{"id":133,"date":"2010-03-01T09:02:54","date_gmt":"2010-03-01T14:02:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=133"},"modified":"2010-03-01T09:02:54","modified_gmt":"2010-03-01T14:02:54","slug":"greed-and-envy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/greed-and-envy\/","title":{"rendered":"Greed and Envy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continuing our look at the Seven Deadly Sins, I turn to greed <\/em>and envy<\/em>.\u00a0 I put these two together\u00a0because they both seek to have things we do not have.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Greed<\/em> is to seek what we do not have.\u00a0 It is not directed towards any person.\u00a0 It is excessive<\/em> desire to have material things or power.\u00a0 I say “excessive” because it is natural to want something like to have a nice home and a nice car.\u00a0 Likewise, power itself is not bad if the power is used for the good of others.\u00a0 Our human nature leads us to need someone to be in charge.\u00a0 Power becomes a problem when a person uses their power for their own gain, material or in name (pride).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Material things are (generally) not inherently bad.\u00a0 There is nothing wrong with seeking the things we need.\u00a0 For example, we all need a place to live.\u00a0 But when the desire moves from a simple home to a big “fancy” mansion and <\/em>that desire controls all our actions we commit\u00a0the sin of greed.\u00a0 Where do your priorities lie?\u00a0 Are you more concerned about spending your time with your family or do you spend all your time at work to “get more”?\u00a0 Remember we are not talking about trying to make enough money to have basic food, water, and shelter.<\/p>\n

What about envy”\u00a0 While greed is directed at ‘things’ or ‘power’ envy is directed at an individual person or a group of people.\u00a0 To have envy is to desire what someone else has<\/em>.\u00a0 It could be have their home or their car or another ‘thing’.\u00a0 Envy can also be to want to have the good family or life they have.\u00a0 We should all want to have a good family or good life.\u00a0 The problem is when that dictates our actions or clouds our judgment<\/em>.\u00a0 One might, in\u00a0a passing thought or initial reaction, say I would like to have that car that my friend just got.\u00a0 The passing thought is not so much the problem\u00a0 but again when we dwell on it.\u00a0 For example, do you think about it every time you see the person?\u00a0 Do you bring it up in conversation or do you think about it another time?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sometimes envy can blind us to the real situation.\u00a0 For example, a person whose marriage has failed and is going through divorce might start to think that a friend has “that perfect marriage” but that may not be the real situation.\u00a0 Their friend might have the same problem.<\/p>\n

Envy violates the Ninth<\/a> and Tenth<\/a> Commandment to covet<\/em> what is not yours.\u00a0 Greed may violate the Seventh<\/a> Commandment is “You shall not steal.”\u00a0 Greed may not seem like stealing.\u00a0but if we have more than we need, it could result in someone else not having what they need.\u00a0 In that case, we have taken from them (steal) what they need.<\/p>\n

The Church believes in the right to private property but it also believes in the <\/a>Universal Destination of Goods<\/a>; <\/em>meaning that God has given all that we have not just for our own good but for the good of all.\u00a0 We have a right to what we need.\u00a0 Beyond our need we are called to share so that all may have what they need.\u00a0 There is nothing wrong with having a some fun or vacation.\u00a0 But the question is always is it the focus of our life or just something we do to relax.<\/p>\n

Are your actions governed by love<\/em> as Jesus calls us to love or by greed<\/em> or envy<\/em>?\u00a0 Remember, Jesus tells us the greatest commandment is to love God and the second is to love our neighbor.<\/p>\n

Peace,<\/p>\n

Fr. Jeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continuing our look at the Seven Deadly Sins, I turn to greed and envy.\u00a0 I put these two together\u00a0because they both seek to have things we do not have.\u00a0 Greed is to seek what we do not have.\u00a0 It is not directed towards any person.\u00a0 It is excessive desire to have material things or power.\u00a0 …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Greed and Envy’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-29","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133\/revisions\/134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}