Silver and Gold, Silver and Gold

Happy belated Christmas in July.

As we draw through these scorching days of summer, finally approaching the end of the bell curve of summer heat, we see more and more of us not-so-happy-go-lucky amid the uncomfortableness.  There are no major focuses on penance at this time in the Church calendar, such as Lent or Advent, and we are sort of in a spiritual fog amid the muck and malaise of the humidity; a sort of nursery for agitation and ingratitude, complainers many of us are.

In the Monday Gospel reading on the seventh of August, Jesus was deeply saddened and distraught at the murder of St. John and withdrew in a boat to mourn.  Matt 14:13.  No more best friend and cousin (who knew him since youth) to back Him up with such intensity, never denying Him or running away when faced with fear or dread. Did Jesus think about His words to us, in His dissertation on anger and lust in Matthew 5, when He could glaringly see the connection between the two vices in King Herod’s heart and the envy of Herodias?

Those two coupled vices of anger and lust blinded Herod to such a degree, that he actually killed someone who he was quite possibly on the cusp of heeding.  In Mark’s version of the Gospel, that little flame for God was lit in Herod’s heart for John’s message… and the envious mother dropped the lid on that little flame with the snuffer platter lid; what a Jezabel (Mark 6:20).  Even though Herod was filled with iniquity, he may have repented had not Herodias committed her crime!

Our Lord states in Matthew 5, “If you grow angry with a brother,” as it progresses, you risk losing your soul… and if you lust after another’s wife (same principle, even if unmarried) you also risk losing your soul; interestingly, Our Lord doesn’t offer us the “three-tier” method for discerning lust as he does with anger!  I numbered Our Lord’s words below to accentuate attention to the three tiers.  Even more interesting is how Christ couples these two in their own clause… seems like St.Ambrose was “right on” when he said: “Impurity is the mother and hothouse of all vices!”

Following is the voice of Our Lord in Matthew 5: 20-32, Christ, the Master of Hyperbole, underscores the effects of sin.  I left out the Bible numbers since as Catholics we tend to be more familiar with
where the houses are in the neighborhood, more than the house numbers, paraphrasing an insight of Biblical scholar and Presbyterian convert Dr. Scott Hahn.

I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.’
But I say to you, 1) whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, 2) and whoever says to his brother, ’empty-skull,’ will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, 3) and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna.
Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court with him. Otherwise, your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison.
Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.
You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna (Hell).
And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into Gehenna.
It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a bill of divorce.’
But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

We submit to the Church’s admonitions regarding culpability for sins; but simultaneously, we must not “lighten up” on the emphasis Our Lord asked us to have aforementioned,

Imputability and responsibility for an action can be diminished or even nullified by ignorance, inadvertence, duress, fear, habit, inordinate attachments, and other psychological or social factors (CCC 1735).

Anger and lust, anger and lust… I can almost hear Burl Ives singing that, as he did in his Silver and Gold Christmas hit decades ago. This is not so much a trivialization, but if anything, a reaction like the coal miners of years past. When a mine would collapse on them, those who were fortunate enough to be rescued would later tell how workers laughed hysterically among one another during their entrapment and highly possible death, as the air ran out, as a built-in survival instinct. Or maybe their hearts were prepared to meet their Maker?

Through Our Lady’s prayers, may any anger and lust in our hearts be refined into the silver and gold of a firm purpose of amendment in confession and many well-made Holy Communions (see Prov 17:3 and 1 Pet 1:6-7)