Sixteenth Sermon: On the Malice of Envy, body (paras 1646–1700)

Sic et Pater meus cœlestis faciet vobis, si non remiseritis unusquisque fratri suo de cordibus vestris.—Matth. xviii. 35.

"So also shall my heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not every one his brother from your hearts."

Introduction.

If he is to be delivered over to the torturers, who does not forgive from his heart the debt his neighbor owes him, what will become of him who looks with envious eyes and bitterness of heart on the prosperity of him who owes him nothing, and who never injured him; that is, one who grudges another's happiness? This is a diabolical vice, my dear brethren, and unfortunately it is too common. I have already shown that it contradicts one's love for one's self, since the envious man torments himself without gaining anything thereby, and therefore is guilty of the greatest folly. I now say— Plan of Discourse.

Of all vices, envy is the most malicious in combating the love of one's neighbor; from which the malice of this sin may be inferred; such is the whole subject of to-day's sermon, let us then love each other sincerely, so as to avoid all envy. Such shall be our conclusion.

With Thy grace, O God of love, which we beg of Thee through the intercession of Mary and our holy guardian angels.

"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself;" such is the law of charity which God has obliged all men to observe, and much more all Christians, under pain of eternal damnation. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, that is, you must wish him well as you would yourself; you must try to do him good, as you would to yourself; you must rejoice at his good fortune, as if it were your own; you must sympathise with his misfortunes, as if you suffered them; and, as St. Paul says, this love should work such a union amongst us, as if we had but one heart and one soul, so that we wish and desire for every one, no matter who it is, just what we should wish and desire for ourselves.

"Loving one another with the charity of brotherhood, with honor from preventing one another;" "Rejoice with them that rejoice, weep with them that weep, being of one mind one towards another; to no man rendering evil for evil; having peace with all men." Such is the law of charity that Jesus Christ, Our Saviour, so often and so emphatically preached to His disciples, and in their person, to us all. "These things I command you that you love one another;" "this is my commandment that you love one another;" it is the commandment that I attach most importance to; "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another, as I have loved you." This is the charity which he wishes us to extend even to our worst enemy, who hates, persecutes and tries to injure us; "But I say to you: Love your enemies." This is the love which is to characterise His Apostles, His followers, and all true Christians. "By this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one for another." It is that love alone which shows that we are children of our heavenly Father. In the observance of this charity He has placed the fulfilment of the whole law. This is the charity which St. John in his old age preached every day to his disciples. "My little children, love one another, for such is the command of the Lord, and if you keep it, you will have done enough." "He that loveth not, abideth in death." "If any man say I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar."

From this, my dear brethren, you can infer the wickedness of the envious man. There is nothing in that sacred precept of charity which is imposed on us so solemnly by Jesus Christ and His Apostles, that he does not violate in every way, and at once by the sole sin of envy. Instead of wishing well to his neighbor, he wishes him ill; instead of rejoicing at the prosperity that his neighbor actually has, and wishing him still more, he grudges him the possession of good things and wishes him evil; instead of rejoicing at his happiness and sympathizing with his misfortunes, he does the very opposite, by being troubled at his success, and glad of his failures; instead of doing good to him and warding off harm from him, as far as possible, his only desire is to deprive him of the good that he has, and to do him what harm he can. He thus completely perverts the Apostle's precept, "Rejoice with them that rejoice," for, as St. Jerome remarks, he weeps with them that rejoice, and rejoices with them that weep. His happiness consists in the misfortunes of others, his distress in their well-being. How unjust, how fearfully wicked to be thus disposed towards one who never did him any harm, and whose only fault is, that he has received more understanding, or riches, or happiness, or honor from God!

I have said that the law of charity is violated in the most outrageous manner by envy; for in the first place, there is no vice which offers such determined opposition to charity. Avarice, for instance, although it occasions many a grievous sin against charity, by theft and injustice, yet does not cause the thief to be troubled at another's prosperity; in fact, he rather rejoices at it, because he will have more opportunity of taking something worth while. Nor does he commit a theft merely to injure his neighbor, but to benefit himself, and if it were possible for him to do so, he would steal without doing harm to any one. Impurity gives rise to grievous injustice and violation of charity, by causing the sin of adultery to be committed; still, he who commits that sin, seeks nothing but the gratification of his unbridled desires; he is not troubled, but rather glad if the person whom he has wronged, prospers in other matters. Hatred and anger are certainly directly opposed to charity, and lead to cursing, abusing, and assaulting the object of one's hatred;

