Do the scriptures we hear at mass make a difference in our lives? We go to mass week after week, year after year and hear the same cycle of readings again every three years. We listen to the Word of God carefully at mass, including the priest’s homily, but do we remember what the scripture readings were about later in the day? Can we recall what the priest’s homily was about later in the week? The first reading for mass today says “a veil lies over their minds” and I’m afraid that applies to many of us when we attend mass as well.
One thing that might help us to participate more fully in the mass and remember more of what the scripture readings for Sunday was about, is to read them before we go to mass. Read the scriptures either the night before, or early in the morning the day before we go to mass. Then, after the Sunday mass maybe consider reserving some quiet time for reflection in the afternoon. Even when you are washing dishes or making the bed or changing the oil on the car, you can have time for reflection while you do these simple tasks if you have silence. Maybe once a week, turn off the television and the music and observe a period of silence on Sunday afternoons. Shopping and errands can be done on Saturdays or during the week, to allow some quiet time on Sunday afternoons. God speaks in the silence and simple manual labor undertaken in silence is fertile ground to hear his voice. There is so much noise in the world, is there any wonder we lose a sense of God’s presence in our lives? He’s there. We just can’t hear Him for the noise and the constant activities we do.
The reason we need time for silence to reflect on the scriptures once a week is so we can understand how they apply to us personally, in our own lives. Are our lives in tune with the Gospel? If not, we do not need to feel guilty for this, but simply decide to work on that in the coming week.
The Gospel today is about anger. Jesus spoke out very clearly about anger and that we could be, “liable to the hell of fire” because of anger and how we treat one another. We may hear these words read at mass and yes, they make sense intellectually, but do we take them to heart? Or, are we like the scriptures in the first reading today that says, “a veil lies over their minds?” We think this applies to other people, not us. Other people make us angry, and justifiably so! They deserve it because they did something wrong or didn’t live up to our expectations of them.
Anger is actually one of the seven deadly sins and can be a mortal sin if it is serious enough. This alone should make us pay more attention to our anger and prompt us to get it under control before it hurts anyone else. But, how many people hear homilies about anger and the danger of going to hell because of the way we treat one another when we are angry, and yet leave the parking lot at church angry at the people that are in the way?
Anger is often a disguised need to control others. We think things should be a certain way, the right way, which is of course our way, and when others do not behave the way we think they should, we get angry. The thing is, we can’t control other people. We can only control ourselves. Other people and situations are not what makes us angry, we are often angry because of a lack of control over the situations we find ourselves in.
A different way of looking at anger, might be to put it in God’s hands. Most things are out of our control anyway, so why not turn it over to God? It also helps to remember that the angry person is the one with the problem and leave the anger with them. There is such a thing as justifiable anger, but even then it should be controlled.
Jesus gave us some really good examples in the Gospels on how to handle our anger. When the crowd’s anger got out of hand, he simply walked away and let them deal with it. Christ’s anger in driving the money changers out of the temple was justified though.
In connection with anger the catechism (cc:2304) says “Respect for and development of human life require peace.” The word development indicates that we are all at different stages of our lives and spiritual development and that none of us will be able to grow into our fullest potential as a human being without respect for our human dignity, and peace.
We want to be treated with respect for our human dignity and to have a peaceful life, so let us try to treat others this way as well.
Prayer in Time of Anger
Lord Jesus,
there is anger in my heart
and I cannot root it out.
I know that I should calm down
and offer the hurt and disappointment to You,
but my emotion is running away with me.
Help me to overcome this weakness
and give me peace of heart as well as mind.
Let me learn from this experience
and grow into a better human being.
Amen.
