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Lent IV Wednesday – Proverbs 12:23 – 13:9
23 An understanding man is a throne of wisdom; but the heart of fools shall meet with curses. 24 The hand of chosen men shall easily obtain rule; but the deceitful shall be for a prey. 25 A troubling word will disturb a righteous man’s heart, while a kindly statement will bring him joy. 26 A just arbitrator shall be his own friend; but mischief shall pursue sinners; and the way of ungodly men shall lead them astray. 27 A deceitful man shall catch no game; but a blameless man is a precious possession. 28 In the ways of righteousness is life; but the ways of those that remember injuries lead to death. 13:1 A wise son is obedient to his father: but a disobedient son will be destroyed. 2 A good man shall eat of the fruits of righteousness: but the lives of transgressors shall perish before their time. 3 He that keeps his own mouth keeps his own life: but he that is hasty with his lips shall bring terror upon himself. 4 Every slothful man desires, but the hands of the active are diligent. 5 A righteous man hates an unjust word: but an ungodly man is ashamed, and will have no confidence. 6 7 There are some who, having nothing, enrich themselves: and there are some who bring themselves down in the midst of much wealth. 8 A man’s own wealth is the ransom of his life: but the poor endures not threatening. 9 The righteous always have light: but the light of the ungodly is quenched. Crafty souls go astray in sins: but just men pity, and are merciful.
St. John Chrysostom relates verse 25 to the joy that a righteous man feels at another’s good fortune, contrasting it with the envy of the wicked.
“A troubling word will disturb a righteous man’s heart, while a kindly statement will bring him joy.” Note something useful in both cases: if he hears something good about his neighbors, he is not envious but happy; if something bad about them, he contains himself. His distress and his joy are within bounds. In the case of the impious, however, there is the opposite effect: where they should be distressed at “troubling words,” they are scornful, and where they should rejoice at good news, they go pale, experiencing the opposite response.
The passion of envy makes a man like the devil himself, since it was envy of man’s blessedness in Paradise that drove Satan to tempt our First Parents and bring our race to destruction. Envy makes a man like those who performed the greatest crime in all history, when they murdered the God-Man, for it was envy of the goodness of Christ that drove the wicked Sanhedrin to accuse Him before Pilate in order to condemn Him to death. Envy unchecked eats the souls of those subject to it; they can never rest until they have witnessed or even actively brought about the unhappiness of their brother. And even then they cannot rest, for their souls forever burn with the torment of dissatisfaction with the life that God has given them. Envy makes a man like the devil himself.
The root of envy is the sin of ingratitude for the life that one has received from the hand of God, and the root of ingratitude is pride: “God has chosen to give me this, but I know better than God: I really need that,” that other thing one imagines that one cannot live without. When one sees that one’s neighbor has that other thing – or seems to – the malice one bears towards God is extended to man as well. Instead of wishing well to one’s neighbor, one wishes him ill and even perhaps actively tries to destroy the other man’s happiness. This is demonic.
Blinded by pride and ingratitude, we can lose sight of the purpose of our life, which is eternal happiness in the next world, and we mistakenly think that our true happiness lies in the temporary goods that this world offers. When these temporary goods fall short of what we demand from life, we are tempted to resent the good fortune of those around us. If, on the other hand, we firmly believed that all the good things and all the bad things that come our way are used by God for our salvation, we would perpetually thank and praise Him. And we would be happy, even in this world, enjoying a firm hope of salvation in the next.
This blessed grace of gratitude enables man to acquire and to manifest greatness of soul – megalopsychia, magnanimitas – a fundamentally generous, compassionate, and understanding attitude towards all of life around him, and especially his fellow man. Such a person is supremely patient, unmoved by adversity, and this patience enables him always to rise above the exigencies of the moment with its fears and hope, to see the big picture of life, and to embrace the people and the circumstances that surround him. Since his happiness is not limited to the narrow confines of his own psychosomatic weaknesses of fear and desire, but rather, being the gift of grace, overflows from within him, like a living fountain, into all creation, he does not see his brother’s happiness as robbing him by decreasing the limited fund of happiness available in the world, for the source of that happiness is inexhaustible. His life is not a zero sum game in the Darwinian struggle for survival, but rather the continuously joyful experience of all as gift. This joy calls up the ancestral memory of the first Paradise to the heart, and it presages the Paradise to come.
Let us this day, this moment, thank and glorify our Creator for the life He has given us, rejoice in our brother’s happiness, and pray always for the gift of that greatness of soul that marks the life of any noble mind, much less that of a saint.
O our Creator, Provider, and Savior, glory be to Thee for all things. Amen.