In today’s first reading, we see how King Saul becomes possessed with pride and envy, and as the rest of 1 Samuel depicts, he is progressively consumed with jealousy, fear, paranoia, and madness over David’s finding favor before God. Indeed, so much of the story of salvation history is a drama of man’s repeated self-destruction in pride and envy. It was the pride and envy of Adam and Eve that ruptured the primal harmony between God and man. It was Cain’s pride and envy that led to the murder of his brother Abel. It was Jacob’s pride and envy that led him to steal his brother Esau’s birthright. And it goes on and on right up to the pride and envy of the Pharisees which led them to persecute and crucify Our Lord. Even angels are not immune. It was Satan’s radical pride and envy that led to his rebellion and banishment from heaven. And it is the pride and envy of demons that drive their tireless efforts to oppress and torment us with temptation and evil. 

For us Catholics in recovery, we know full well the extent pride and envy corrupted our hearts and minds in our addictions, leading us to “do the evil [we] do not want” (Romans 7:19). Doing the inventories of Step Four is a huge eye opener in discovering just how deep the roots of pride and envy go. Taking ownership of our pride and envy, confessing our sins born of them sacramentally and to our sponsor, and seeking to make amends to those we harmed because of them is crucial for a lasting recovery in humility, trust, and gratitude. Let us never forget that envy, like wrath, is nothing other than taking poison yourself and expecting the other to die. Only the Devil laughs and finds “joy” in the insanity of our pride and envy.

Reflection Questions

• Reflect and share how pride and envy played a role in your addictions. 
• How is envy like applying “a sort of executioner to one’s own breast” in your life? What do you do in your recovery to identify and be free of envy?

Daily Mass Readings

First Reading: 1 Samuel 18:6-9; 19:1-7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 56:2-3, 9-10a, 10b-11, 12-13
Gospel: Mark 3:7-12

Reflection by Pete S.