Reflection by Fr. Chris

I recently finished God Save Benedict Arnold by Jack Kelly. As you can probably expect from the title, the book takes a look at Benedict Arnold’s military career in the colonies before his betrayal of the American cause. Though an interesting (if not too brief) look at the American general, the book does offer a quick overview of the exploits of one who was once thought to be one of the greatest patriots in the colonies. Of course, he is most remembered as being a traitor, as betraying those who served under him, and as having conspired to deliver the American fort at West Point to the British for the sum of (adjusted for inflation)  $4 million. Yes, humanity is complex, and though this can be a cautionary tale of consequences for our actions, the mystery remains, why did he do it? There is no clear reason, and scholars can only speculate. It is likely too easy to say he did it only for money, too diffi-cult to blame his anti-Catholicism (some believe he turned against colonies after their alliance with Catholic France), and too mis-ogynistic to simply blame his wife (came from loyalist family). The most prevalent reason given is envy, Arnold believed he was over-looked for promotion, mistreated by the Continental Congress, and not given the esteem he believed that he rightly deserved. 

Envy is a dangerous sin, and sadly it is very common in our lives. When we are younger, we can become envious of what others have in terms of material possessions  (e.g. cars, video game consoles, vacations). When we are older, our envy takes different forms. Sure, we can still become envious of the “toys” that our friends and family have, but more likely we become envious of more important things: we become en-vious of the relationships of other people, we become envious of the physical health of others, we can even become envious of the relationship others have with God. We quickly discover that all this envy doesn’t get us anywhere; all it does is drag us down, isolate us, and hinder our ability to recognize the gifts that we do have. Further-more, the reason envy is a deadly sin is because, when we are en-vious, we not only desire what an-other has, but we hate them for having it. 

We must fight back. The first way that we fight back is simply by admitting that we are envious, because we cannot cure what we do not believe is a problem. We also need to start thanking God for what we do have and grow in the virtue of humility. Lastly, we need to see the good in other people and not simply tear them down. Our Mother Mary always offers us a great example of humility throughout her life. Let us allow ourselves to say with her, “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”

In Christ,
Fr. Chris