still the only idea of the angry man is to have satisfaction for the injury that he imagines he has suffered, and thus to appease his resentment. Envy alone is so odious and so wicked, that it makes a man grieve at his neighbor's good fortune and be troubled at it, without gaining, or seeking anything thereby. Again, nearly all the offences against charity occasioned by the other vices, accompany envy. Whatever harm a man is inclined to do his neighbor through injustice, anger, hatred, or vindictiveness, the envious man attempts to do without any reason, and therefore with all the greater malice. When Cain became jealous of his brother Abel, he was not merely grieved that God had accepted the sacrifice of the latter, but he could not even bear the sight of him, through hatred and anger, and he went about thinking how he could be revenged; nor did he rest until he had killed his brother. How wicked and cruel the sons of Jacob were to their innocent brother Joseph. "And his brethren," says the Holy Scripture, "seeing that he was loved by his father more than all his sons, hated him and could not speak peaceably to him." They spoke sarcastically to him, whenever they met him; they took counsel with each other as to how they could best take revenge on him, and at last they resolved on the inhuman crime of fratricide. "And when they saw him afar off, before he came nigh to them, they thought to kill him. And said one to another: Behold the dreamer cometh; come, let us kill him, and cast him into some old pit, and we will say: Some evil beast hath devoured him." In fact they did throw him into a deep pit, with the intention of allowing him to die of hunger, but they afterwards changed their minds, and sold him for a few pieces of money as a slave to strangers. All these grievous sins against charity arose from envy alone. And what was the reason of that? What harm had Joseph done them? None; his only fault was that he was his father's favorite, and they were afraid from some dreams he had, that he would one day rule over them; for they said, after having resolved on his death: "It shall appear what his dreams avail him." But what injury did the father's affection, or the dreams of Joseph do them? The free will of the latter had nothing to do with either. Did any one ever see a man put upon his trial for a dream? Envy is the only unjust and cruel judge that can condemn an innocent person.

How long and how unrelentingly Saul persecuted David, although he often acknowledged that David was innocent of any attempt to injure him! How often did he not, in his madness, try to pierce him through with a spear! With what cruel cunning did he not promise to give him his daughter in marriage, if he succeeded in slaying a hundred Philistines! His only object in making that promise, was that David might be overwhelmed by the number of his foes, and be killed. He followed him with his whole army, from place to place, and would certainly have put an end to him, if God had not interposed, and prevented that wicked intention from being carried out. What was the occasion of all this hatred? Nothing but jealousy and envy at the praises that were given by the women to David, after he had overcome Goliath. Why did Joab kill Amasa so treacherously? Through envy alone. David had intended to depose Joab, for having slain Absalom and Abner against his orders, and to make Amasa general in his stead; Joab knew of this, and conceived such a violent hatred against Amasa, that he slew him treacherously; "And Joab said to Amasa: God save thee my brother. And he took Amasa by the chin with his right hand to kiss him. But Amasa did not take notice of the sword which Joab had, and he struck him in the side, and shed out his bowels to the ground . . . and he died." The gibbet that Aman had erected, was intended for no one but Mardochai, whom he wished to see hanging thereon in his death-throes. What cruelty, envy was the occasion of, in this instance, and solely because Mardochai, who refused to bend the knee before the envious Aman, was held in esteem in the court of King Assuerus! What was it that drove the high-priests, Scribes and Pharisees to commit the crime of deicide, and to rage so ruthlessly against the Son of God, that they were not satisfied until they saw Him dying on the shameful cross? It was nothing but envy, as Pilate himself confessed, when he tried to have Jesus set free; "For he knew that for envy they had delivered Him."

How many murders would we not see now a-days, if all envious people could glut their rage with impunity! And meanwhile, what a number of other sins and violations of charity are committed every day, through envy alone, by persons of all classes! The envious man is ready to sin by thoughts of anger, hatred, suspicion, and rash judgment; he interprets in an evil sense all that his neighbor does; he wounds charity by his outward behavior, by his black looks, by his biting words; he has not a peaceful word for any one; he is always ready to contradict, to abuse and vilify the object of his envy when present, to calumniate and detract him when absent. Charity is injured by wicked deeds; all kinds of tricks and devices are resorted to in the hope of lessening another's dignity, or depriving him of his employment, or ruining him in his business or trade, and doing him all possible harm. Alas, says St. Peter Chrysologus, considering this, "where shall there be an end of sin, when the prosperity of another and his happiness become the envious man's punishment and torment?" St. John Chrysostom sums up in a few words all that can be said about envy: "Envy is the mother of all evils."

