Friday of the First Week of Lent - Matthew 5:20-26
In today’s Gospel Jesus is talking about holding
onto grudges, anger, hurt, and hatred. I assume that most of us do not hate
someone. However, I am sure that all of us have dealt with grudges, anger, hurt,
and jealousy at various times in our lives. These are emotions that we all
have. They are part and parcel of being human. Do we always like these
emotions? Most likely not! Yet, these emotions that we may consider negative
are as much part of us as are the positive emotions, such as love, gratitude,
appreciation, hope, understanding, and faith!
As human beings, we experience both ends of the
spectrum of emotions: positive and negative. Today Jesus is talking to his
disciples about the choices we have. We can choose to focus on the emotions
that we know are positive and make us feel good: love, hope, generosity, and
faith, or we can choose to focus on the emotions that disturb us and upset us:
anger, jealousy, etc.
The reality is that our emotions are neither “bad”
nor “good.” They simply are! However, we have to learn how to deal with the
gamut of emotions. For those of you who are parents, how did you teach your
children to deal with their emotions? Did you teach them to throw temper
tantrums, hit others, and act out? I assume not! However, we do not always
practice what we preach.
We all know what Jesus is asking us to do. It
is not easy! At these times, it may be helpful to vent to a friend or to sit
down and write a letter to God, expressing all that you are feeling in your
journal. Most of all, we need to pray for the grace, the strength, and the wisdom
we need at this time. What will we choose today? It is up to us. We have the
power and God will give us the grace that we need. Do we trust this reality?
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