When angry or offended
H/t to a dear friend who would probably be scandalized to learn where this has been re-posted. 😉
by Fr. Alexander Elchaninov
The Diary of a Russian Priest
What shall we do to avoid feeling angry and offended, when we are insulted and injured? Must we bear it, clenching our teeth? Must we train our self-control and develop our patience? This is all right in itself, but yet it is not the real thing: it is only an exterior, non-Christian way, devoid of grace. The only true way is to keep in mind constantly and every minute the exalted goal we are pursuing, to ‘set the Lord always before me: because He is at my right hand,’ (Psalm 16:8)…When we are depressed by an offense, when we are angry, our sin consists in the fact that, at that moment, our heart has lost its faith and love of Christ, and that we have fallen short of the lofty goal which our calling as Christians requires of us, at that moment, we have grown so narrow in our outlook that we can only remember the letter which we were writing before we were disturbed, the book which we wanted to read, a thousand trifles which have wounded us, and above all we think of ourselves – all the time of ourselves. ‘I have set the Lord always before me: because He is at my right hand.” This is the only path, so may God confirm you in it.