Over the past 20 years we have invented many new terms in English. Can I friend you? Did you see my tweet? Wow! I just had a great thought. I’m going to tweet it and maybe even blog about it. All of this, without mentioning LinkedIn, Tumblr, Instagram, Foursquare and Pinterest. Social media hope to bring us together. But, human nature kicks in, and, as social beings, we can even turn social media into something destructive and hurtful. Unfortunately for many, the social media have provided new ways for us to express our weaknesses.

But none of that is new. In the Gospel, as well as in the first reading, the disciples of Jesus and the disciples of Moses complain because others performed good deeds without belonging to the official group. They were not part of the club. How dare they do something good without having the proper license or credentials!

Well, as a matter of fact, these disciples were not so much concerned about being part of the right clique, as they were victims of envy. They were envious of the others who were able to perform wonders in the name of Jesus.
Envy is one of the seven capital sins. Do you remember them? Lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and the mother of all sin, pride! We forget them sometimes because they can so easily invade life and almost seem normal.

So, envy, a capital sin, as illustrated by the people in today’s readings, can make us feel unpleasant because jealousy or envy can eat away at us. In fact, St. Thomas tells us that envy is the only sin that does not give any pleasure. Envy is such a sin because it can lead us to commit harm to others. Even worse, when we are envious or jealous, we are accusing God of not giving us enough blessings rather than recognizing and appreciating the blessings that we do have.

Envy can destroy relationships, can cause wars, can make the envious person miserable, cause one person to destroy another. Sometimes envy can lead one to overextend himself and to financial disaster because we want to have what someone else has.

So, what is the cure? Certainly prayer, conversation with God, can play a big role in curing our jealousy. First, we need to admit that, at times, we suffer from jealousy; jealous because we do not appreciate what we do have; envious because we want to be number one; jealous because we sometimes see ourselves as superior to others.

We need to pray in gratitude for the blessings that we have received. However, that presupposes that we recognize the blessings in our lives. We can take our blessings for granted and do not seem them as blessings or worse, believe that we, not God, are responsible for them.

Likewise, a pathway to reduce envy is found with the virtue of humility. Humility forces us to recognize that we are not the center of attention, always be number one, nor do we have to impress others by what we have. Rather, we should be content to impress others by who we are.

Sometimes in our scripture readings we hear words of comfort, words of exhortation, and, like today, words of condemnation and rebuke. If the words of Jesus apply to you, then only you can make a difference.

May we be able to reverse our feelings of envy and jealousy into deeply centered love of God and of others and a recognition of the abundant blessings that God has given us.