude about it. So number one, recognize it in your life. Number two, I would encourage you to purpose, to walk in love, to walk in love. Now, love is the opposite of envy in many ways, because envy is that I rejoice when you are mourning, and I mourn when you are rejoicing. It's backward, completely. But love, Paul tells the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 13, he says, love does not envy. Love does not envy. Love seeks out the eternal good for others and rejoices with them. So I would encourage you to make a point out of focusing on the eternal good for other people.

Number one, recognize it in your life. Go to confession. Number two, purpose to walk in love. Love seeks out the eternal good for others. And if they're blessed materially, if they're blessed socially, if they're blessed in their family, you begin to walk in love regarding that and rejoice with them. Number three, change your focus. Jesus pointed those who struggled with envy in a different direction. A new focal point, for example, in Luke chapter 15, to those who could be envious of the mercy about the lost sheep, they could be envious of the love that he extended to the lost sheep. Jesus points to heavenly joy that Jesus left the 99

and went after the one and all heaven rejoices so he changes the focus there instead of well how come he left me how come he just went after the one no no don't focus on that focus on the rejoicing that's taking place in heaven

in Matthew 6 we have something kind of similar to those who could be envious of wealth he warned lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth rust to consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in in steel.

So he's got a way of helping us to change our focus. Instead of focusing on these things and the temporal matter, look to the eternal glory and the riches of heaven and rejoice and rejoice. I love it. I love it. Peter did the same thing, by the way. In 1 Peter chapter 2, verses 1 and 2, Peter says, So put away all malice and all guile and insincerity and envy. He uses the word, and envy, and all slander. And then here's the change of focus, like newborn babes,

long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up to salvation. So feed on the pure milk of God's word, rather than the poison of the devil's envy energy drink, nurtured instead of depleted. Number four, I would say this, and that is this. Focus on the fact that we are called to love excellence. Excellence. Philippians 4-8, Paul says,

finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever's right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there's any excellence, and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. If your sister's son just graduated medical school,

praise God. Praise God. She deserves to be thanked, not shunned, not ignored, and not for you to go into a shell. Love excellence. Love excellence. Number five, I would say,

don't take the bait. One of the remedies for envy is to learn to love excellence for its own sake. And when St. Paul, when St. Paul's friends were drawing his attention to the shortcomings of, rival preachers, he said, but what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives are true, Christ is preached. Because of this, I rejoice. Paul says, yes, and I will continue to rejoice. Paul didn't take the bait. Hey, Paul, there's some other guys out there

that got bigger crowds. Hey, there's some guys over there that wrote a book that five times outsell your book, Paul. Praise God. Praise the Lord. See, he didn't take the bait. Don't you take the bait either. and others are baiting him, he doesn't take it. He doesn't take it. So we need to learn, I think, to replace the thoughts in our head by praying for them, your family members and others in our head. Replace those thoughts in your head by praying for them in your head. God bless them over and over. And that's something good to say. God bless them, bless them over and over until I I change. Number six, just a few more here real quick. Number six, the attitude of gratitude, it fights envy. Learn to walk in thankfulness and gratitude for all that God has given you.

I love the, there's a great prayer. Google this on your own time. Google this. It is the prayer, the Ignatian prayer, and it is one where you pray at the end of the day and you look back at your day and you begin, you begin by giving God gratitude and thanking him for all that he has given you. What a great way to end your day. It's the attitude of gratitude. I love that. Number seven, rejoice in the merits of others. Paul said in Romans 1215, rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

Listen, don't reverse it. Don't let envy reverse that at all. at all. At all. And number eight, express admiration. Learn to admire the good things in others' lives. Incorporate them into your prayers. And this is exercising goodwill. Congratulate your friend. Send a card. Call your sister. Doing these types of things will change your attitude. And then I would also encourage you to walk in humility. And humility is very powerful. Listen to this from the catechism. In paragraph 2540, 2540, envy. represents a form of sadness, and therefore a refusal of charity.

The baptized person should struggle against it by exercising goodwill. Envy often comes from pride. The baptized person should train himself, should train himself, should train himself, should train himself, should train himself to live in humility. Wow. So humility is the right assessment of who you are in relationship to God. And it's the right assessment of who you are in relationship to your brothers and sisters, the people at work, your extended family. So when envy raises it's ugly head, my friend, an alarm should go off.

Major changes are needed. Don't let even a little envy creep in, nip it in the bud. I love what it says in Song of Solomon. Chapter 2, catch us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vineyard for our vineyards are in blossom. Love it. Hey, it's been so good to spend some time with you here today, and I'd like to get some feedback from you and know how these shows are impacting your life. If there's anything that we're saying that can be valuable to you, we'd love to have you rank us on iTunes, if you're listening on iTunes, and leave some comments. We'd love to hear from you.

If you want to continue the conversation at some point, my Twitter is Jeff Kavens. You can find me on Facebook, too, Jeff Kavens. And my website is Jeff Kavins. I kind of got a theme going there. And you can find out all about my speaking engagements and also our pilgrimages to Israel and other places around the world with my wife, Emily. And I've got a lot of interesting articles on there, too. Everything that I do for the most part is published by Ascension Press. and you can go to ascensionpress.com, and by the way, I want to remind you, if you have been studying the great adventure with me over the years,

Ascension Press has a dynamite delivery system, a digital delivery system, unlike any other, that will allow you to have access to all of the teachings for a very small, minimal, monthly fee for your parish, and you can have multiple studies going on at the same time. Got some really great new studies there, so I encourage you to check it. out at ascensionpress.com. Thanks for joining me today. I really mean that. And let's close in prayer, shall we? You'll close in prayer and ask God to bless you in this area of envy. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Lord, I lift up my brothers and sisters right now and I ask you Jesus to bless them and to recognize envy in their own life and to take the necessary steps to combat this and to see you for who you really are, Lord, as our father and provider. And we're in a covenant with you. We lack nothing. Help us to focus on what we have with you rather than what we

don't have when we know that we have all good things with you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. God bless you. Have a great day. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.