Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Wednesday of the 7th week in ordinary time, February 26, 2025

Delivered by Father Peter Tukan, SDB from Salesian Don Bosco Gerak in the Diocese of Labuan Bajo, Indoensia. Sirach 4: 11-19; Rs psalm 119: 165.168.171.172.174.175; Mark 9: 38-40FIGHT ENVY AND JEALOUSY Our meditation today has the theme: Fight Envy andJealousy. People often regard these two human weaknesses are similar or even complementary.But actually the two are clearly different. An envious person can be seen whenhe is hurt and angry because his fellow colleages are much smarter and havemany relationships, while he is not smart and always gets bad impressions bythe people around him. So envy is a human weakness that arises because there isa deficiency in oneself. Persons who are dominated by envy are always insecure,disturbed or hurt by the kindness, success or excellence of others.  Meanwhile, a jealous person experiences a different situationof human weakness. For example, Leah, a smart, polite and kind teenage girl.Everything positive about her makes her confident. Her parents are soaffectionate and supportive of her. She gets all the attention from herparents. But at the same time she also feels uncomfortable and worries, lestthe attention and affection of her parents be divided also to her cousin wholives with them in the family. Therefore Leah is jealous of her cousin.  So the difference between envy and jealousy is this:we are jealous of what is in others, whereas we are envious of what is in us.Both of them, if not properly managed or controlled, will turn into anger,hatred and dislike. They are all sinful. So the Lord Jesus says that we shouldnot be jealous because all goodness and mercy come from the Father. Everyone isblessed with everything enough for him or her to live, grow, develop and obtainsalvation. The important thing is that each of us remains grateful to theFather and strives to realize God's will that is in us. Today's Gospel provides a concrete example of howJesus dealt with the weaknessess of the apostles because of their envy andjealousy. They saw others who were not part of their group doing good andserving others. Jesus defended and supported the other parties, obviously causingthem jealous. They realized that the other persons turned out to be similar withthem or even better, therefore, their envy arose so strongly. They were evendesperate to prevent those people. How do we fight envy and jealousy, the book of Sirachteaches us to be wise. According to it, living wisely will have all the love ofGod. Living a grateful life is wisdom. Living according to each other's giftsis wisdom. Living righteously is wisdom.Let us pray. In the name of the Father ... O Lord, fill uswith gratitude and commitment to Your truth, so that we may resist the envy andjealousy within us. Hail Mary full of grace ... In the name of the Father ...