It’s amazing how many stories in human tradition are driven by jealousy and envy, we could look at the prominent role of jealousy in literature, some of Shakespeare’s plays (Hamlet, Anthony and Cleopatra, The merchant of Venice, etc.), then we have the jealousy of David and Saul in the first book of Samuel in the Bible, the jealousy of Joseph and his brothers in the Book of Genesis. Jealousy is a powerful dynamic – negative – in human relations. St. Thomas Aquinas defines jealousy as: An irrational anger at the success of others. Jealousy and envy is especially about someone who is close to us. A cousin of envy is ambition; you are envious of someone so you try to be one up on that person – ambition. Ambition and envy feed on each other. All of us sinners are ashamed of these but they are always there is some form in our lives. In the 2nd Reading of our mass today St. James says: “Wherever you find…” This is why envy is one of the capital sins. Where do they come from?
They come from interior divisions. When you have disharmony on the inside, between your mind and your will, between your soul and your body this will give rise to external disharmony and conflict. When you fall apart on the inside you fall apart on the outside. When we loose our centre – Christ then the harmony disappears. Letter of St. James.
The solution is in the gospel.
Jesus lays out his mission to his disciples. He explains that his mission consists in self-renunciation to fullness of life (divine life.). In explaining this, he is saying to them that this should be their mission and this is our mission as well. They didn’t get. It. It’s comical what follows. After explaining to them the concept of self-renunciation, what are they discussing? Who will be the greatest?
Jesus now gives them an example. He places a little child in front of them as a role model. Why is a child a role model?
Because a child is capable of being commanded, child yearns for authority, a child looks for leadership. They want to know what to do. This is why they are an example for us.
A child is able to live in the present moment. We fuss about the past, and we worry about the future, but God is with us now, grace is with us in the present. We also know how children at times can put their parents to shame. A woman invited some people to dinner. At the table, she turned to her six-year-old daughter and said, “Would you like to say the blessing? “I wouldn’t know what to say,” the little girl replied. “Just say what you hear Mommy say,” the mother said. The little girl bowed her head and said, “Dear Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner? Envy lives in the past, ambition lives in the future; stop living in those places, be like little children and live in the present.