A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew 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.”
The Gospel of the Lord (Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ!)
Reflection: What does Jesus want me to do?
Today we hear of an important reminder from our Lord Jesus on the need to maintain our cool, to have hearts and minds of understanding, kindness and mercy at all times as our Lord shared, “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”.
If we look up the word “Raqa”, we find that it is an Aramaic and Hebrew word that means “empty,” “empty-headed,” or “foolish”. Wow, our Lord is warns us that having anger with an unforgiving heart will make us liable to judgement on the last day, and to insult someone by saying “You fool” can prevent us from entering the Kingdom of God, from entering Paradise! We need to always maintain a cool head! Be kind and do not insult anyone! As they say, we need to maintain our cool!
Pride and ego are a lot of times the cause of the anger brought about by thinking of only one’s self. Sometimes the anger is caused by what we feel, hear or see. Like when we do not get our way, or we hear or see disparaging words said or posted against us, or someone or some group of people, or when gossip is spread like wildfire as if is is truth, and we can get caught up in the hysteria.
Sometimes the cause of the anger is because of an injustice affecting us personally and our feelings are hurt, or when we or someone or a group we care about is insulted or harmed, and the anger affects our inner peace.
The question we need to ask ourselves before we get angry or act hastily in any situation is: “What does Jesus want me to do?” That is first question we need to ask. Will my action be uplifting, will it be of help, will it be beneficial to others, will it lead to peace? Will my decision or action lead to a holy moment?
Overall, there is a place for righteous anger. Remember how our Lord Jesus drove out the thieves and sellers from the Temple and He overturned the tables of the money changers. Jesus was consumed with zeal to keep His Father’s house holy. The thieves, sellers and money changers were just chased out of the Temple by our Lord. No one was seriously hurt, except for the pride of the ones who were taking advantage of people.
Our Lord Jesus though He is God, humbled himself to share in our humanity to be our example of what love truly is, to show us what loving one another means, that it is possible for everyone to learn to forgive, to care and be understanding. Jesus is our example of how we can accompany one another through this very short time of life we each have on this earth.
Our Lord Jesus suffered, died, was risen again to show us the way. He is journeys
with us always to guide us towards what love truly is
to help us choose what is holy. Follow the promptings of our Lord Jesus
to learn to forgive and to have hearts of peace. Ask our ourselves daily. What does Jesus want me to do?
Action for the Day:
Lift up our concerns to Jesus, and include our resentments, our hurts, and our failures, and ask for forgiveness for our shortcomings. Lord Jesus, we are grateful for your great love for us and everyone. You know what we are going through, and we know that you are journeying with us always. Please heal our hearts and help us to learn how to forgive completely, to have hearts of mercy guided by your spirit and to choose what is holy. Guide us always by Your Holy Spirit.
Audio Reflection:
