Positives, Negatives, and Gratitude
Fr. Tony’s Paw Prints Article
November 4, 2022
“Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God.”
― Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ
In recent weeks, I have seen too often hatred and condemnation in the faces of others, whether from the pious “religious” people taking issue with those of us they condemn as departing from God’s pure ways, or true belief and practice, or from people hurt by the religious and reacting in anger and contempt, or from partisan activists on either side of the left/right divide blaming those on the other side of the divide for all the ills they see in the world.
Their barely contained anger and resentment contrasted with my memories of a former mentor and spiritual director of mine: a Buddhist nun in a small temple in the mountains north of Taipei Taiwan. She was joyous. I can’t think of a time when I did not see her smiling. She clearly said and expressed her beliefs and opinions, but there was never a whiff of anger or resentment in her. All she did was done with joy, gratitude, and empathy for others, especially those who disagreed with her.
We are called to be Jesus’ disciples. That means following him, and emulating him. He had his enemies, to be sure. And he said that in following him, we would have enemies also. But he taught clearly: love your enemies. It is clear that on rare occasion Jesus got angry or impatient with those who used religion as a means of oppressing others, spelling out in no uncertain terms where he thought they had gone astray. But when I think of Jesus, I think of him with that gentle smile of deep joy of my Buddhist master, not with the condemning grimace of partisan purity.
We often think that following Jesus means conforming to outward rules or higher principles, following his “commandments” and keeping his “ways.” But if this is mere outward conformity of actions or inward thought-policing, it misses the heart of the matter.
Jesus invites us into metanoia, often translated as “repentance,” but better understood as “a change of the mind” or “a turning of the heart.” Jesus invites us to close relationship with God, who in his mind was not a warring potentate or dour judge, but rather an intimate and loving parent. Gratitude should be our default. Gratitude drives out fear, alienation, and contempt. It encourages empathy and forgiveness. That is why he asks us to pray “forgive us our debts as we forgive the debts owed us.”
The fruits of the spirit according to Galatians are “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (5:22). If we think we are being touched by the spirit or spoken to by God, but what we get is anger, resentment, fear, and contention, we are probably mistaken. Joy and peace are what the spirit give, what God inspires in our hearts, not partisan posturing or manipulation of others so that they give us what we want in a constant struggle for dominance of submission.
Perhaps as a check on ourselves and the lies we tell ourselves, we should ask ourselves, throughout the day, “Am I smiling?” “Am I trying to understand this person so different from me?” “Am I thankful?” When angry, we should ask, “What is it about me that makes me react in this way? What fears and insecurities?” and not “why can’t that creep over there just change?”
Grace and peace,
Fr. Tony+
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