Mary Magdalene, Seven Daily Demons, and Seven Antidotes

(Image: The Irascible Man by Jacques Houzeau courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Wrath. There are so many offensive things and even outrageous things in our lives and in the world at large. The sin of wrath is not found in being offended or feeling anger (although the temptation to it will almost certainly be found there). Wrath is the sin we commit when we allow these things to take control, or worse choose to place them in control. Wrath comes not in the suggestion to be repulsed by evil or injustice but in the suggestion to be controlled by them. A soul can know she has fallen into this sin if finds her identity in opposing evil and not in doing good, or if she can’t imagine any good deed except as an opposition to evil, no longer seeing that while good will ultimately end up opposed to evil, it is more resplendent and valuable from its own goodness. There are two forms of entry into this evil that stand out to me- the first is to become more and more centered on real or perceived evils done to oneself  – letting one’s response take an inordinate share of our life and our energy. The second and perhaps most common here in the blogosphere is allowing the same thing to happen to our hearts but directed differently – towards social evils, whether in our own (physical and virtual) communities or in the world at large. One sign of having fallen into this sin that I have learned to recognize is if I am stuck on an offense, rehashing it, or embellishing the details in my mind. The more hold this evil has on our hearts and imaginations, the more evils we will perceive (including ones that aren’t there) and the more any reaction we can come up with will seem right in our eyes. May the Spirit of Wisdom descend on us that we may instead learn. . .