Category: Explore – Featured Articles

Luxuria – intense longing, usually thought of as intense or unbridled sexual desire [including] fornication, adultery, rape, bestiality, and other sinful sexual acts, [but also includes] desire in general [such as] for money, power, and other things

– Wikipedia (grammartorial)

Recognize this sin? It’s one the world advertises most these days – without the disclaimer that it’s bad for you, body and soul. Despite its prevalence, it remains socially unacceptable to discuss in even unmixed gatherings. For example, as a Catholic discussing this with another self-professed Catholic, one might think we’d be on the same page. More often, I’m instead mocked or yelled at (or both).

Dicey.

Luckily, this is a busy week, so I don’t expect anyone to throw digital rotten tomatoes at me.

Luxuria and Lust

Luxuria – luxury; extravagance

– Wiktionary

Lust is an inordinate desire for or pleasure from something. The something may be anything – money, power, pleasure, anything. The key here is the inordinate desire of something or a disordered way of desiring it. For example, desiring enough money to pay the bills in and of itself isn’t sinful; wanting an extreme amount of money may cross the line into inordinate desire, and trying to get money by stealing it certainly crosses the line into obtaining it in a disordered manner.

Lust – a psychological force producing intense wanting or longing for an object, or circumstance fulfilling the emotion; can take any form such as the lust for sexuality, love, money or power.

– Wikipedia

Wikipedia covers the swath that lust entails. Specifically, it is “an inappropriate desire or a desire that is inappropriately strong” for anything. However, given several moving parts (including gluttony, another deadly sin to cover the rest), this one focuses on sexual desire in particular.

The focus of luxuria is on the sexual side of the sin for a few reasons. First, it’s different from other foci because it is the distortion of the self whereas everything else is a warping of externalities. It takes a gift that God granted humanity, darkens it, twists it, and allows that charred inner self to make a claim on the light against both the self and the rule and love of God. In other words, it takes a God-given gift and turns it against us.

Second, it is not only specifically a distortion of the self, but it may also be a distortion of the marital partner. Specifically, a spouse has full claim to the other’s body, and denying them the spousal right is contrary to the dignity of the spouse as a person. Put simply, if you are married, your body belongs to your spouse; if you are not married but one day will marry, actions you take against your body are taken against your future spouse. The lust need not deprive the spouse in a way that we can measure (such as cheating on them or even simply disinterest in involvement as a result) because it impacts the relationship on an emotional level regardless of physical evidence.

Why is Lust Sinful?

You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s.

Exodus 20:14, 17 (6th and 9th commandments)

First of all, it goes against the sixth and ninth commandments. Second, the Catechism of the Catholic Church discusses how it causes a divide between us and God. Lust attacks the integrity of the person and personhood in general. Further, it wrings purity from our hearts, driving us farther away from God.

The body is not meant for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

– 1 Corinthians 6:13

Further, the body is meant to glorify God and bring us closer to Him. You have a divine nature because you are made in the image and likeness of God! Thus, sinning against that nature is also sinning against God, twisting His nature to use Him against Himself.

What Counts as Lust?

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

– Jesus in Matthew 5:27-28

It takes less than physically acting on a desire, but more than simply having one. Clearly, fornication falls into the realm of lustfully sinful action, and appreciating someone as beautiful doesn’t. The line is somewhere between the two, but where?

I’ve heard of the idea of “second look” or “second glance.” The concept is that the first look doesn’t count because you don’t know what you might see (it could be a turtle, or a car, or a rock), but after knowing what it is, looking again because you specifically want to see it again.

It’s not quite complete, but it’s a good base to build on. The intentionality has to be there, and you only need the first glance to form intention. However, you also need to build the inordinate desire from the first glance – not mere curiosity or confusion or nothing at all because you weren’t really looking. There would need to be intentionality as a result of rousing inordinate desire.

Summary

Lust is the excessive desire of something. In the context of the deadly sins, it’s sexual in nature, appealing to basal instincts and animalistic traits. It’s sinful because it harms ourselves as people, at least mentally and emotionally, and also to our spouses (present time or otherwise). More critically, it harms our relationship with God because it perverts gifts that He gave us.

