who were present asked him to whom he spoke, he said with astonishment: "Do you not see the glorious Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul?" And, raising his eyes, he again cried: "I come! I come!" and as he uttered these words he gave up his soul to God. An end so glorious was the result of a prudent vigilance which cannot be too highly extolled; and such confidence at the hour of death seemed a fitting reward for one who during life had been filled with a holy fear of God.[1]
CHAPTER XXXIII.
REMEDIES AGAINST ENVY.
ENVY consists in grieving at another's good or repining at another's happiness. The envious man looks with hatred upon his superiors who excel him, upon his equals who compete with him, upon his inferiors who strive to equal him. Saul's envy of David and the Pharisees' envy of Christ could only be satisfied by death; for it is the character of this cruel vice to stop at nothing until it has compassed its end. Of its nature it is a mortal sin, because, like hatred, it is directly opposed to charity. However, in this, as in other sins, there are degrees which do not constitute a mortal sin, as, for example, when hatred or envy is not grave, or when the will does not fully consent.
- ↑ Dial. iv. 11.
