Don’t blame your bad mood on someone else The cause of our gloominess is nowhere outside ourselves, says St. John Cassian. Depression grows like a weed from the seeds of our own faults. Sometimes depression is the fault of previous anger, or springs from the desire of some gain that has not been realized, when someone has found that he has failed in his hope of getting the things he had planned to get. But sometimes, without any apparent reason... Read more
Never be angry—at all Anger clouds our judgment, says St. John Cassian. The only way to be safe is to make up our minds not to be angry at all, even when we think we have a good reason. The athlete of Christ who plays by the rules ought to root out the feeling of wrath completely. And it will be a sure remedy for this disease, if in the first place we make up our mind that we ought... Read more
Blame yourself for your anger We often say that someone has “made” us angry. Don’t blame someone else, says St. John Cassian. You can’t control the actions of others, but you have control over your own virtue. Sometimes, when we have been overcome by pride or impatience, and we want to improve our rough and bearish manners, we complain that we require solitude—as if we should find the virtue of patience there where nobody provokes us. We apologize for our... Read more
This week publisher Image Books sponsors the giveaway. One lucky winner will receive a copy of Five Years in Heaven: The Unlikely Friendship that Answered Life’s Greatest Questions (you can read my review of the book here). I use Rafflecopter to run my giveaways which makes it simple for you and me! Enter below. The contest starts at midnight tonight EST and will end 12AM EST 5/08 with a winner being announced later that day. a Rafflecopter giveaway Read more
Find the right use for your anger The passion of anger blinds us and sends us tumbling into sin, says St. John Cassian. But there is one right use for it. We should be very angry at our own failings, and that anger should lead us to overcome them. From almost every cause the emotion of wrath boils over, and blinds the eyes of the soul, and, bringing the deadly beam of a worse disease over the keenness of our... Read more
Most everyone has that certain someone in their lives that they point to and say “they made a difference in my life.” Most of us keep that story to ourselves and treasure it as a special gift. On rare occasions some share their story in the hope and trust that it will make a difference in other’s lives as it did in their own. Such is the case with John Schlimm and his new book Five Years in Heaven: The... Read more
Don’t excuse your anger from Scripture Some people, says St. John Cassian, try to excuse their anger by saying that righteous anger is perfectly fine. Doesn’t the Bible talk a lot about God’s “wrath”? But God is not subject to human passions. You can’t justify your own sin by an appeal to the metaphorical language of Scripture. We have heard some people trying to excuse this most pernicious disease of the soul (anger), trying to extenuate it by a rather... Read more
Don’t let anger force the Spirit out The visionary Hermas is told that anger forces the Holy Spirit to take flight from our souls. Once we let anger in, we’re on the road to “incurable sin.” Listen, and hear how wicked the action of anger is, and how it overthrows the servants of God and turns them away from righteousness. For as soon as it sees the thoughtless and doubting standing steadfast, it throws itself into their hearts, and the... Read more
Welcome back to “The Clergy Speaks”, a recurring feature here at The Catholic Book Blogger. “The Clergy Speaks” is a column focusing on one question I have asked various members of the clergy. That question is: What five books would you recommend as must-reads for Catholics today? I left the responses open to current or classic books with the only restriction being that the Bible and the Catechism could not be used as they are a given. This week we... Read more
Don’t insult God’s image If you are angry at your neighbor, says St. Ephrem the Syrian, you are angry at God, because your neighbor is the image of God. But if you honor your neighbor, you honor God. If you are angry against your neighbor, you are angry against God; and if you bear anger in your heart, your pride is lifted up against the Lord. If you rebuke in envy, all your reproof is wicked. But if love dwells... Read more
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