Thoughts? Questions? Digital rotten tomatoes? Let me know in the comments!

Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

– Ephesians 4:22-24

I waited patiently for the Lord;
He inclined to me and heard my cry.
He drew me up from the desolate pit,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the Lord.
Blessed is the man who makes
the Lord his trust.

– Psalm 40:1-4

This week, we’ve looked at the deadly sin of anger (Latin: ira) the corresponding virtues of patience (Latin: patientia; principal) and faith (theological). At first glance, this may be an odd grouping; however, peeling through even just the surface layers shows an intimate connectedness between these three. In short, faith grants us patience which stems wrath.

Reflection Story:
Call Me Patient, Watch Me Laugh

I had an interesting conversation with my mother.

I’d been actively searching for work for a year, and we have been both baffled and frustrated by my lack of success. As someone who finds great fulfillment in work, I sincerely and deeply want to work, and I’ve been working hard and pulling long hours to find work. I do things far outside of my comfort zone on a frequent basis, such as networking, cold calling and emailing, and even asking others for help. (Gasp!) My to-do lists running long with tasks both tedious and arduous, I managed to accomplish everything each day, and I still felt like I was failing because there’s nothing concrete to show for my efforts. I often feel like a failure. Yet, every morning, I get back up and do something to try to achieve this goal.

After a year of this, I suffered from a most quizzical and even more frustrating setback: I was not hired for a job within my field that I was well (and overly) qualified for despite the hiring group clearly needed many more recruits. I literally called it (to myself) my “safety” position, referencing the college a high schooler applies to just in case they don’t make it into their stretch school or second-best-on-paper university, and was rejected from it. I was rejected from my safety spot.

After a year of plowing forward, and pushing for the end goal, and working hard for apparently-naught, and pulling long hours without a paycheck, and still getting rejected from this position, for a minute, I was ready to give up. I felt like an unemployable schmuck. As I closely tie my identity to the work I get done, this was a devastating blow. Finally confessing my frustration to my mother, she replied with something I didn’t expect to hear:

You have a lot of patience.

– Mom

Patience. I had been working so hard and for so long with no results, I certainly didn’t feel patient; I felt like I had wasted a year’s worth of energy, a year’s worth of peace, and a year’s worth of time. How many other things I could have accomplished in that time had I known that they were all dead ends!

Yet I push on. Even still, out on “vacation,” I continue to work and network, even packing a suit in case of the off-chance last minute interview. I have some sort of intrinsic faith that the process will work out if I keep at it. Why? Maybe I’m afraid of langoliers, but most of the time I’m moving forward in peaceful determination.

How? Why?

I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

– Jeremiah 29:11

Every time I come to my wit’s end, I run into Jeremiah. It might be via seeing a sign during a stroll down the street or listening to a song on the radio, but the timing is always just right. The verse refuels me and I crawl up my rope. The verse alone is powerless; what gives it influence is the trust that I have in its truth. What gives the verse power is faith.

But why do I trust in the Lord? I can list of a number of “coincidences” in my life, not the least of which being my survival through some pretty opaque circumstances. I can delineate a number of times when I didn’t have the courage, strength, patience, fortitude, intellect, foresight, humility, or kindness to properly move forward, yet something great happened through me despite (or because of) my weakness. I also have a list of “narrow escapes” of goals I had my heart set on that I was detoured from which led others to destruction. However, being human, these things only have due meaning when I reflect on them, and I don’t often do so. Think about it: when’s the last time you reflected on a narrow escape from two decades ago, or even an annoying red light that kept you from being in a traffic accident last week?

This is substantiating evidence, but it only substantiates faith already established. I could write off everything if I wanted to, but that wouldn’t make sense: I’m a scientist – an engineer – after all; I don’t throw away data. Armed with an arsenal of facts, the path starts to reveal itself; even if the next few steps aren’t clear, hindsight is still 20/20.

Every time I stop to evaluate the data, I’m filled with a sense of peace because they all seem to be leading in a particular direction: away from this, nearer there but tangentially, way away from that. There’s a pattern. I’m still puzzling it out, but when I look at the last decade (or even longer), there’s a clear pattern.

Patience and Faith

I again humbly assert that I don’t find myself to be particularly patient, but I am getting better. My level of patience is clearly directly tied to my level in faith: faith in the system, faith in people, faith that I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing. My trust in all of these things can be shaken, though; the system, people, and my own actions have all let me down at times. Everything manmade is fallible.

In contrast, when I’ve placed my faith in God, I haven’t been let down. Faith and patience go hand-in-hand; humans are more and more a people of “now” whereas God seems to smile at our restlessness. So we wait diligently in faith, and we’re rewarded for our efforts. The results may be unexpected, but it shines a light on a better option; the road may be frightening, but traversing it shows us our own strength and leads to more than we dare hope for.

Countering Anger

With faith and patience, it’s a lot easier to not get upset about things. With an eye to the future, we can see not only the consequences of our actions, but those of the actions of others, and the power of God in the overarching plan. This isn’t to say “karma,” though karma is a biblical principle; rather, we place trust in God that He will ensure things will turn out the way they are meant to.

The more faith we place in God, the less ground there is to be shaken beneath our feet because God never fails. He does things in a divine way, not a human way, so we don’t always understand the path, but He always gets us where we’re supposed to go, where we need to be, where we flourish. Holding on to that trust in God, we know that, in the overall picture, whatever we’re going through has a purpose. Having faith in purposefulness enables us to accept difficult times, situations, and actions instead of getting upset.

Before you roll your eyes, this concept is gaining recognition in the secular world. Purpose in the working world is seen as a “secret weapon,” often ignored yet increasing returns for companies because it improves employee performance. I’ve found it helps me to overlook passive aggressiveness at the water cooler; sometimes it’s intentional whereas other times I don’t notice the intended slight until later. Even in the middle of internal turmoil, I was someone anyone could speak to – not because I didn’t pick a side but because everyone saw that I didn’t harbor cross-hostilities. There was too much to accomplish to worry about petty squabbles.

Summary: Faith -> Patience = Wrath Counter

Ira translates to wrath or anger; it’s lethal because it triggers other sins such as deliberately wishing harm on others. Patientia translates to patience, endurance, and forbearance; it calls for us to hold fast to peace in turbulent times. Patientia counters ira because it redirects energy from anger to staying the course. We know we want to stay the course because faith tells us there is a goal at the end of the road, and the goal is worth the effort. Faith is substantiated by evidence and “by no means a blind impulse of the mind.“

Preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching.

– 2 Timothy 4:2

Song of the Day: It Is Well

There are many renditions of this song; one of my favorites is Bethel Music’s version which medleys it with You Make Me Brave.

Faith… is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or concept. In the context of religion, one can define faith as confidence or trust in a particular system of religious belief. Religious people often think of faith as confidence based on a perceived degree of warrant, while others who are more skeptical of religion tend to think of faith as simply belief without evidence.

– Wikipedia

Yes. To all of this. Wikipedia’s summary of faith is the most accurate description I’ve ever heard of any term, particularly a term with varying views. It denotes what faith is while connoting the depth of contrasting viewpoints.

I further appreciate the “often” and “tend” language of the last sentence because I’ve met many people who thought opposite what their role would indicate. I have met religious folk who are hostile to the notion of supporting their beliefs with evidence. I have also met those without faith who pointed out a great deal of evidence in its favor, one even crying out in frustration, upset at lacking the faith even though it it all “makes sense.”

Faith is Necessary for Salvation

He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.

– Jesus in Mark 16:16

So… that’s pretty straightforward. It gets a little complicated later, but the assertion alone seems plain as day. This assertion is echoed in John as well as the epistles.

Faith is a Gift from God

Faith is a gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused by Him.

– Catechism of the Catholic Church

This entire segment of the Catechism is interesting to read, but this is the specific part relevant to this subtopic. I highly recommend perusing it further. It references a few Bible verses; below is the most apropos.

Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

– Jesus in Matthew 16:17

Jesus asked who the apostles thought He was. Peter responded, saying Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God – the One the Jewish people had been waiting for as a fulfillment of the covenant made centuries past. God made a promise, and Peter’s response to the inquiry was that God was making good on His promise. Peter showed that he trusted God at His word by believing that Jesus is Who He says He is.

