If all that makes for evil in the world were to be traced back to its original source,  it would lead to covetousness. 

 

Covetousness means wanting something that someone else has, so that we can feel better about ourselves, more in control. Covetousness is really about power. It relates to anxiety because anxiety and depression are completely dis-empowering states of mind.  One of the main causes of anxiety lies in wishing we had the gifts or qualities someone else has, so that we could feel better about ourselves, more in control, more powerful. Much emotional energy is expended in wanting status and power, or things which symbolise them in some way. Status and power clothe our sense of nakedness, of being a nothing or a nobody.

 

If we can let go of covetousness and the need to be in control, even for a minute, we come face to face with the risen Jesus who knew nakedness on the Cross. He looks at us as we are, but does not judge or put us down. He simply embraces us saying, perhaps, “Ah, here you are at last. I have waited for you for so long.”