The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1920-04-17
JEALOUSY: ONE OF THE. MEAN
EST OF SINS.

The meanest of sins is the most
secret-jealOusy. Yet secret though
it be, hidden SO that none may suspect
it's presence. it works terrible poison
in life The very secrecy itself helps
this along, for we are ashamed of so
ungenerous a feeling and have no de-
sire to take others into our confidence
about it.
Occasionally, indeed, our feelings
may be too much for us, and a broken
expression, snapped out in a moment
of provocation, may easily tell what
has long lain silent in our minds; the
sudden outbreak of war reveals the
unguessed secret thoughts of many
hearts. Still, the attempt to prevent
others suspecting us of SO mean a
sin drives the poison deeper into the
blood: it works veritable fever. Per-
haps if we would only talk, air our
grievances, say precisely what we feel,
the pent-up and restrained antagonism
would be swept away and the ami
mostly at least temporarily relieved.
But no, in silence we nurse our ha-
tired of another's success. We have
worked earlier, longer, more success
fully, but the other is chosen. We
have squandered our affection, done
everything in our power to ease and
help those whom we love intensely,
yet the other is chosen and we are
left.
They have had advantages denied
to us, yet in spite of it no allowance
is made for our more determined
efforts. They succeed and we are
failures, and such a judgment suffices
for the world. Or even at times the
very fact of their great deserts does
not mitigate, but rather increases, our
jealousy; and the knowledge that we
have failed, because of our own fault,
very often makes our hatred the more
unforgiving.
But it is also necessary to remem-
Der that the sin of jealousy is not the
mere desire for equal success with
another We are jealous when we
wish to be or do what others are or
do, and wish at the same time that
they themselves were deprived of
their accomplishment I cannot help
contrasting my own poverty or want
of decent livelihood with the luxury
and possession of better folk; nor
again, can l help wishing that this
gift of nature or grace were mine
their charm of gracefulness or physi-
cal strength or good looks.
Again, the man who is disconnected
with his lot, and, fired by ambition,
aims at achieving a higher position
for himself and his children, can
hardly be called a sinner; and when I
myself am SO stirred by others sue
cess as to venture into rivalry with
them and attempt to GUST them by
fair competition from their place of
supremacy, and to develop my own ar
tistic or scientific skill which l know
to be superior to theirs, am I in all
these ways following after sin? Ger
tainly not.
In the case of one who attempts by
fair competition to drive out a rival,
he is simply putting to use the powers
God has given him. But in this the
whole trouble is the motive of my &C
ton. If it be simply that 1 wish to
have what they have, this is not sin
full, nor is it jealousy in the ordinary
meaning of the word; but if l wish
deliberately to deprive them of what
they have already got, and am pleased
at the thought of contrasting my pos
session with their loss, then that is
indeed jealousy. The sin, therefore,
consists in the secret dislike of other
| peoples enjoying what I would wish
to be exclusively my own.
Jealousy is not merely sin; it is
| also a blunder. Just as pride is fool
1sh since it puffs up a man with self
glorification over deeds that are none
| OF his own, SO jealousy in much the
same spirit makes us greedy of the
works, not of man, but of God When
| am tempted to think much of my
self because of some wonderful thing
l have done, l answer myself by say
| ing that after all I was but an instru-
ment in the hands of God; to Him
| alone is due the glory of the thing.
In the same fashion, when | am jeal-
Gus OF another's achievement let me
remember that they, no less than I,
| owe their success to God. The foolish
ness, therefore, of jealousy should
very easily move me.
-PHD n .yoyvoff n