This was the faith of Peter. Jesus points out that it’s not Peter himself who figured it out; rather, God did. God pointed out the reality to Peter, granting Peter faith. God gave Peter the faith to trust in His promises, including the fulfillment of the covenant in Jesus.

The Circular Debate on Faith as a Gift from God

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God.

– Ephesians 2:8

This verse has generated contentious debate about whether faith is a gift from God or whether the “it” instead refers to grace or salvation. Both faith and grace make great candidates as the “it” as the antecedent basis was set in the previous half-sentence; salvation also makes for a great candidate because it’s the topic of the letter. As such, “it” may refer to any of the three: faith, grace, or salvation.

As my brother would say, “I’mma simple potatah fahmah from Maine; I like simple.” Feel free to delve into the depths of theology, but for the time being, I’ll pass. Why?

It’s a moot point. Here’s why:

These are the the venue options suggested by various interpretations of the passage. Regardless of the path taken, the start point is the same and the end point is the same. The order and clumping-or-not of stuff in the middle is just gravy.

“Gift + Necessity:” Why This Debate Matters

It’s pretty clear that, one way or another, to be saved (or simply to not be condemned) requires faith. Faith is a gift from God that we may join Him at the end of our Earthly lives. God loves all of His children and wants all of us to be saved and join Him in heaven. However, some are given the gift of faith and others are not. Why?

I can’t fully answer that, but I do have an analogy. Faith is beyond belief; it requires works. Not for God, mind you, but for us: if we don’t put works into our faith, it will grow stale and die out.

Think of it like tending a literal fire. We have to prepare the wood fuel and add to it as the fire depletes it, eventually needing to go out and either purchase or cut down timber to feed the fire. We pile up the timber and the kindling – our works – but we still just have a pile of flammable stuff. At some point, prepared or not, God comes along with a flint and gives us a spark.

Excellent! Awesome, right? But there’s a “catch” of needing to continue to feed the fire. One spark is all it takes, but we need to nurture the spark into a full blaze and continue to feed it once it is burning. If we fail to feed the fire, it will slowly peter out as it depletes the wood.

Our faith is the same way. Maybe God struck the flint and the target person decided to stamp out the flicker of light; maybe they let it catch, but then severed it from the pile of fuel; maybe the pile was intentionally not built. Regardless, God gave us the spark we needed to get started, but it’s up to us to keep the fire burning.

Summary

Faith is trust in something or someone. It’s not (generally) blind, instead wisely depending on various data to determine whether something is true. The more we build up a knowledge of the whys, the sturdier our foundations of faith will be.

It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.

– Anne Frank, Diary of a Young Girl

What do you think about faith? How do you exercise your faith, whether it’s in God, loved ones, society, or anything else you place trust in?

Further Reading

• The Catechism of the Catholic Church has a couple of great sections on faith, specifically in the Profession of Faith (in which the importance of faith is delineated) and Life in Christ (in which the virtues are explained) sub(^2)sections.
  
  More on the debate about whether or not faith is a gift:
• Bibliotheca Sacra offers an intriguing article which makes some great points but also stumbles on some critical ones; I enjoyed the insight but ultimately disagree with the conclusion. (First, because it’s both and the way the question is asked prevents that answer. Second, because everything is ultimately a gift from God. #TrumpCard.)
• Apologetics Press offers a similar dissection of the topic but with the addition of a key word which makes the argument more cogent: “Faith is not a direct gift from God.”

Patientia – patience, endurance, forbearance

– WordHippo

That’s Three Different Things…

You’re right. Translations between languages are imprecise: English may have a word for something that Latin doesn’t (what would the Romans call a computer or a telephone?), and Latin has terms that English doesn’t quite capture. The same in-equality of translation exists with modern language; that’s why we sometimes borrow words and insert them as-is. Schadenfreude, for example, is often dropped into American English conversation; it’s a German word referring to the enjoyment someone gets from the misfortune of another.

But What Is Patientia?

It’s an amalgamation of the three words: patience, endurance, and forbearance. Let’s look at each in turn, then put them together.

What Constitutes Patience?

