Ordinary Time 25 - The Art of Knowing Love

 

Homily for Ordinary Time 25

September 22, 2024

Gratitude and the Art of Knowing Love

 

            One time a college professor was teaching a lesson on the seven deadly sins. He instructed his pupils, “Before we begin discussing envy, I’d like you to write down every person you are envious of, but don’t write them on paper – I want you to write each name on a potato and bring it to class.” The students thought this was creative and was excited to see what he would do with them. Some students had two or three potatoes, while others brought in a whole sack. They were hoping to air their grievances with all of those people: this one boasts all the time about their athletic awards; this one posts arrogant photos on Instagram showing off their bodies; this one didn’t earn their wealth and doesn’t deserve it.

            But to their surprise, the teacher didn’t address the issue, but only told them to bring the potatoes back the next day. They did so, and he told them to bring them back the next day. Day after day they were to bring back the potatoes. After two weeks, the potatoes had begun to get heavy, burdensome, smelly, and rotten. Finally, two weeks after assigning it, the teacher said, “This is what happens when you carry envy in your heart. It makes your heart heavy, weighed down, and it begins to rot. Now get rid of all your potatoes – and get rid of all your envy.”

            All three of our readings deal with envy and its consequences. The first reading describes the envious machinations of the Pharisees, who see Jesus as a threat because of His holiness. The Gospels portray the Apostles as envious of one another, angling to become the greatest among them. And St. James speaks about the consequences of envy: war, dissension, division. Let’s look at that particular sin and how to combat it.

            First, we need to define it. Aquinas defines envy as “sorrow at another’s good fortune.” This distinguishes envy from jealousy, which is not wanting to share something that you already have. So in this way, jealousy can be good – a husband should be jealous of his wife in the sense that he does not want another man to have her! But can envy – sorrow at another’s good fortune – ever be good?

            Yes! St. Thomas Aquinas mentions two ways that envy is good, and two ways it is sinful. Envy can be helpful when we see an evil person receive a good thing that they will use wrongly. So if a corrupt politician becomes elected, it is right to be sorrowful – knowing that their political position might be used to harm others. Or if a pleasure-loving, faithless person wins the lottery, and we know they will only spend the money on sinful things – it is right to be sorrowful over this. Envy can also be helpful when it spurs us on to become better. I see someone who has been exercising and looks great – and I want to do the same. We see someone who is living a virtuous life and radiates joy – and we want to pursue the same.

            But envy is sinful, according to Aquinas, when we don’t think the person is worthy of their blessings – that is always wrong, for God gives His blessings to both the righteous and sinners. And how many times have we received blessings from God when we were unworthy of them! The other cause of sinful envy, according to Aquinas, is when we are angry that another person has simply received more blessings than we have.

            This can even be a temptation in the spiritual life. St. Therese of Lisieux struggled with this. She had a burning desire to become a martyr, but living in nineteenth-century France, there was no chance. She had the desire to become a missionary, but poor health meant that she never left her hometown. Initially she wrestled with God – why can’t I do something great for you? Why can’t I become like those magnificent saints who lived tremendously heroic lives? But she came to peace about it when she considered the variety of flowers in the garden: some are flashy and eye-catching, while others are decked in more subtle hues. As she writes in her autobiography:

            Our Lord has deigned to explain this mystery to me. He showed me the book of nature, and I understood that every flower created by Him is beautiful, that the brilliance of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not lessen the perfume of the violet or the sweet simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all the lowly flowers wished to be roses, nature would lose its springtime beauty. And so it is in the world of souls, Our Lord’s living garden. He has been pleased to create great Saints who may be compared to the lily and the rose, but He has also created lesser ones, who must be content to be daisies or simple violets flowering at His Feet, and whose mission it is to gladden His Divine Eyes when He deigns to look down on them. And the more gladly they do His Will the greater their perfection.

            So what is the antidote to envy, that sorrow at other’s blessings? There are three, one clearly evident and the other two hidden. The evident one, of course, is gratitude. So often we forget all of our own blessings – we have been given more than we deserve – family and friends, life, good health, our Catholic Faith. As Catholic speaker Chris Stefanick puts it, “None of us has to exist, but we get to. It’s just awesome to be alive – everything else is a bonus!” Counting our gratefuls helps stave off envy.

            But there are two deeper ways to fight off envy. I believe that one reason we are envious of others is that we think that someone else’s blessings means that they are loved more. We falsely believe that a person’s bigger paycheck and more expensive vacations, better health and more friends, means that we are somehow loved less by God or by others.

            This may be why Jesus chooses to hold a young child up as an example – most children are secure in their parents’ love. They know that they are unconditionally loved, safe in their parents’ embrace. And all Christians ought to know so deeply that they are equally unconditionally loved by their Heavenly Father. If we have the treasure of Christ and know the depths of His love, what else do we really need?

            Of course, that’s easier said than done. To be secure in your Father’s love isn’t a feeling, but an unshakeable confidence that we are loved, not because of what we can do or produce, how we look or how successful we are, but because we are His. Take a risk, believe in His love, and rest secure that no matter what others have, we are still infinitely, personally, passionately loved by God.

            Finally, we can overcome envy with the realization that God has a unique, unrepeatable plan in our lives – and this plan is good and perfect, directed to our holiness. So if we don’t have wealth, if we aren’t successful, if we don’t have good health – we can surrender this all to our Heavenly Father in trust that He is leading us along a path of holiness. Rather than look to other people’s lives and wish we were like them, we look to our own unique path and see the virtues and gifts God wants to form in us.

            How many of the saints became holy through unique, difficult paths! One of my favorites is St. Benedict Joseph Labre. Born in France in the 1700s, he thought about becoming a priest, but was rejected from three separate monasteries. He was too poor; he wasn’t able to get letters of recommendation from influential people; he had bad health. It would have been easy for him to grow angry and say, “Why me?” or to look to others’ blessings. But instead, he said, “Lord, I don’t know where you’re leading me…but I trust in you.”

            One day in prayer he received an inspiration – to go, on foot, to all of the holy pilgrimage sites throughout the world – forever. He would live his life as a perpetual pilgrim, subsisting by begging for bread, and praying for the world. So he began a most unique mission! He traveled thousands of miles, sharing what little bread he begged with the homeless, sleeping out under the stars, and living a life of hardship and poverty. Every town he would enter, he would spend long hours in front of the Eucharist, before seeking out the company of the homeless to teach them about the Lord.

            God used this humble pilgrim in profound ways – he was known to multiply bread for the homeless and heal the sick, and God even gave him the grace of levitation (which means actually floating while praying – a few saints have had this remarkable gift!).

            At the end of his life he made Rome his permanent home, continuing to beg and minister to the homeless as a homeless man himself. St. Benedict Joseph Labre had a very unique call to holiness – and rather than blame God or grow envious of others for his lack of natural gifts, allowed God to use his poverty to make him a saint!

            My friends, envy is one of the deadly sins – it kills charity in the heart, and rots away our peace and joy. But with the antidotes of gratitude, accepting the love of God, and rejoicing in the path that God has planned for us, we can overcome envy to live a life of joy!