The cruelties that this venomous mother gives rise to, surpass those of the most savage beasts. How so? Hear what occurred to Daniel: he was accused of having transgressed the king's command, and the latter was so influenced by the persistent misrepresentations of his courtiers, that at last he ordered Daniel to be thrown into the lions' den. When this order was carried out, the den was closed with a large stone on which the king set his own seal and also the seals of his nobles. Why? "That nothing should be done against Daniel." Now I ask, what was the king afraid of? Why did he think that any one could have hurt Daniel, who was in the midst of the lions? Certainly the king's seal could not protect Daniel from the fury of those animals; so that the reason of the precaution must have been to prevent any one from entering the den. Did the king then fear that the Prophet was in greater danger from men, than from the lions? And, besides, had he any reason for imagining that any one would dare to venture down amongst the hungry beasts, for the purpose of injuring him? There is no doubt of it, my dear brethren. Darius knew well that Daniel had been accused through sheer envy, and he thought therefore, that his innocence would be safer amongst the savage lions, than amongst his treacherous and wily accusers, who certainly would not have hesitated to venture their lives for the sake of putting him out of the way; so bitter was their envy. Therefore the king put his own seal on the mouth of the den, "that nothing should be done against Daniel."

The world is still shocked at the inhumanity of Tullia, the daughter of Tullius Sextus, king of Rome. This infamous woman was once going at full gallop through the streets in her chariot, when her charioteer suddenly came to a full stop. What is the matter? she asked, why do you not go on? Madam, said he, I cannot, there is a dead body in the way, and as I see now, it is that of your father. No matter said she, go on, can you not drive over it? Even if it is my father's body, the street is still free to me. What heartlessness! To save herself the trouble of making a slight detour, she allowed her royal father's body to be trampled under her horses' hoofs! There, my dear brethren, you have an example of the cruelty that envy occasions; it triumphs, so to speak, over the dead body of a neighbor, nay, of a brother or a sister; it rejoices at another's moral death, at his disgrace, or loss of employment, or poverty;

it exults when calumny injures the fair fame of another, it takes a malignant pleasure in the persecutions, humiliations, oppression, misery and tears, nay, even in the untimely deaths of those whom it hates. It triumphs over their dead bodies, and thinks nothing of all they had to suffer; the more they have to suffer, the better pleased is the envious man, whose only desire is to have them out of his way.

Metaphrastes, in the life of St. Joannitius, describes a fearful conflagration which reduced to ashes all the trees and gardens that were situated on a certain hill; and this conflagration was not the result of accident, but of envy. The holy Abbot Joannitius lived on this hill, and as he could not long conceal his great learning and virtue and wonderful miracles, crowds of people flocked to him from all parts. Another monk, named Epiphanius, could not bear to see this, as very few came to him;

and the more the reputation of the holy Abbot increased, the greater grew the envy of Epiphanius, until at last he set fire one night to the forest on the hill, on which Joannitius lived, with no other intention than that the latter should perish in the flames. But he was disappointed, for the holy abbot escaped from the fire, and went out to meet his enemy, with all humility, intending to convert him. Why did you regard me as an enemy, he asked. The envious man, instead of answering, attempted to run him through with a spear, but God again saved His servant from being hurt. In spite of all this, Epiphanius did not cease his machinations against him, until a sudden death put a stop to them. A still more surprising consequence of envy is that it makes a man deliberately incur any misfortune, as long as he can injure his rival. James Cardinal of Vitry relates that a certain king once gave permission to an envious man and to a miser, to make any request they wished of him, on the sole condition that the last who put forward his request should receive double. The two hesitated, each one wishing to be the last, in order to get more. At last the king told the envious man to begin; and what request do you think he made, my dear brethren? Envy did not permit him to ask for anything good lest the other should receive a greater good, and so he asked the king to have one of his eyes put out, so that the other man might lose both his eyes. Could anything more cruel be imagined?

What a terrible sin envy is. It is, as St. Augustine says, a sin unto death; not merely because it causes the death of the soul like all mortal sins, but because it is a sin that deserves more than all others to be refused forgiveness and to be punished eternally in hell, for that is the proper dwelling place of envy, which is also one of the torments of the damned. It is a sin against the Holy Ghost, who is a Spirit of love, and beneficence, who desires to bestow His gifts and graces on all men, a generosity which the envious man cannot bear, because it pains him to see others receiving benefits from God. "It is a vice of the devil," says St. Augustine; "for one cannot accuse the devil of adultery or theft, but of envying man." St. John Chrysostom says that "envy is a poisonous evil which turns man into a devil and a most cruel devil; for the devil carried out all his plans in paradise, and carried them out to perfection; he rejoiced therefore, when he heard the words: "Dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return."