No aurás enveja dels bens de ton proysme
The Folly of Envy
Envy is a rejection of God's sovereign will and a misunderstanding of the true nature of temporal goods.
Do you know, son, why God, who is the fullness of all goods, has commanded that no one envy his neighbor's goods? So that a person may hope in God that he will give them goods like those he has given your neighbor.1 Son, don't envy your neighbor's goods, for God has given them to him and wants him to have them; for if God had wanted, he could have given you those very same goods.✦ So, if you desire what God has not chosen to give you, you are setting your will against the will of God.2 Son, don't envy other people's goods; for if you had them, you don't know whether you'd have even an hour left to possess them. If the temporal goods that are in this world were yours, they still could not satisfy the desire of your soul.3 Son, the goods of this world aren't desirable for their own sake; rather, they are meant for serving God. So if you're envious of your neighbor's goods, your desire is to serve yourself against the will of God.4
The Perils of Possession
Worldly goods are fleeting and burdensome, and the example of Christ's poverty serves as a model for detachment.
Son, don't envy your neighbor's possessions, for he has need of them.✦ You see that those possessions have a flaw: they are perishable and are held only with pain, toil, and fear.5 Through envy the demons fell from heaven, who were envious of the glory of God; so if you, son, want to rise into the glory from which the demons were cast out, you'll have to rise by what is contrary to envy. The poverty that our Lord Jesus Christ, our Lady Saint Mary, and the Apostles experienced in this world—a poverty of temporal goods—preaches to you and warns you not to envy the goods of this world. If our Lord Jesus Christ had wanted them, he could have possessed many, and he could have given many to our Lady Saint Mary, whom he loved so much, and to the apostles and the other saints who endured so much suffering in this world for love of him. Son, the greater your riches become, the more heavily you'll be charged if you don't do the good you could, and the more you'll be held to blame and bound to hear the judgment of our Lord God Jesus Christ.
The Destructive Nature of Envy
Envy is a spiritual poison that blinds one to their own duties and leads to a host of moral failings and despair.
If you aren't doing as much good as you could with what you have, why are you envious of what you don't have? And why does envy make you love your neighbor's treasure more, when that treasure isn't as much like you as your neighbor is?✦6 Consider, my son, the great failings that envious people commit; for envy makes a person greedy, false, a liar, a traitor, and deceitful. Envy leads people to speak ill of others falsely, and it makes a person despair of the mercy of our Lord God Jesus Christ.7
Read the original Latin
Saps, fill, per que Deus, qui es compliment de tots bens, ha fet manament que no age hom enveja dels bens de son proysme? per so que bom age esperansa en Deu que do a bom semblants bens daquells que ha donats a ton proysme.
Fill, no envegs los bens de ton proysme, car Deus los li ha donats e vol que los age; car si Deus se volgués, aquells bens meteys te pogra aver donats. On, si tu vols aver so que Deus no ta volgut donar, dones tu fas contrari lo teu voler a la volentat de Deu.
No ages, fill, enveja dels altres bens; car sils avies, no saps si auríes una hora de temps a posseyr aquells. Sils bens temporals qui son en est mon eren teus, no porien donar compliment en lo desig de ta anima.
Fill, los bens daquest mon no son desirables per ells meteys; ans son per servir Deu. On si tu est envejós dels bens de ton proysme, lo teu desirer es en servir tu meteix contra la volentat de Deu.
No envegs, fill, los bens de ton proysme, car ell los ha mester. En aquells bens que tu veus, es defalliment, en so que son corrumpables e son posseyts ab dolor e treball e temor.
Per enveja caygueren los demonis del cel, qui foren envejosos de la gloria de Deu; on si tu, fill, ames pujar en la gloria don los demonis foren gitats, per so qui es contraria cosa a enveja te covendrá a pujar.
La pobretat que nostro Senyor Jhesu Christ e nostra dona Sancta María e los Apóstols agren en aquest mon, daquests bens temporals, te preyca e tamonesta que tu no síes envejós dels bens daquest mon; car si nostro Senyor Jhesu Christ ne volgués, molts ne pogra possehir e molts ne pogra donar a madona Sancta María, que tant amá, e a los apóstols e als altres Sants qui tanta de pena sostengueren en aquest mon per la sua amor.
Aytant com tes riqueses serán, fill, majors, aytant serás pus encarregat si no fas lo be que pories, e aytant ne serás encolpat e obligat a oyr la sentencia de nostro Senyor Deu Jhesu Christ.
Si dels bens que tu has no fas tant de be com puríes, ¿per que est envejós dels bens que no has, ne per que enveja te fa més amar lo tresor de ton proysme, qui no es a tu tant semblant, com es ton proysme?
Considera, fill, los grans falliments que fan los homens envejosos; car enveja fa hom esser avar, fals, mentider, trahidor e enganable; e enveja fa dir mal als homens falsament, e enveja fa hom desesperar de la misericordia de nostro Senyor Deu Jhesu Christ.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Exod.20.17;Deut.5.21 — You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. Deut.5.21 — You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
- ↩Exod.20.17;Deut.5.21 — You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. Deut.5.21 — You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
- ↩Exod.20.17;Deut.5.21 — You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. Deut.5.21 — You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Notes
- 1 ↩Source reads 'bom' twice where parallel medieval Catalan usage in s1 has 'hom' ('one' / 'a person'). Translated on that most plausible reading.
- 2 ↩Old Catalan 'On' is read as consecutive/illative 'so/therefore,' not as a locative; 'dones' is read as 'doncs' ('then').
- 3 ↩Medieval Catalan 'donar compliment en lo desig' means to give fulfillment/satisfaction to desire; rendered as 'satisfy' rather than literal 'give completion'.
- 4 ↩Medieval Catalan On often functions as an illative (so/therefore), like Latin unde; rendered as So rather than Where.
- 5 ↩defalliment rendered as 'failing' (deficiency/defect); corrumpables as 'perishable' rather than strictly 'corruptible'.
- 6 ↩Catalan «semblant» is rendered as «like you»: the treasure is not a fellow creature akin to you the way your neighbor is. The relative «qui» is taken with «lo tresor» (the treasure), not with «proysme».
- 7 ↩Old Catalan enganable can mean actively deceitful/fraudulent or passively easy to deceive; rendered as 'deceitful' to match the list of active vices (greedy, false, liar, traitor).
Doctrine for Children — Opening companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit