This is Cardinal Francis George. I invite you to join me for the next two minutes to reflect

with Father Robert Barron on the Word of God, which is the Word on Fire. Word on Fire Catholic

Ministries is a non-profit ministry at the forefront of Catholic evangelization, using

new media to spread the faith and every continent. Father Barron challenges us to open our hearts

to the Word on Fire, which is God's Word of Love for each of us. If our hearts are open,

the Lord can change and transform us so that we might speak with love about the one who

is love. The global benefactors of Word on Fire with the support of the Archdiocese of

Chicago now present Word on Fire.

Peace be with you. Friends, how prominent a role jealousy plays in the great literature

of the world. Think of Shakespeare's Iago, or Melville's great story, Billy Bud. Think of

the story of Joseph and his brothers in the book of Genesis, or the tale of Saul and David

in First Samuel. Even look to a popular film I saw, not that long ago, I replayed the

old film, The Star Is Born. I think of how many stories in the tradition up to the present

day are driven by jealousy and envy. It's such a powerful dynamic in human relations, a

negative one, of course, but powerful nonetheless. What is jealousy? Thomas Aquinas says, jealousy

is an irrational anger at the success of others, interesting in that little phrase. It's an

irrational anger at the success of others. Gore Vidal's line comes to mind here. I know

I've cited it to you before. And Gore Vidal, who just died a couple of weeks ago, he

said, when a friend of mine succeeds, something in me dies. Really good, it seems to me, as

a characterization of jealousy, an irrational anger or resentment at the success of others,

especially others who are close to us. Often we're not jealous of distant figures. You

have really jealous of the success of someone across the world or some grand political figure.

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