The Pope warns of the

Last updated: Thu 31 Mar 2022 PM

In his homily this Friday morning, Pope Francis warned against "the worm of jealousy", which leads us to misjudge others, to compete, to feed within ourselves a gossip that "kills the other", but which in reality has no consistency.

Relying on the first reading from the first Book of Samuel, the Pope recalls that King Saul's jealousy is aroused because of the victory song of the Jewish maidens after the victory over Goliath and the Philistines: "Saul killed a thousand enemies, David killed ten thousand". Thus was born "the agitation of jealousy", like "a worm that gnaws at you from within". Thus, "Saul goes out with the army to kill David". "Jealousies are criminal," comments Francis, "because they always seek to kill". And to those who say "yes, I am jealous of that, but I am not a murderer", the Supreme Pontiff replies: "That is true now. But if you continue, it can end badly", because, he reminds us, one can easily kill "with tongue, with slander".

The envious one does not see reality
And the Pope went on: jealousy grows by "talking to oneself", by interpreting things with one's key. By "talking to himself", the jealous person "is incapable of seeing reality", and only "a very strong event" can open his eyes. Thus, the fantasy nourished by jealousy led Saul to believe "that David was a murderer, an enemy". An attitude that touches us all," the Holy Father adds, "and calls on everyone to ask themselves why this or that person is unbearable to me. "Often we look for the why and we discover that these are our fantasies, fuelled by this chatter with ourselves".

God confronts Saul with his jealousy
Saul's salvation lies in the love of God; for though he took away the kingship from him because of his disobedience, he continues to love him. And so he "gives him the grace to confront his jealousy, which bursts like a soap bubble, because it had no substance. Francis recounts the biblical episode in which Saul enters "to relieve himself" in the cave where David and his men had hidden. His companions tell David to take advantage of this to kill the king, but he refuses: "I will never lay hands on the Lord's anointed one". We see, the Supreme Pontiff comments, "the nobility of David compared to the murderous jealousy of Saul". Thus, in silence, he cuts off only a piece of the king's mantle, "and takes it with him".

The history of the dialogue between David and Saul
David comes out of the cave and respectfully calls out to Saul, "O king, my lord!" even as he seeks to kill him. And he asks him, "Why do you listen to people who say, "David means you harm"?" And he shows him the hem of his cloak and says, "I could have killed you. But I spared you." This, the Pope comments, "bursts the soap bubble of Saul's jealousy", who recognizes David "as if he were a son and comes back to reality", saying: "You are more righteous than I am, for you have done me good and I have done you evil".

Let's protect our hearts from jealousy
"It is a grace when the jealous, the jealous, is confronted with a reality that bursts that soap bubble that is his vice of jealousy or envy," says the Pope, who invites us to look within ourselves, when "a person is unpleasant to us and we don't like him". And to ask ourselves: "What is there in me? Is there the worm of jealousy growing, because that person has something I don't have, or is there a hidden anger?". We must, and this is the advice of the Supreme Pontiff, "protect our heart from this illness, from this chatter with oneself, which makes this soap bubble grow, which certainly has no consistency, but which hurts so much". And even when someone comes to us "to talk about the other", we must make him understand that he often does not speak with serenity, but "with passion", and in this passion "there is the evil of envy and the evil of jealousy", which are the seeds of war.

The grace of a transparent and friendly heart
The Pope therefore invites us to be prudent in the face of this jealousy that leads to rivalry with the other, in the family itself, in the workplace or in the neighbourhood; "Let us ask the Lord to have a heart as transparent as David's. A transparent heart that seeks only justice and peace. A friendly heart, which does not want to kill anyone, because jealousy and envy kill".

Alessandro di Bussolo- Vatican City

Source: Vatican News