Is envy always a sin?

[Jp2.0]

So I have been praying to God to help repair a birth defect I have. And I wanted so badly for God to repair it… (So I could be like everyone else)
1: Does that mean that I’m envying everyone that does not have the birth defect?
2: is envy always a mortal sin or not, and if so then when is it a sin?

 

[Theban]

It is not a sin to want what others have, as long as you don’t wish harm upon them that have it. Say if you see someone who is in good health and has no birth defect, do you feel jealous and want him to suffer like you do, or are you happy for him that he has got it better than you, though you wish you could be in good health too?

If it’s the former, then you are committing a mortal sin, if the latter then you are practicing the virtue of humility.

 

[Vico]

So I have been praying to God to help repair a birth defect I have. And I wanted so badly for God to repair it… (So I could be like everyone else)
1: Does that mean that I’m envying everyone that does not have the birth defect?
2: is envy always a mortal sin or not, and if so then when is it a sin?

Catechism

2539 Envy is a capital sin. It refers to the sadness at the sight of another’s goods and the immoderate desire to acquire them for oneself, even unjustly. When it wishes grave harm to a neighbor it is a mortal sin:

St. Augustine saw envy as "the diabolical sin."327 "From envy are born hatred, detraction, calumny, joy caused by the misfortune of a neighbor, and displeasure caused by his prosperity."328

 

[adgloriam]

Oh @Jp2.0 I’m sorry. There were high probabilities I was going to be born with some congenital problems and I wasn’t…

When you see someone you will, sometimes, be reminded that you are not equal. But that same feeling strikes those who are poor seeing the rich, those that are short seeing the tall, and so forth…

A determining factor is what you do with your life. There are many that being born with plenty of gifts throw their lives away never knowing happiness or peace. The one source of true joy on this is earth is a life in Christ.

God bless.

 

[Lea101]

I’m the exact same position as you.

I get the feeling that it annoys God, though.

 

[fin]

Good explanation. Agree, it is not a sin to wish to have it yourself.

It is only envy if

• you wish the person would lose it
• you are angry that the person has it

 

[TheLittleLady]

As a person with a serious, incurable, very visible birth defect/deformity, I went through this as a teen. Mine is so bad that under the Leviticus law a person with my deformity could not be a priest!

God brought me back to Isaiah chapter 45 http://www.usccb.org/bible/isaiah/45 and to Romans chapter 9 especially:

But who indeed are you, a human being, to talk back to God?Will what is made say to its maker, “Why have you created me so?”

Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for a noble purpose and another for an ignoble one?

God allowed me to be born this way for a reason. I find comfort in the saints who share my deformities.

The deformity does not define me.