St. Thomas Aquinas comes. He says: “Praise be to Jesus. Today I have come to speak to you once again about sanctity. Very often the one thing that blocks the path to sanctity is an envious heart. This is because people generally do not recognize this form of evil in their hearts and, therefore, do not root it out.”

“Envy is just another form of self-love. The soul that is self-absorbed is consumed with feeding his own needs spiritually, physically and emotionally. He is insidiously filled with the desire to be the best looking, have the best clothes, best home, best family, best reputation. Often envy can be pinpointed through an ambitious spirit.”

“The type of envy most offensive to Jesus is spiritual envy. The person wants everyone to know about the graces he receives as though he were the author of each grace, and as though he deserved them.”

“But envy goes beyond wanting the best. Envy wants what his neighbor has. He is not happy at his neighbor's good fortune–physical, spiritual or emotional, but wants everything his neighbor has for himself. So you see, ambition turns to greed, and greed to jealousy.”

“But at the root of all envy is the same self-consuming love that is at the root of all sin. If this self-absorption goes unchecked, it gallops away like a runaway horse holding the heart captive, insuring spiritual destruction.”

“The soul that gives in to envy does not understand his place before God. If he did, he would accept God's Will in the present moment and desire no more – no less – than this portion for himself.”