St. Gregory the Great, the Pope of Rome, writes about envy as an illness that eats away at the heart. What is feeding this illness? The happiness and good fortune of others! The envious person sees others who have been blessed, who have been given happiness in their lives, and the envious is made sick by the blessings others have received. Gregory says rather than eyeing and envying the good fortune of others, why not pay attention to the good deeds others do and then acquire these virtues. That turns a negative passion into a good. I may never have all the good things others have, but I surely can make their virtuous behavior my own. This would be using the passion to push oneself into virtue and a blessed way of life. One Saint who did this is the poor farmer Metrios (commemorated on June 1), who found gold lost by another but instead of jealously keeping the gold as his good fortune, returned it to the owner, thus imitating good deeds rather than envying the wealth of another.
“The envious should be advised that they consider how great is their blindness if they are disappointed by another’s progress or are consumed with another’s rejoicing. How great is the unhappiness of those who become worse because of the betterment of their neighbors? And these same persons are anxiously afflicted and die from a plague of the heart because they witness the increasing prosperity of others. What is more unfortunate than those who are made even more wicked by the sight of happiness? And yet the good deeds of others, which they do not possess, they could acquire if they loved them.”
( The Book of Pastoral Rule, page 108)
Fraternized 