Envy

Why does everyone else’s life look better than mine?

The Catechism does not weigh whose life is better. It looks at the one comparing, and names the sadness: envy is “the sadness at the sight of another's goods and the immoderate desire to acquire them for oneself, even unjustly”, and it is one of the capital sins. CCC 2539 As for where it comes from, “envy often comes from pride”. CCC 2540

Wanting a good life is not the fault; being saddened by someone else’s is. Envy “represents a form of sadness and therefore a refusal of charity”. CCC 2540 The Catechism lists what grows out of it: “hatred, detraction, calumny, joy caused by the misfortune of a neighbor, and displeasure caused by his prosperity”. When it goes as far as wishing a neighbour grave harm it is a mortal sin. CCC 2539 The tenth commandment asks that it “be banished from the human heart”, and the Catechism tells it through Nathan’s story of the rich man who, for all his flocks, envied a poor man his one ewe lamb and took it. CCC 2538

The remedy is given as things to do. The baptized person is to struggle against envy “by exercising good will”, and, since it comes from pride, to “train himself to live in humility”. The Catechism quotes John Chrysostom: “Would you like to see God glorified by you? Then rejoice in your brother's progress and you will immediately give glory to God.” CCC 2540

Peter Paul Rubens, Cain Slaying Abel, c. 1608–1609. Courtauld Gallery, London.

Gn 4:8

2538

The tenth commandment requires that envy be banished from the human heart. When the prophet Nathan wanted to spur King David to repentance, he told him the story about the poor man who had only one ewe lamb that he treated like his own daughter and the rich man who, despite the great number of his flocks, envied the poor man and ended by stealing his lamb. Cf. 2 Sam 12:14. Envy can lead to the worst crimes. Cf. Gen 4:3-7; 1 Kings 21:1-29. "Through the devil's envy death entered the world": Wis 2:24.

We fight one another, and envy arms us against one another.... If everyone strives to unsettle the Body of Christ, where shall we end up? We are engaged in making Christ's Body a corpse.... We declare ourselves members of one and the same organism, yet we devour one another like beasts. St. John Chrysostom, Hom. in 2 Cor. 27, 3-4 PG — Patrologia Graeca (Migne).

2539

Envy is a capital sin. It refers to the sadness at the sight of another's goods and the immoderate desire to acquire them for oneself, even unjustly. When it wishes grave harm to a neighbor it is a mortal sin:

St. Augustine saw envy as "the diabolical sin." Cf. St. Augustine, De catechizandis rudibus 4, 8 PL — Patrologia Latina (Migne). "From envy are born hatred, detraction, calumny, joy caused by the misfortune of a neighbor, and displeasure caused by his prosperity." St. Gregory the Great Moralia in Job 31, 45: PL — Patrologia Latina (Migne).

2540

Envy represents a form of sadness and therefore a refusal of charity; the baptized person should struggle against it by exercising good will. Envy often comes from pride; the baptized person should train himself to live in humility:

Would you like to see God glorified by you? Then rejoice in your brother's progress and you will immediately give glory to God. Because his servant could conquer envy by rejoicing in the merits of others, God will be praised. St. John Chrysostom, Hom. in Rom. 71, 5: PG — Patrologia Graeca (Migne).

From the Catechism