Forgive

“When you are angry with someone, the way to find peace is to pray for that person and ask God to reward him or her for making you suffer.” (Saint Therese of Lisieux).

The Annunciation (Bradley Platz)

Gosh it is hard to keep my temper.  Maybe this is because I am an angry person?  Maybe this is because I am easily baited?  Maybe this is simply because I am proud or vain or hypocritical or judgemental?

Whatever the reason, it is terribly hard for me to keep a hold on my temper.

And when I get angry – like many people – I say and do things that are simply regrettable.  Some  of those things might involve me later having regrets about my behaviour or about the behaviour of others.

The other day I was reflecting on the experiences of my childhood and youth.  And it occurred to me that I have been raised in a very loving home by very loving parents, and even so, no human parent is perfect.  And it occurred to me that there is a reason that Christ tells us to take the beam out of our own eye before looking at the splinter in our neighbour’s eye…

It is not only the “Christian” thing to do, but it is simply very good strategy.  After all, I cannot see myself – that is what Modern Psychology teaches in any case.  It teaches that we need to reflect on our own behaviour and past experiences, often in the presence of another, so that we are able to understand the actions we have taken and our motivations for those actions.

So, twenty centuries ago, when Christ said that we should not judge anyone because we needed to look at the fault in ourselves first, He was speaking as the Infinite Psychologist.

You see, I can judge my mother or my sister or my father or my brother for their actions or behaviours, but I will fail to see my own weaknesses and behaviours.  I will fail to see that I am not only worse than they are but I am less aware of my deficiency than my mother or father or sister or brother is.  While their actions are judged by me to be petty or spiteful or jealous or rude, my own are justified by a whole myriad of excuses.  I was not petty, I was detailed.  I was not rude, I was direct.  I was not spiteful or jealous, I was overwhelmed.  And the list goes on ad infinitum with any number of excuses for my own deficiencies, leading me straight into the very depths of Hell.

Saint Therese of Lisieux said, “When you are angry with someone, the way to find peace is to pray for that person and ask God to reward him or her for making you suffer.”

And it occurs to me today that as I pull the beam out of my own eye, that perhaps I should reserve a little time for reparation for my own sins, as I continue to pray for the sins of those who make me angry.  For after all, we pray, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us…”

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.