Meditation Minute

My Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

 

“Whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, Raqa, will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, 'You fool,' will be liable to fiery Gehenna.”

 

Gospel Reading: Mathew 5:20-26

 

Jesus said to his disciples:  "I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven. "You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment. But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, Raqa, will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, 'You fool,' will be liable to fiery Gehenna. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court with him. Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny."

 

In today’s Gospel message, Jesus addresses one of the greatest plagues of man – anger. Anger has fed many a war, created unending hatred to other people due to the race, their creed or their color. Yesterday, a man opened fire at the Holocaust Museum out of anger.  Anger has caused man to kill one another. And anger has caused us to say mean things about others through gossip and rage. Jesus tells us, “You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment. But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.” So why is anger so bad? Isn’t anger a natural? If it’s a natural trait, then wouldn’t it be a gift? Anger can flow out of several different deadly sins; envy, jealousy, desire, lust. Anger is one of those things that grows within us and builds and eats at our soul.

 

Anger is not a gift from God but something that Satan convinces us to act upon. Unless we tame the beast, it will consume us. But worse of all, anger forms out of our unwillingness to forgive others. We are called to be loving individuals, we are called to forgive and have mercy. Jesus goes on to tell us that we must “go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” How can we expect forgiveness if we ourselves have not forgiven those who have trespassed against us? In the Lord’s prayer, we specifically ask God to forgive us our trespasses as we for those who trespass against us. Before we can ask for our own forgiveness, we need to spend time forgiving those who have done things to us. What is easier – to ask for forgiveness for gossiping or to forgive someone who has gossiped against us. You are hurt and likely in a weakened state of mind, anger builds in retaliation. The only way to combat the anger is to forgive the trespasser. The latter is more likely to lead us away from God and that is why we must seek to forgive those who have sinned against us.

 

Anger eventually builds into rage and rage becomes the outward devil that inflicts harm. This could be in the form of physical harm or, by the use words, mental harm. Any time we lash out at someone either by our physical actions or by our hateful words, we directly attack the individual and inflict harm. Inflicting harm is a form of killing and is a grave sin. So how do we avoid anger? The answer is simple – love. Learning to love through the acts of mercy and kindness will eventually defeat evil. But it takes practice and more importantly it takes commitment. God loves us even in our sinful nature; God forgives us, even though we continually sin; and God never lets us go no matter what we do or say. This is the same expression that God expects from us. Through the out pouring of grace from God above, we can concur our hatred and learn to love our neighbor.

 

A Simple Prayer

 

Lord, I have anger in my heart; anger which has grown into hatred.

Help me release this anger and fill my heart with love and compassion.

It is through your example that I will learn to love my neighbor.

Give me the wisdom to see you will and not mine.

 

Yours in Christ

Michael Marcon