Patience (or forbearance) is the ability to endure difficult circumstances such as perseverance in the face of delay; tolerance of provocation without responding in annoyance/anger; or forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties. Patience is the level of endurance one can have before negativity. It is also used to refer to the character trait of being steadfast. Antonyms include hastiness and impetuousness.

– Wikipedia

Patience is staying the course during the wait. It looks more like I looked up perseverence than patience; I think of standing fast for patience and pressing on for perseverance, a notable difference between the two. Wiki seems to conflate them.

Wikipedia also describes it as “before negativity.” Part of patience – or at least learning to be patient – is holding on when faced with negativity. Sometimes it intermixes with us, poisoning our thoughts, yet we manage to stay the course, withholding harshness by sheer force of will. Even moreso, this is precisely what makes someone patient: confronting negativity and refusing to participate.

I want a second opinion. Let’s check out a dictionary.

Patience: the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.

– Oxford dictionary

Ha-ha! I feel vindicated; there’s no mention of not being effected by the negativity, just that it isn’t allowed to push one into upset.

What About Endurance?

Endurance: the ability to endure an unpleasant or difficult process or situation without giving way; the capacity of something to last or to withstand wear and tear.

– Oxford dictionary

Something is un-fun, yet the one who endures makes it through.

This isn’t so much about a state of mind as it is standing a ground, remaining firm despite adversity.

Endurance is also used for long-haul exercises: if you can keep moving forward for an extended period of time despite the strenuous phyical and mental effort required, you have some measure of endurance. With respect to running, if you can run a marathon, you clearly have endurance; if you can run a supermarathon, you have even more endurance; if you can run from the French Quarter across the Pontchartrain Causeway and back for a Cafe au Lait, you’re superhuman. (Not the least of which for surviving the traffic; there isn’t designated pedestrian space, and I doubt its even allowed. Please do not attempt!)

And Forbearance?

Forbearance: patient self-control; restraint and tolerance.

– Oxford dictionary

Bingo! The restraint piece, the self-control component, is key. For something to be an exercise in patience, one must be tempted yet decide against the short-term want for the long-term goal.

And the Planet?

Shout out to all the space nerds: there’s a “minor planet” (a really big asteroid) named Patientia in the asteroid belt. The more you know!

Space: the final frontier!

Departing from the asteroid, back to the virtue…

Where’s Patience in the Bible?

I’m glad you asked! There are several references to patience; here are a few:

• Exodus 14:14
• Psalm 37:7
• Proverbs 14:29
• Proverbs 16: 32
• Habakkuk 2:3
• Philippians 4:5
• Romans 5:3-5
• Romans 8:25
• Romans 12:12
• Colossians 3:12
• Galatians 6:9

Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

– Romans 12:12

Summary

Retain peace while traversing difficult times; exercise self-control and restraint to stay at peace through the turbulence. We will face turbulence; that’s part of life; holding on to the peace of Christ is what we are called to do while navigating the storm. Hold fast, stay the course, and keep your eyes steady on the goal.

Further Reading

• For the lingophiles, here’s a list of unranslatable words from Global Lingo; my favorites include arigata-meiwaku (Japanese), uffda (Swedish), and l’esprit de l’escalier (French).

Ira:
Anger, wrath, rage, fury, ire;
Anger, resentment, rage, wrath, indignation, fury, violence, bad blood

– WordHippo; World of Dictionary

What is Ira? What Constitutes Anger?

Anger: a strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility.

– Oxford dictionary

Anger. What do you think of when you think of anger?

Sometimes people fly off the handle, maybe flailing and hurling insults, maybe growling and throwing lamps. Many times, the images that come to mind are raging attackers – a crazed Mafioso or an abusive partner. And of course, there are plenty of movies with scenes of wrath and destruction.

Hulk smash!

– Bruce Banner as The Hulk,
any (Marvel) movie with the Hulk in it

I have a rather odd relationship with anger. Whereas others often describe anger as a controlling emotion, I think of it as my control emotion: when I’m feeling something I don’t want to surface, I used to call on anger to block it. (I noticed I haven’t done this recently – meaning I’ve been more prone to crying, something much more uncomfortable for me.)

