For rage kills the foolish man... Job 5:2a
Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. James 1:12
There are times when I feel egregiously wronged. Unjustified as a victim, the contempt can build inside of me until I cannot take it for one more second. This is the open door for rage, an intense white-hot anger. My normal envelope of character may burst and I am possibly disposed to react quickly and defensively with a good primal scream at the top of my lungs and the adoptionof a sneering, barking, menacing posture. The animal is released. It is a draining, exhausting, but powerful experience that some people confuse as being both relieving and effective. The problem is...nothing could be further from the truth.
However, if I disdain rage and anger to the point of passionless apathy so that my main purpose in existence is to achieve peace and contentment at all costs, I am lost. Nowadays, our common response of "Whatever" is so lame, a deflection at best and a cop-out at worst. Suppressed feelings and arrested emotions are every bit as obnoxious as the exploded ones.
Each of us walks this tightrope between psycho-killer and doormat in our long journeys of life, a life into which a little rain must fall whether we like it or not. There are multiple opportunities presented to us on a daily basis that may cause us to erupt (Have you read the newspaper lately or watched the evening news?) or they may just cause us to sigh, roll our eyes and take a nap. But bigger evils may arise. Rather than a little rain, sometimes we are handed the tumultuous shock of an extraordinary thunderstorm that may appear at first glance as being unbearable or even unresolvable. The biggestproblems are the hardest.
As a professed and baptized Christian, I am handed certain tools to walk this tightrope. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are many and allow me to achieve what I believe is a good and solid middle-ground: Perseverance. Perseverance is a conglomerate of several virtues: Faith, Love, Patience, and Wisdom. It disallows me to be the flaccid wimp or de-sensitized coward who cannot actively respond to life's stumbling blocks, and yet it also bridles the animal and keeps me under control to face the big ones without raving like a repulsive lunatic. With Christian perseverance as a foundation, the tightrope becomes more of a broad sidewalk. Although I may be buffeted and broadsided by the rainy "winds of fate", I am taught to bemuch less inclined to hit the extremes. Praise be to God.
Dear Heavenly Father,
I know that my sinful nature tends to weaken my foundations. Guide me to be vigilant in my reception of the word, for I know that my foundationsare based on teachings and the teachingsare based on hearing the word of God. I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Contributed by Donald
Monday February 13, 2012
Liturgical Year B: Week 12
Liturgical Color: Green
Sunday Gospel reading:
Sixth Sunday after Epiphany