13 June 2019 - before anger leads to hate

Saint Anthony of Padua

Today's Readings

(Audio)

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.

Jesus is helping us move beyond a merely external order where we must be content to simply not kill one another. He is leading us to the new order of the Spirit. By the Spirit we can move beyond violence, beyond even violent words, and ultimately even beyond acting out of anger at all.

If we struggle with these words about anger we should know that we can't live them through our own effort. They become a law of condemnation when we try to hear them apart from Jesus who speaks them and with them offers the grace to carry them out. When we aren't looking toward him the solution is veiled and inaccessible.

but whenever a person turns to the Lord the veil is removed.
Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, 
there is freedom.

We need to look upon the LORD. However, we usually don't experience freedom from sin all at once. Whether anger, lust, pride, or whichever sin is the biggest problem for us, we typically need to look to the Lord not just once, but as often as we face temptation.

All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord,
are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory,
as from the Lord who is the Spirit.

So what does a brother have against us today and how can we be reconciled to him? Let's not solve this problem on our own, but rather in the light of the face of Christ.

For God who said, Let light shine out of darkness,
has shone in our hearts to bring to light
the knowledge of the glory of God
on the face of Jesus Christ.

In the light of his presence we feel our defences being softened. We feel ourselves gradually wanting to set things right. We feel ourselves becoming the righteousness of God in Christ (see Corinthians 5:21).

Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.