11/7/2021

I am at the Infirmary in Conception. They are taking good care of me. I am in a boot for at least the next four weeks, coming along fine, and able to walk in the boot (clunky, kind of like Frankenstein – too bad Halloween is not this week). I still have to elevate and ice the foot a lot, but am also wanting to find a way to get back to the parish. So stay tuned – miss all of you, especially seeing the children in the school.
We have done the first three of the “deadly” thoughts, those of the body – greed, gluttony, and lust. The next two are thoughts of the heart and mind, anger and sadness. The desert monks had no place for anger in their lives. They saw anger as disruptive, causing one to make bad decisions, and causing one to focus on oneself. To understand this perspective, consider the following: We in our lives are, at our best, called to reflect the goodness, love, truth, and beauty of Christ in our lives. That is the goal. Now, by analogy, a lake reflects its surroundings most perfectly when it is calm, totally calm. If there are ripples, they disturb the reflection. If there are waves or the water is rough due to weather or for whatever reason, the water does not reflect much of anything. That is what anger does to our ability to reflect Christ. Anger disrupts our ability to discern, that is to judge, what thoughts are from God, from the devil, from elsewhere. Without a serene heart, without the calm that anger robs us of, we are prone to make bad judgments and choices. We are also more likely to see urgency in what we want done, and be too impatient to hear the Lord’s will. The opposite of anger is gentleness, which proceeds from an inner calm or peace. How does one combat anger in order to arrive at calm and gentleness? There are five suggestions:

1) Vigilance – be on the outlook for angry thoughts and do not feed them. Anger disturbs one’s other thoughts, which feed on it. Two things follow: I have thoughts of revenge or of violence, and I do not pray since anger excludes the radiance and peace of the Holy Spirit. So act quickly to cast out anger.

2) Reconciliation – “blessed are the peacemakers”. This is hard, but if my brother/sister is upset, whether it is the other’s fault or mine or neither of us, the Body of Christ is aggrieved, is weakened. As Cassian says, “for anyone’s loss is a loss for all of us.” Healing the wound is important, no matter how it happened. Assigning fault is the first step in retributive justice, not necessarily reconciliation. Even to prepare the way for reconciliation is a step in the right direction.

3) Memory – Have you ever recalled a slight from your youth and felt anger well up within you? This unresolved, unreconciled anger. We should work to root out all anger, hatred, and thoughts of retaliation. One step farther is to root out all memory of such things. Once we have forgiven, we need also to forget, so that the memories do not come back to haunt us, to stir up our anger, to disturb our prayer. Each time this happens, redirect your thoughts to charity and compassion. An inability to do this is a reminder of our weakness, and our need for God’s intervention in my life. Sometimes I will give as a penance to someone holding a grudge the following: kneel before the cross and imagine Christ looking out at you. Then imagine Christ looking at the person who has injured you, as well as others. We are in the same boat, that of the “Unworthy Sinners,” for whom (all of us) Christ has died.

4) Solitude – Anger is something that is within us, not something caused by our interactions with others. One of the lessons of solitude is that one finds one’s anger comes within him/her. So it is not something which we can rid ourselves of merely by taking ourselves out of the situation. Like lustful thoughts, angry thoughts come with us wherever we go. This realization leads one to face the anger, not flee from the situation.

5) Freedom – we are not in control of which thoughts come into our minds, but we ARE in control of which thoughts are entertained, which ones remain and which ones are cast out. Learn to be masters of your mind, to choose to meditate on the Good, the Beautiful, the Truth. To this end, read the Scriptures, sing Psalms or hymns which inspire, keep vigils in which we pray and even fast. Occupying your mind with these sort of thoughts keeps one away from thoughts of anger, greed, or lust. And we are free to choose, if we can develop the discipline to master our minds.

In our busy world of today, do not fail to seek the calm and peace that the Spirit offers the gentle soul.

Father Albert, O.S.B.