Daily Catholic Lectio. Thu, 18 Jan 2024. Jealousy

Daily Catholic Lectio

Thu, 18 January 2024

Thursday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

1 Samuel 18:6-9, 19:1-7. Mark 3:7-12

Jealousy

Things don’t turn out well for Saul. The evils befall him in a domino effect. David encountered Goliath on the battlefield on behalf of Saul and killed him. Saul, instead of owning David’s victory, is tossed by jealousy.

The singing women, in a tone of exaggeration, sing, ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.’ Saul could have acknowledged the words as exaggerations and moved. He seems to be a person with low self-esteem and a lack of self-belief. He begins to overthink.

As a result, he develops jealousy; he begins to be jealous about David.

Saint Augustine, in his Confessions, writes about the development and growth of jealousy: comparison, expectation, disappointment, jealousy, anger, doubt, fear, and hatred.

Saul, along with the singing women, compares his victory with that of David; he expects that women would praise him highly; since they don’t praise him highly, he is disappointed; jealousy is conceived. It begins to manifest itself in anger; he doubts that his crown might be removed; he is afraid of losing his throne. And he chooses to eliminate David by showing him hatred.

How does jealousy affect Saul?

(a) His vision becomes narrow.

Since jealousy creates fear in us, we tend to exaggerate the victory or glory of other people. Our vision gets narrow. Saul exaggerates and sees that his throne is removed. He forgets that David is his own subordinate.

(b) Hatred that strives to eliminate.

Saul, through his jealousy, gives him a permanent place in his heart. Saul wishes to eliminate David.

(c) His level goes so low that he is advised by his own son.

When other people realise that we suffer from jealousy, either they play games to aggravate it or they give us counsel. Even our inferiors take advantage of us and begin to advise.

How do we get rid of jealousy?

(a) We must know how to convert envy into inspiration. Suppose my friend gets more visibility on social media; instead of developing jealousy, I must take his victory as my inspiration.

(b) We must develop an abundance mindset. The universe has a lot to offer everyone. When someone gets something prestigious and precious, it does not mean that the universe will deny it to me. The universe has it in abundance. When we develop a scarcity mindset, we become scared and anxious.

Saint Thomas Aquinas talks about two directions of jealousy: one direction is that I am jealous about someone, and the other is that I evoke jealousy in others – they become jealous of me. He says that we must not only overcome jealousy but also avert instances when others could become jealous of us by celebrating our victories privately and not attaching our identity to external fame and public opinion.

The gospel reading of the day brings before the narration of Jesus’ victory in mission. Jesus is successful as an authoritative preacher and as a miracle worker. He gains fame and popularity. But he is very careful to evade people’s attention. He keeps his victory to himself. He admonishes the demons who strive to reveal his identity as ‘son of God.’

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Jealousy hinders communion in the church and society. It makes us develop fears and prejudices. We downplay others’ victories by attributing them to luck or fate. Jealousy has its existence only virtually, in one’s mind, as a thought. It has no external existence. (Jubilee A.D. 2025, bite 11).

Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi

Archdiocese of Madurai

Missionary of Mercy