Envious Hearts

Deacon Tom writes

“Envious Hearts”

Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Both Moses and St. Luke give us some insight about a serious sin that we all experience from time to time. It is the sin of envy. We hear today how Moses responds to a complaint brought to him by two of his tribesmen.  What bothered them was that several others of their group were prophesying even though they had not been there when they received the “spirit. Moses sensed a spirit of envy or jealousy was at work with those who lodged the complaint. Instead of chastising the two who complained he, in turn, complained to them saying, “Would that all the people of the LORD were prophets! Would that the LORD might bestow his spirit on them all!"

In a similar way, the Apostles see that someone not in their group is casting out demons and report that to Jesus.  Jesus wisely cautions his disciples “Do not prevent him.” Jesus knows that any good work done in His name will produce good fruit.

Very often our fragile human nature shows itself in the ugliest of ways. In these two incidents from Sacred Scripture we notice how one group of individuals is offended because others appear to have gotten something that they did not deserve:  in the first reading the Spirit came to rest on the men who left camp; in the gospel a stranger was casting out demons without being an Apostle. Envy is at work in both these events. Each time one group feels that they have been cheated, perhaps, like someone else was getting something they should not have.

Our sequential, linear minds constantly seek to put God in a box. We want to control God. We want Him to be predictable and to be fair; fair, that is, as we perceive fair to be. But God is above all our thinking and even above our wildest imagination. God’s ways are simply beyond us and we need to grow into that realization.

God is at work all around us, in all faiths, in all peoples, in all circumstances. God’s Spirit works in the hearts of the faithful everywhere. God is the reality through which we live, and move, and have our being. It is not jealousy that should fill our hearts, but rather a deep sense of awe at the wonders God is unfolding minute-by-minute, day-by-day all around us. Even in those who look, act, believe, and worship differently than we do.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

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