For example, if someone were to unjustifiably attack my character, I may rage back instead of admitting to feeling cornered and frightened. It’s a rather brilliant defense mechanism because either emotion could be valid, so a simple swap of symptoms covers the perceived weakness well. I would rather display (what I know to be controlled) anger than real hurt because real hurt means real weakness and real weakness means a future target to an assailant.

How do you view anger? To me, anger is a shield. I’ve seen it used as a weapon, but it’s such a blunt instrument that I don’t understand why people would intentionally use it as such. Any time my anger has wanted to act as a weapon, I’ve snapped at it: Stop being stupid. But as a shield, I at least feel in control.

Is Anger Always Bad?

No; God exhibits anger in various places throughout the Bible, and we know that God is good and allows no bad to dwell in Him.

Examples of God’s Anger:

God is a righteous judge,
and a God who has indignation every day.

– Psalm 7:11

~

The Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight; none was left but the tribe of Judah only.

– 2 Kings 17:18

Apparently it’s not always bad for us, either. Check out what Saint Paul wrote to the Ephesians:

Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you.

– Ephesians 4:26, 31

However, We Should Typically Avoid Anger

There are so many verses warning against anger throughout the entire Bible. Jesus speaks against wrath, saying to make amends with the people you’re fighting with before making any offering to God. Here are some major points:

Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

– Psalm 37:8

~

He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.

– Proverbs 14:29

~

A fool gives full vent to his anger,
but a wise man quietly holds it back.

– Proverbs 29:11

~

Be not quick to anger, for anger lodges in the bosom of fools.

– Ecclesiastes 7:9

~

The anger of man does not work the righteousness of God.

– James 1:20

~

“But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be liable to the hell of fire.”

– Jesus in Matthew 5:22

What’s the Difference Between Sinful and Non-Sinful Anger?

We are called to “peace of heart,” denouncing murderous anger and hatred because they are immoral. This is derived from the fifth commandment, you shall not steal; it also stems from the latter commandments (6-10) as well as the second of the two new commands Jesus gave us:

“Which commandment is the first of all?”
Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

– Mark 12:28-31

The line drawn in the Catechism is that anger is a mortal sin if it “reaches the point of a deliberate desire to kill or seriously wound a neighbor.” So, for example, saying exasperatedly, “I could kill him!” probably doesn’t rise to the level of mortal sin, but being to the point of intentionally wanting someone dead or seriously injured (with or without a verbal cue) is a mortal sin.

Interestingly, the Church includes “or seriously wound” as a mortal sin. I’ve heard on many occasions people say they wouldn’t want so-and-so dead, just, you know, run over by a bus or something. The Catechism goes on to explain that deliberately wishing evil – of any gravity, as no adjectives are used – is contrary to God’s desires and is thus sinful. It appears that the more grave the harm intended, the graver the sin, but any intention of harm is sinful. Before reading this segment of the Catechism, I wouldn’t have thought anything of it; now, I’m thinking I need to do an examination of conscience and perhaps make proper reconciliation before receiving Jesus in the Eucharist.

Summary

Anger is a deadly sin because it triggers other sins. Being angry is not in itself sinful, but wishing any harm is. (The Catechism follows Jesus’s lead in speaking about others, but Jesus loves you, too, so don’t wish any harm on yourself, either.) Deliberately desiring death or serious injury is a mortal sin. In short, be loving even when understanding may be beyond reach; don’t give evil a foothold to crawl in by poisoning yourself with anger.

What do you think? Has your perspective on anger changed at all? How do you keep from being angry?

Further Reading

• The Catholic Exchange offers insight on Recognizing Sinful Anger
• We are called to act, not react, as explained by the good folk at Got Questions: What does the Bible say about anger?

If the angels were capable of envy, they would envy us for two things: one is the receiving of Holy Communion, and the other is suffering.

Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska

Angelic Jealousy

That’s an interesting premise, isn’t it? Envy is unique to humans – neither animals nor angels possess the capability of envy. Also, the thought that angels would be jealous of humanity seems absurd to me: fighting a constant war waged to stave off evil while waiting for God’s perfect timing on the final battle. The tasks are varied, some fight with swords whereas others bandage warriors and still others keep the spirits of Earthly soldiers up, but everything goes toward the goal of the ultimate fight.

