Weekly HOMILY for September 18, 2011: Dealing with Envy

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A
Terranuova Hermitage
September 18, 2011

Dealing with Envy
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


THE PARABLE

There is a stinging line in today’s Gospel parable.

The owner of a vineyard hires workers to pick his grapes. He goes to the center of town where people who want to work hang out, and he hires some workers around 6 o’clock in the morning.

Then the owner goes back there at 9:00am, at noontime, at 3:00pm and even at 5:00pm, and each time he hires more workers. He has a lot of grapes that are ripe and need to be picked that day.

Now it’s starting to get dark. The workday is over and it’s time to pay the workers.

In those days, they don’t pay every two weeks or once a month. And they don’t use direct, electronic deposit into your checking account.

They pay in cash at the end of each day. And here comes the trouble.

First, the vineyard owner pays in reverse order – those hired last, first, and those hired first, last. And on top of that, he pays them all the same amount – the amount he had agreed to pay those hired at 6am.

Well, those workers really get upset with the owner. And it is to them that the owner speaks this stinging question: “Are you envious because I am generous?”


ENVY

What’s important to note here is that if these workers who were hired earlier would not know what the later hires get paid, there would be no problem.

But they do know and that is why they are upset. They are envious of the other workers.

They compare themselves and the amount of their work and their pay with the others and they are really bent out of shape. Now, Jesus is not teaching anything here about management practices or wage and salary scales.

That’s not the point. He is teaching an important personal lesson to each one of us.

He is teaching that we can be envious. We can feel discontented and resentful when we compare ourselves and what we have with others.

This is the core of envy – comparing. Comparing ourselves with others is the seedbed of envy.


COMPARE AND DESPAIR

One of our Catholic spiritual writers today talks about envy.

He gives this simple, pointed saying: “Compare and despair.” “Compare and despair.”

Humanly speaking, we are easily tempted to compare our life and lifestyle with others. The problem is that when we do this, we can so easily feel down about ourselves and resentful of others.

“Compare and despair.” This is envy.

When we compare, we often minimize our own gifts and maximize the gifts of others. We easily minimize or overlook our academic, athletic, musical, or leadership ability.

We easily maximize or overstate the same gifts in others. “Compare and despair” – it’s the root of envy.

And when we compare, we often maximize our problems and minimize those of others. We maximize or overstate the struggles in our family or our financial challenges and on and on it goes.

We easily minimize or overlook the very same realities in others. “Compare and despair” – it’s the root of envy.


AVOIDING ENVY

So, how do we avoid envy? How do we avoid “comparing and despairing”? What does Jesus want us to do?

I see three important practices.

First, stay glued to the Gospels. These are to be the core of our personal and spiritual formation.

The Gospels consistently show that God loves each one of us equally and personally. The vineyard owner in today’s parable is conveying this wonderful truth in the way he pays all the workers.

Second, in a good way, we need to keep focused on ourselves. Each day we need to look at what we positively have – this day of life, family members, a friend, our computer skill, or sense of humor, the basics of food and shelter that we easily take for granted.

It is so easy to overlook who we are and what we have. It is easy to miss God’s gifts because everything is, in truth, a gift from God.

And third, each day we need to thank God. We need to thank God for one thing, and something specific.

This positive gratitude to God will leave little room for the negative envy of others. In a nutshell, be thankful every day.


CONCLUSION

So, a potentially stinging question from a vineyard owner.

“Are you envious because I am generous?” A simple question put to us with a powerful lesson.