Matthew 5: 20-26

Meditatio (Reflecting)

But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raqa,’ will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna.

Oratio (Responding)

This is a high bar for most of us that are not saints yet. But we are all called to forgive without consideration of anything in return. rhuminating on past slights leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering, and most people dont have the ability to deal with these emotions, and ultimately lash out with words or violence, which perpetuates the cycle. Jesus’ commandment here, short circuits this by ending the cycle before it even begins. forgiveness, heals not only you but the one that is hurting you, and that is why it is the genius answer to this problem of anger. We have all had the experience where something that was making us angry, when we find out the source is an innocent mistake that we are immediately not angry. If it is so easy to not be angry in those situations why is it so much harder when it is intentionally done the answer is that we choose it, whether it is pride, or injustice, or some other combination of sins, we choose to be angry, and respond according to that choice. It is not rational, or acceptable, we must, with God’s help try to choose to forgive instead of be angry. This is not something we can do on our own, but with gods help we can be better at it.

Contemplatio (Contemplating)

Take time to simply remain in the presence of God.