(Quick side bar: angels were given wings, humans were given free will [and the emotions and everything else that accompanies it] instead. We’re different in other ways, but this is the biggest one.)

The first of these two is pretty obvious: if angels can’t receive the Eucharist, they can’t receive Jesus in as full and complete a way as humans can. Catholics in good standing are invited to consume Jesus – body, blood, soul, and divinity – daily. (Daily! We’re required to do so on the Sabbath and other consecrated days, but we’re invited to eat Jesus daily!)

Hope in the Suffering

This level of closeness with God, with the Son of Man – it makes sense that someone who loves God but can’t receive Holy Communion would be jealous. But suffering? Saint-Pope John Paul II both lived serious suffering and wrote about its meaning. Here’s where I “date” myself: I can’t even. I can’t even fathom what he went through let alone figure out how he found purpose in the pain. I’m not there yet; hopefully eventually, but for right now, I’m in progress. He went further, writing that he finds not only purpose in the pain, but also hope.

I often find myself saying, with no trace of melancholy, a prayer recited by priests after the celebration of the Eucharist:
In hora mortis meae voca me, et iube me venire ad te—at the hour of my death, call me and bid me come to you.
This is a prayer of Christian hope, which in no way detracts from the joy of the present, while entrusting the future to God’s gracious and loving care.

Saint Pope John Paul II, Letter … to the Elderly

Hope. Hope is peeking through the window of our suffering because, even if we don’t know why we’re enduring it, we know it has to end at some point. But I’m still searching for something more. Thankfully, Saint-Pope JP-II isn’t the only one who speaks about hope in the darkness; Martin Luther King Junior added something to the conversation that strikes me directly.

Reason for the Darkness

Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.

Dr. Martin Luther King Junior, I’ve Been to the Mountaintop

This, this I understand. There is reason for the darkness of night. Growing up, one of my fondest memories is of walking in the yard at night, snow piled up on either side of my path, and simply appreciating the stillness and the stars. For a short while, it seemed that I was the only movement anywhere; even just thinking of the experience fills me with peace.

It’s also biologically beneficial for us to sleep in the dark: it not only preserves our circadian rhythm, but it also defends against diabetes, depression, and cancer. So many benefits from sleeping in darkness!

We have a natural need for the darkness. In the same way, we have a natural need for metaphorical darkness: how could we find the Light if we weren’t surrounded by darkness? And the farther we get from the Light, the darker it needs to get for us to find the Light.

Think about it: if you walk into a well-lit room at high noon, will you even notice if someone is cradling a lit candle? Contrast this with attending an Easter Vigil Mass: we start in the dark of night, in a dark sanctuary, and just one candle is lit. That one candle is visible from anywhere in the building as well as through the windows to anyone standing outside.

Ahhh! I’m getting tingles just thinking about it!

Summary: Hope -> Humanitas = Invidia Counter

Invidia, or envy, is unjustified wanting of something that belongs to another. Humanitas, or kindness and gratitude, counters envy because it calls on us to recognize the inherent dignity of people and act accordingly. Hope inspires us to look for reasons to be grateful; we have our eyes on the prize, and we know that having come so far, we’re that much closer to the goal. Thus, hope helps us with gratitude, which helps us with kindness. Each of these things, severally and together, fight against envy because who has time to be jealous when you’re counting your blessings?

What do you think? What keeps you hopeful, grateful, and kind? Leave me your tips in the comments!

Concentrate on counting your blessings and you’ll have little time to count anything else.

Woodrow Kroll

Song of the Day: Run Devil Run by Crowder

This song has been described as caffeine for your ears. It’s one of my favorites, especially when I need to re-energize my gratitude machine.

Further Reading:

• An amazing person uses Twitter to share the joy of puppies. This is potentially the cutest of the bunch.
• What does Bob Dylan have to do with the Eucharist? This excellent article explains one person’s journey with the real presence of Jesus at Holy Communion: The Eucharist Really Is Jesus
• Saint Pope John Paul II wrote the Salvici Doloris (literally, “Saving Suffering“)