These bitter, envious, hateful and vengeful people are blind to the beauty of creation and of God's gifts. They refuse to see what they have and focus only on what they do not.
As I write, Portugal and United States are playing each other in the World Cup 2014 in Brazil. The score is 2-2. One of the players on the Portugal team is Cristiano Ronaldo.
"Born Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro on February 5, 1985, in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal, a small island off the western coast of the country, Ronaldo is the youngest of four children born to Maria Dolores dos Santos and Jose Dinis Aveiro... .[Cristiano] grew up in a largely working class neighborhood, his home a small tin roofed shack that overlooked the ocean. His early life was shaped by hardship; his father, a gardener, often drank too much, and eventually died from kidney problems in 2005. To help keep the children fed, and maintain some financial stability, [Cristiano's] mother worked as a cook and cleaning person." [1] "The family was staunchly Catholic and [Cristiano] later claimed that he lived in poverty, sharing a room with his brother and sisters." [2] At 15, Cristiano underwent heart surgery for an irregular heart beat. [3] Now, at 29, Cristiano's 2013 salary was $28,600,000 (excluding sponsorships) and his net worth was estimated at $150,000,000. [4]
Cristiano grew up poor but he was endowed with good-looks, an exceptional physique and amazing athleticism. All these are God's gifts to him. Why should anyone be jealous? He is an example of how physically perfect a person in the image of God can be. His creation should be celebrated, and it is, based on how much he is being paid.
Separated by time, another boy, also born in Portugal, was named Francisco Marto. "Francisco was born 11 June 1908, the sixth of seven children of Manuel and Olimpia Marto. He was a handsome boy, with light hair and dark eyes. He loved games and other children, yet without the spirit of competition. He would not complain when treated unfairly, and gave up a treasured possession (a handkerchief stamped with the image of Our Lady) rather than contend for it. He was a peacemaker but courageous." [5] Nobody was jealous of Francisco. He had no wealth, no bitterness, no hate and no envy but he had love. He was perfect in ways different from Cristiano and his creation should be celebrated too.
Not as well-known, talented or as ambitious as Cristiano, but equally loved by God, Francisco was one of the three visionaries at Fatima, Portugal. "After the apparitions ended, Francisco was enrolled in school but played truant as often as possible. He preferred to spend time praying to the 'Hidden Jesus' in the Tabernacle. His great concern was to console His sorrowing Lord and the Heart of His Mother. When asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, Francisco answered, 'I don't want to be anything. I want to die and go to heaven.'" [6] [Emphasis added.]
In April of 1919, "Francisco, knowing his time was short, asked to receive the Hidden Jesus for the first time in Holy Communion. The next morning, April 4th, at ten o'clock, he died with a glow on his shrunken face. He was buried the next day in a little cemetery in Fatima, across from the parish church." [7]
Francisco Marto loved the Hidden Jesus and His Mother, and I suppose Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro loves Them no less, and I am certain that both Christ and His Blessed Mother love both Francisco and Cristiano. One is already in Heaven, and the other a living gift from Heaven.
God gave them both the gift of life but the other innate gifts or lack thereof (depending on one's perspective) were unequal. Had Francisco been a contemporary of Cristiano, he would not have been jealous of the good-looking, popular and talented athlete. [8] He already had made up his mind at a young age that he did not want to be anything when he grew up for all he wanted was to die and go to Heaven. "Soon Jesus will come and take me to heaven with Him and then I shall always be able to comfort Him;" it happened as he said it would "two months short of his eleventh birthday." [9]
The lives of Francisco and Cristiano stand forever in contrast and their inherent, God-given inequality cannot be more beautiful. The photograph on the left is Francisco [10], the one on the right is Cristiano [11].
I wish that before anyone speaks of economic and social justice, they think of these two boys from Portugal and their inequalities, and that God's scale of justice is skewed toward love, whereas those bitter, envious, hateful and vengeful creatures' scale of justice is based on jealousy. It is no coincidence that Lucifer's fall from Heaven was due to jealousy.
[1] http://www.biography.com/people/cristiano-ronaldo-555730#synopsis&awesm=~oHXMlkBIbi0VAs
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cristiano_Ronaldo
[3] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1131424/Ronaldo-heart-surgery-age-15-save-career-mother-reveals.html
[4] http://www.therichest.com/celebnetworth/athletes/footballer/cristiano-ronaldo-net-worth/
[5] https://www.ewtn.com/fatima/children/francisco.htm
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Not that Cristiano had dreamed of and asked for all that he has been given, but he possesses what he possesses. Likewise, Francisco had what he had and whatever he had was enough for him.
[9] http://www.mysticsofthechurch.com/2010/03/blessed-francisco-marto-of-fatima.html
[10] http://www.the13thday.com/the-facts/the-children/francisco.htm
[11] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1131424/Ronaldo-heart-surgery-age-15-save-career-mother-reveals.html
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