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.”
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Reflection:
What is the cure for
anger? It’s humility.
Nobody of us are
perfect once in a while we get angry but do we have the humility to make amends
after we have injured someone with our arrogance? Only a gentle person would have the courage to say
I’m sorry or to apologize.
But to say I’m sorry
is not easy to do, only a humble person would summon enough courage to say this
magic words that have healed so many disputes and arguments. In our gospel for
today, Jesus gives us teaching about anger.
Jesus tells us that
we must be reconciled with those whom we have differences and had feelings of
enmity. But why do we get angry in the first place? We get angry because we
lack humility, we get angry because we have this superiority complex against
our fellowmen.
It’s only humility
that could deescalate and eventually eliminate our anger. Let us therefore pray
for the grace of humility, let us ask God the Holy Spirit to give it to us. The
best test of humility is our willingness to apologize and to admit our mistakes
before those whom we have hurt.
Do you have the
humility to apologize? Apologize for it
will set you free. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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