Feelings of inferiority a sin?

[elysianverse]

I am in an ordinary position compared to most friends. They have wealth, status etc., I have nothing. I feel inferior, is this a form of envy and therefore a sin? What must I do to overcome such feelings?

 

[Buck_Crosswhite]

I am in an ordinary position compared to most friends. They have wealth, status etc., I have nothing. I feel inferior, is this a form of envy and therefore a sin? What must I do to overcome such feelings?

You are the lucky one. I’ve been a millionaire and I’ve been broke. I was happiest and prayed the most when I was poor. If your rich friends are arrogant about their social status you should dump them and get some holy friends.

 

[Thankfulness]

Carefully think of the good things in life and think of those who have nothing, like refugees and homeless. You are so much better off than them.
Think of the spiritual blessings and other good things in your life, and thank God for those.
Make a habit of saying thanks to God each day for something.

God bless!

 

[odhiambo]

I am in an ordinary position compared to most friends. They have wealth, status etc., I have nothing. I feel inferior, is this a form of envy and therefore a sin? What must I do to overcome such feelings?

It is not a sin to feel inferior.
How can one overcome such a feeling?
Overcoming feelings of inferiority is completely up to you. You look yourself in the mirror and tell yourself that you are not inferior to anybody,believe it and act it. Keep that always in mind in your dealings with others. This is not to say you should act superior, no; just behave as an equal. I read in one of our local dailies this week how in ancient Rome when the army had won a great victory, the commanding general was awarded a victory triumph to celebrate the military achievement.
The general rode in a chariot parading through the streets of Rome among great crowds of cheering Romans. He would be in seventh heaven. Lest he forgot himself amid all the adulation, a slave always rode with the general and continually whispered in his ear, “Memento mori”, that is "Remember you will die”.
So elysianverse, whisper continually in your heart, “I am equal!” and sooner or later, your heart will tell you that you are indeed equal to anyone out there.
God Bless!

 

[NeedImprovement]

I am in an ordinary position compared to most friends. They have wealth, status etc., I have nothing. I feel inferior, is this a form of envy and therefore a sin? What must I do to overcome such feelings?

Although I’m sorry you’re feeling that way , you ask an excellent question.

Here is how envy is defined by Father John Hardon, S.J. in his Modern Catholic Dictionary
Modern Catholic Dictionary ; Fr. John Hardon:

**ENVY **

Sadness or discontent at the excellence, good fortune, or success of another person. It implies that one considers oneself somehow deprived by what one envies in another or even that an injustice has been done. Essential to envy is this sense of deprivation. Consequently it is not merely sadness that someone else has some desirable talent or possession, nor certainly the ambition to equal or surpass another person, which can be laudable emulation. It is not the same as jealousy, which implies an unwillingness to share one’s own possessions.

Envy is a sin against charity and, though serious in itself, allows of degrees of gravity depending on whether fully consented to and how important is the object envied. The most serious sin of envy is sadness at the supernatural gifts or graces that another has received from God, i.e., to envy sanctity. (Etym. Latin invidia; from invidere, to look askance.)

Feeling inferior isn’t envy . Father Hardon helps us identify envy as a discontent or sadness at the excellence, good fortune of others . And I think a fair number of us deal with a momentary pang of that nature from time to time - we live in a materialistic society.

Jesus, didn’t have wealth or status … … that would appear to put you in very good company . I have heard it said more than once by people who are very well off (I’m not one of them) , that they still aren’t happy despite all they have . Often, the happiness we might perceive in other people due to wealth or possessions is only an illusion - a facade . We are all succeptible, in the sense that we can be led to start our own illusion - believing that more possessions, wealth, status, whatever, is somehow going to make us happy … because that is what society keeps trying to convince us of.

odhiambo made me smile

… a slave always rode with the general and continually whispered in his ear, “Memento mori”, that is "Remember you will die”.
…God Bless!

…reminding me of the time a friend told me that a wise priest once said to him, “The last shirt we’re ever going to wear won’t have any pockets.”

I agree with Buck Crosswhite :

You are the lucky one…