Peace Over Anger

~~~ Saint Anthony of Padua~~~ 

~~~ Priest and Doctor of the Church ~~~

~~~ 1 Kings 21:1-16 ~~~ Psalm 5 ~~~ Matthew 5:38-42 ~~~

“Why are you so angry that you will not eat?”

Anger has a strange way of clouding our judgement.

Anger is often responsible for our bad behavior.

In the passage from Kings today a wife plots and succeeds

 in having another person killed just to keep her husband happy.

Anger which is allowed to get out of control 

becomes the controlling factor in a person's life.

Anger too often leads someone into a state of great sinfulness.

Anger leads one to loose the ability to see 

beyond the source of the anger.

Anger, however, is not always negative.

There is a time and a place for anger.

Dealing with anger is critical if we are to maintain

 a healthy emotional state.

Anger is healthy when it's energy is directed 

toward accomplishing something worthwhile.

So what do you do with your anger?

Does it control you or do you control it?

But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil.

Jesus is the master peace maker.

He advocated peace to be the primary focus of our actions.

Killing someone you were angry 

with may have been the norm in ancient days.

Jesus did not accept an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

He wanted peace not violence in all circumstances.

Thou shall not kill...

There was no excuse for killing just 

because another person made you angry.

Unfortunately the world we live in today

may need to have another lesson from Jesus

 on exactly what peace means.

If Jesus truly lives in us...

if we have put on Christ...we must control the way

 our anger manifests itself in our life.

If you have issues with anger I urge you to get help.

Uncontrolled anger has the potential to ruin

 your life and those around you.

Destructive, out of control anger eventually 

diminishes your quality of life.

Let peace be the motivating factor in how you 

choose to live your daily life.

When anger does rear its head 

channel it into some form of positive actions.

Blessings of Peace!

Retaliation or Mercy?

~~~ 2 Corinthians 6:1-10 ~~~ Psalm 98 ~~~ Matthew 5:38-42 ~~~

 

When I first began teaching

 I was expected to administer corporal punishment

to unruly students in my third grade classroom.

I remember one day in particular standing in the Principal's office

 with a young boy who was mostly non compliant.

 I was handed the wooden paddle, told him to bend over,

hooked a finger from my left hand into one of his belt loops

and the swats commenced.

 

On this particular day after the child

was sent to sit in the foyer to wait

I was informed by the principal that I did not paddle hard enough.

 From that day forward I never brought another student

 to the office to be disciplined with the paddle.

I could never understand how such a display of power, control,

and pain belonged in our schools.

 

Physical punishment connected to education seems to send

the wrong message to the child.

Violence is not the way to get cooperation.

 

In today's gospel we have the well known verse...

An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

Jesus is suggesting that his followers take the complete opposite approach.

When you have been wronged do not retaliate in kind.

There is wisdom in the saying two wrongs do not make a right...it is not logical.

Certainly Jesus never reacted with violence.

 

He reached out to those who disagreed with him and later

 to those who persecuted him.

When someone wrongs you this is your opportunity to rise above

what your initial reaction of retaliation might dictate.

 

 

As a follower of Christ we know

 that we are given the sufficient grace to respond with mercy.

No one said this would be easy.

No one said this would feel right at first.

We all want justification for our actions, especially when we have been wronged.

 

Paul is such a beautiful example of what our attitude should be...

We cause no one to stumble in anything,
in order that no fault may be found with our ministry;
on the contrary, in everything we commend ourselves
as ministers of God...

 

It takes a certain amount of detachment

to control ones desire to justify our taking 'an eye for an eye'.

 

Proverbs 24:29 sums it up for us...

Do not say, “As they did to me, so will I do to them;

I will repay them according to their deeds.”

 

If we retaliate, then we are contributing

 to the continuation of the culture of wrong doing.

 

It is only possible to follow Jesus

 if we are determined to respond to our enemies with kindness and mercy.

This may never come as our natural response,

but rather our response through the intention of our heart.

 

Our commitment to Christ requires us to also be merciful.

My prayer is that I will be up to the task when I am challenged to engage mercy.

I know there will be times when I will need an extra helping of grace.

So I ask, 'which is easier; retaliation or mercy?'

Evil for Evil or Good for Good?

~~~ 1 Kings 21: 1-16 ~~~ Psalm 5 ~~~ Matt. 5: 38-42 ~~~

Jesus said to his disciples:
"You have heard that it was said,
An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil.
When someone strikes you on your right cheek,
turn the other one to him as well.
If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic,
hand him your cloak as well.
Should anyone press you into service for one mile,
go with him for two miles.
Give to the one who asks of you,
and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow."

This particular Gospel passage is one of the more challenging ones to follow.

at first reading is seems to be advocating us to be passive in the face of injustice.

Are we to surrender to the evil abounding in this world today or is there a better way to respond? Is it possible to support what is right?

Of course it would not be prudent to act in kind to one who has done wrong to you are your family, but we do see this happen all too often. Much of the violence in our society today would diminish if people did not feel it was their 'right' to react in kind. Evil for evil will never solve our problems. When we respond in kind we are in effect no better than the one who initially committed the offense.

Without delving into the Biblical history and their system of punishment.

I would like to purpose that we return one good deed for another.

One kindness...one act of charity...one act of compassion...one expression of love...one note of appreciation...one sincere offer of forgiveness

...one phone call of caring...one courtesy on the highway

...one gift of prayer...one smile to a stranger...one empathetic embrace

in exchange for an eye for an eye and evil for evil.

Instead return to the fifth chapter of Matthew and review the 8 Beaitudes.

Especially pray with the third Beatitude:

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the land...

Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you

and utter every kind of evil against you [falsely] because of me.

 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.

 Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Matt.5: 5, 11-12

It requires more grace to live a life following the Beatitudes.

It is much easier just to react to the situations which empact our self worth.

Our whole life must be lived from the point of forgiveness, not getting even.

How many times are we to forgive?

May your days here be filled with peace in spite of what erupts from

today's wounded and crippled world.