Human life and family matter

Racism, envy both are sins

If the Catholic Church has a word to offer society concerning the debate about racism in America, surely it must be a word clarifying the sanctity of human life and reasserting the sacredness of the family.

The sin of racism lies in its denial of another’s humanity. Equally reductionistic of human dignity, from a Catholic perspective, are many of the solutions often advanced to rectify racism. That is to say, very often the debate concerning racism in America revolves exclusively around power, and society divided into “oppressor” and “oppressed,” us versus them. When power alone (defined in political and monetary terms) becomes the fundamental relation and supreme value of society, human dignity of necessity becomes bound up with utility to the system, and the lives of those who are deemed useless are discarded.

It is here that a Catholic contribution can be made to the debate. Concerning the dignity of the human person, the Church teaches in accord with Scripture that each human person has been redeemed by the blood of Christ and that the Holy Spirit is operative within each human heart, either overtly by means of the sacramental life of the Church, or in a more hidden way though prompting each to seek truth and to do good.

But secondly, a conception of society as a perpetual power struggle erodes the dignity of the human person because it gives free rein to the sin of envy, the sin that causes sadness at another’s good.

Envy is contrary to the sanctity of human life because it perceives the good of another as a threat. Whereas the virtue of charity calls us to rejoice with our neighbor in his good, and most especially in his being called to the blessedness of heaven (1 John 3:14), envy banishes this joy and gives rise to a sadness marked by bitterness and resentment. The human person can no longer be seen as a companion on the way to the blessed vision of God, but only as an obstacle to power.

Generally speaking, envy passes through three stages. First, envy arises when someone tries to harm or destroy the reputation of another. Once offended, I become justified in my belief that you are oppressing me, and the power struggle renews itself, for where there is oppression there is an oppressor who must be silenced.

This defaming and silencing even of the most innocuous leads, if successful, to a dark joy, a kind of rejoicing in the misfortune of another. This is the second stage of envy and comes when the perceived oppressor is finally cast down. The final stage of envy, and envy properly speaking, is hatred of the other’s good, especially when efforts to harm or silence the other are not successful. The sadness that envy causes in the human heart eventually becomes a brooding hatred of the other. This is a most dangerous state, because hatred leaves but one option when dealing with the other, and that is destruction.