CMP Review 2024-04-28

“There is no sin, no vice that gives one such a foretaste of hell in this life as anger and impatience,” wrote Catherine of Siena. “[The impatient] are unwilling to bear or tolerate their neighbors’ shortcomings; they don’t even know how to! Anything that is done or said to them sets them flying, their emotions stirred to anger and impatience like a leaf in the wind!”

In recent years, Dr. S. M. Davis has spoken at length about the destructive impact of anger within families. “Rebellion in youth seldom goes away until parents deal, not just with anger, but with their spirit of anger,” he explains. He points to the moment in Luke 9 when James and John ask if they should “command fire to come down from heaven, and consume” the Samaritans. Jesus rebuked not only their anger, but also their spirit of anger: “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of” (Luke 9:55).

Many justify anger when it is expressed as righteous indignation. And when is indignation ever more righteous than when the honor of Christ is at stake? Charlotte Mason explores this question in her poem entitled “The Samaritan Village.” What is the root of anger, and what is its fruit? Examine your spirit as you read or hear Mason’s poem here.

@artmiddlekauff