POPE FRANCIS

MORNING MEDITATION IN THE CHAPEL OF THE
DOMUS SANCTAE MARTHAE

Jealousy leads to war

Friday, 24 January 2020

[Multimedia]

Pope Francis warned against the dangers of jealousy and envy as he addressed the faithful during his homily for Mass at Santa Marta. He was referring to the reading from first Book of Samuel which described Saul’s jealousy of David, for though he had killed many more enemies than David, the young women sang songs about David’s victories. This beginning of “the restlessness of jealousy” prompted Saul to set off to kill David. Those who are jealous are “incapable of seeing reality” and thus Saul’s “jealousy led him to believe that David was a murderer, an enemy”. Indeed jealousies are like criminals that “always try to kill”, the Pope said, and one can kill even with slander.

Jealousy, he explained, arises from a conversation with oneself, which leads one to misjudge things in a way that prevents one from seeing reality. When God gives us the grace to see the reality of a situation, he invites us to look at ourselves and “jealousy bursts like a soap bubble”. Jealousy and envy are “seeds of war” that we must watch out for by protecting “our hearts from this illness”. When we feel jealous for someone, he added, we should ask ourselves why. The Holy Father concluded his homily by asking the Lord for the grace of having a transparent, friendly heart that “seeks only justice” and peace.