Homily by Father Paul

The story is told about two businessmen who really hated each other.  God sent an angel to teach one of them a lesson.  The angel said that the God would grant him anything he desired with the stipulation that the other would receive twice what he asked for.  If the businessman asked for 1000 gold coins, the other would get 2000.  The man thought about and said, “Make me blind in one eye.”

That story would be really funny if it also wasn’t really tragic.  In today’s gospel Jesus warns that whoever grows angry will be liable to judgment.  Part of being human means that we get angry.  Anger is a feeling and not sin.    Sin enters when we lose our temper or don’t deal with anger in healthy ways.  I’d like to talk about three things that can happen we when we become angry and lose our temper.  Then I’ll suggest what we might do to deal with our anger.

  • Sometimes when we are angry we hurt ourselves.  We say or do hurtful things to others and feel guilty about it.  Worse is when we keep the anger to ourselves.  Then we become bitter, resentful, and hateful.
  • A second thing that can happen when we are angry is we hurt others.  I read once that when natives in the Solomon Islands want to cut down a large tree, they will gather around it at dawn for thirty days yell at the tree.  They believe that their yelling kills the tree’s spirit.
  • A third thing that happens when we lose our temper is that we offend God.  We cannot expect God to forgive us, if we will not forgive others.

What steps can we do when we find anger surging in our minds & hearts?

  • PAUSE & count to 10 or as long as it takes to react in a  Christ-like way
  • PONDER how I am not perfect and consider that often what makes us angry with others is something we don’t like about ourselves.  Is it possible that the fault lies with me?
  • PRAY
  • PLAN on how to share your anger in a healthy way

God know that it isn’t easy for us, especially when we have been betrayed, violated, abused, and deeply hurt.

God know it isn’t easy, but it is necessary.

Remember: with effort, with prayer, and with God all things are possible.