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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
Competitiveness	Irene	Monday, September 12, 2011
Question: Dear Brother, Thank you for this forum. I am learning a great deal and its strengthening my faith. For the past two years I've had feelings of jealousy and envy towards a colleague at work, feelings which I've never before experienced in my life, and therefore for the past 2 years prayed for both her and myself until I was able to eradicate these feelings... but it took me 2 years to do so. In the last couple of weeks I noticed that this particular colleague had difficulties in carrying out one of her tasks, a task for which I had developed a procedure to make doing it easy and efficient. I knew that I could help her but my competitive nature kicked in. I was torn between my competitiveness, i.e. that I would be "shooting myself" in the foot if I helped her, and my understanding of my Catholic faith. After some mental anquish I broke down and gave her my procedure for which she said she was grateful. Now I'm having mental anquish about whether I did the right thing. The reason that I gave her my procedure was due to my interpretation of what it means to be a Christian .... if we see someone in need, we should help. My competitive nature, however, is telling me that in my helping her I may be jeopordizing my own position in the company. Perhaps my interpretation of what it means to be a Christian does not apply in situations like this. I would greatly appreciate your counsel in this regard. Thank you very much.
Question Answered by Dear Irene: I praise God that you have been able to eradicate these feelings of jealousy and envy. Those types of feelings can cause psychological problems let alone spiritual problems. As Christians we are supposed to be counter-cultural, we are supposed to detach ourselves from material things. Competition in the right context can be a good thing. But, in the wrong context it can be self-centeredness, selfishness, and even paranoia. When we see somebody in need it is our Christian duty to help them. We are to be the Good Samaritan. You did the right thing by giving this person your procedure. You now need to trust in God for whatever happens in the future. We should never participate in competition in which "getting ahead" or "protecting oneself", and the like get in the way of our Christian duty. There are no situations to which the Christian ethic does not apply. Being Christian is who we are. A Christian is not just a member of a club. We are indwelled with the Holy Spirit, our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit. Thus, there is nothing in this life, no circumstance, no situation in which we can set aside our Christianity. It is an inseparable part of us. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary Footer Notes: This forum is for general questions on the faith. See specific Topic Forums below: Spiritual Warfare, demons, the occult go to our Spiritul Warfare Q&S Forum. Liturgy Questions go to our Liturgy and Liturgical Law Q&A Forum Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) Questions go to our Divine Office Q&A Forum Defenfing the Faith Questions go to our Defending the Faith Q&A Forum Church History Questions go to our Church History Q&A Forum

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

Competitiveness

Irene

Monday, September 12, 2011

Question:

Dear Brother,

Thank you for this forum. I am learning a great deal and its strengthening my faith. For the past two years I've had feelings of jealousy and envy towards a colleague at work, feelings which I've never before experienced in my life, and therefore for the past 2 years prayed for both her and myself until I was able to eradicate these feelings... but it took me 2 years to do so.

In the last couple of weeks I noticed that this particular colleague had difficulties in carrying out one of her tasks, a task for which I had developed a procedure to make doing it easy and efficient. I knew that I could help her but my competitive nature kicked in. I was torn between my competitiveness, i.e. that I would be "shooting myself" in the foot if I helped her, and my understanding of my Catholic faith. After some mental anquish I broke down and gave her my procedure for which she said she was grateful. Now I'm having mental anquish about whether I did the right thing. The reason that I gave her my procedure was due to my interpretation of what it means to be a Christian .... if we see someone in need, we should help. My competitive nature, however, is telling me that in my helping her I may be jeopordizing my own position in the company. Perhaps my interpretation of what it means to be a Christian does not apply in situations like this. I would greatly appreciate your counsel in this regard.

Thank you very much.

Question Answered by

Dear Irene:

I praise God that you have been able to eradicate these feelings of jealousy and envy. Those types of feelings can cause psychological problems let alone spiritual problems.

As Christians we are supposed to be counter-cultural, we are supposed to detach ourselves from material things. Competition in the right context can be a good thing. But, in the wrong context it can be self-centeredness, selfishness, and even paranoia.

When we see somebody in need it is our Christian duty to help them. We are to be the Good Samaritan. You did the right thing by giving this person your procedure. You now need to trust in God for whatever happens in the future.

We should never participate in competition in which "getting ahead" or "protecting oneself", and the like get in the way of our Christian duty.

There are no situations to which the Christian ethic does not apply. Being Christian is who we are. A Christian is not just a member of a club. We are indwelled with the Holy Spirit, our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit. Thus, there is nothing in this life, no circumstance, no situation in which we can set aside our Christianity. It is an inseparable part of us.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

Footer Notes: This forum is for general questions on the faith. See specific Topic Forums below:
Spiritual Warfare, demons, the occult go to our Spiritul Warfare Q&S Forum.
Liturgy Questions go to our Liturgy and Liturgical Law Q&A Forum
Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) Questions go to our Divine Office Q&A Forum
Defenfing the Faith Questions go to our Defending the Faith Q&A Forum
Church History Questions go to our Church History Q&A Forum