Homily 23 January 2005 By Fr. Hathaway FSSP Mater Dei Latin Mass Community
Septuagesima Sunday
On Love is not Provoked to Anger
St. Paul writes, “Love is not provoked to anger” (1 Cor. 13:5) which
St. Alphonsus Liguori (The Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ)
explains, “Those who love Jesus Christ never get angry with their
neighbor.”
Meekness is the virtue which restrains anger. It is one of the
virtues most praised by our dear Lord, “Learn from Me for I am meek and
humble of heart.”
Obviously, the meek are very dear to our Blessed Savior. Who are
the meek? St. Alphonsus says the meek are those who suffer
affronts, derision, calumnies, persecutions, beatings and wounds, yet
do not grow angry at those who insult or beat them.
As the meek live the life of the Savior who suffered in silence, so the
prayers of the meek please God greatly. “The prayer of the humble
and meek has always pleased Thee.” (Judith 9:16) The meek are
promised heaven in a special way, “Blessed are the meek for they shall
inherit the earth.” (Mt 5:4) Moreover, the meek obtain even peace
on earth, “The meek shall inherit the land, and delight themselves in
abundant prosperity.” (Ps 36:11)
St. Alphonsus identifies grades of meekness. He says the meeker a
man is the more he will have a low opinion of himself; indeed, the
truly meek know they ought to be scorned. On the other hand, the
less a man is meek the more he will have a high opinion of
himself. Again, the meek man is a truly humble man; the less a
man is meek, the more he is proud. This relationship is implicit
in our Lord’s lesson, “Learn from Me for I am meek and humble of
heart;” the virtues of meekness and humility directly oppose the vices
of anger and pride… which are also closely bound together.
St. Alphonsus says the truly meek man is a dead man; a corpse. He
relates the verse, “Blessed are the dead, who die in the Lord” to those
who no-longer live for self but for God; those who are blessed have
died to self. Just as a dead person does not mind to be abused
and stepped upon by others, so the truly meek live like corpses.
Thus, the truly meek endure abuse without seeking to get even.
St. Alphonsus says those who love Jesus Christ, those who conform
themselves to His will in all things, will “easily attain” this degree
of meekness.
“Easily?” Yeah right, we say. Indeed, this degree of meekness
seems unattainable to us common folk… who are so quick to place a bad
motive in the action of our neighbor. Without a goal, however, we
could aim at nothing. We should always aim for greater
meekness. Nor will such striving be without reward. Peace
of soul is a great treasure. The meek have this treasure.
Amid all their afflictions, the meek remain at peace. Is this not
a good reason to strive for it ourselves? As St. Francis de Sales
observes, “What is the whole world in comparison to peace of heart.”
Now how can I advance in meekness? Listen to St. Francis de
Sales, who had the anger of a lion which he tamed to the meekness of
a lamb.
St. Francis de Sales says we must resist anger; must never open the
door to anger under any pretext. The reason is simple. Once
anger grips us it can not be tamed. Thus, to remedy our natural
bent towards anger we must reject angry thoughts immediately by
distracting the mind and remaining silent; by imitating the apostles on
the stormy sea who called upon the Lord to rescue them; and should
anger have us already in a headlock, we must forcefully calm ourselves
and speak gently and humbly toward the person who angered us.
It is hard work. St. Francis said it took him twenty years of
toilsome labor to tame his anger.
But someone may say, “Should we not vent our anger? Should we not
set our abuser straight? I am not a Christian doormat; I wear no
“tread on me” shirt.”
St. Alphonsus reminds us that venting gets us nowhere. If
someone agitates us, stirs us to rage, do we not react as if our peace
will return if only we “set him straight” with a few hot words?
But what is the result? If we unleash our anger, do we not feel
more upset then before? St. John Chrysostom says, “Fire cannot be
extinguished by fire;” if we wish to maintain our peace, we must never
surrender to anger.
But someone will say, “What if our anger is reasonable. Certainly,
reasonable anger must be okay.” On this question, St. Alphonsus
cites St. Francis de Sales who says, “We must practice meekness, not
only with reason, but against reason.”
Sometimes it seems laudable – even a duty - to vent our anger, “Be
angry and sin not.” (Ps 4:5) St. Alphonsus says in
theory there are times when it seems fitting to harshly rebuke people
in order that they amend their ways. In practice, however,
this is very difficult to do without committing a fault. He says
the more sure path is a gentle correction; one without taking
offense. Thus, in a heated moment, should our anger grip us, we
must remain silent and not reply until we cool off.
Again, the question may be raised, “But our Blessed Lord was angry even
violent toward the money changers. May we not follow His
example?” To which the only answer is, “yes, after we obtain His
degree of virtue.”
St. Alphonsus says meekness is especially to be practiced when friends
or superiors correct us. St. Francis de Sales observes that the
happy acceptance of corrections shows we love the virtues which oppose
the faults committed; “this is a sign that we are making progress in
perfection.”
Nor let us forget to be meek towards ourselves. The devil tempts
us to think it a virtue when we get mad at our self for some sin or
fault. This is a deception. The devil wants souls to be
restless for then he more easily induces them to lose heart. St.
Francis de Sales says disquieting thoughts are not from God who is the
Prince of Peace, but are either of the devil, self love, or the high
opinion we have of ourselves. Therefore, if disquieting thoughts
invade our soul we must expel them.
Finally, meekness is essential to correct someone properly.
Overzealous corrections do more harm than good. Regarding
others, if the offender is angry himself, we wait until the anger has
cooled down; if we are in a bad mood, we wait until we are in
peace. Regarding ourselves, if we are abused and scorned, we need
to see this as an opportunity to prove our love for God and endure this
with peacefulness and cheer.
After “Love is not provoked to anger,” St. Paul writes, “Love thinks no
evil (rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices with the truth),” which
St. Alphonsus explains, “Those who love Jesus Christ want nothing
except what Jesus Christ wants.” This will be our topic
next time.