What Did Christ Himself Say About Anger?

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In the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, starting at 21st verse:

21 “You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’[d] 22 But I say, if you are even angry with someone,[e] you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot,[f] you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone,[g] you are in danger of the fires of hell.[h]

(HMM. In Class We Only Went That Far, but at Home I look Farther and:)

25 “When you are on the way to court with your adversary, settle your differences quickly. Otherwise, your accuser may hand you over to the judge, who will hand you over to an officer, and you will be thrown into prison. 26 And if that happens, you surely won’t be free again until you have paid the last penny

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Okay, I have to stop here and admit, the thing I'm most angry about, the thing that pops into my head four or five times a day is how unfair it is that you get a legal settlement from the Church based on what State you lived in at the time of the rape. I've found myself in the weird place mentally of saying, wow, I wish I'd been raped by a priest here in L.A. instead of Chicago, because the Church fought all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court to get cases older than 40 years old thrown out, and the state high court ruled in favor of Catholic Church attorneys and other sources of influence September 2009. The logic here is older victims, who suffered trauma for more years in a culture that totally misunderstood child abuse, are the ones who cannot get help from the church.

The total dearth of help for victims who can't bring a litigatable case is astounding. The Catholic Church truly does only help those it is required by law to help, it moves not an inch further.

So now if I read the words of Christ up there correctly, it's up to me on my own, to find a way to take the Chicago Archdiocese to the Judge, and not in court.

"Settle your differences quickly. Otherwise, your accuser may hand you over to the judge."

(Here is The Message translation on anger, forget the court stuff:)

I'm telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder. Carelessly call a brother 'idiot!' and you just might find yourself hauled into court. Thoughtlessly yell 'stupid!' at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire. The simple moral fact is that words kill.
23-24 "This is how I want you to conduct yourself in these matters. If you enter your place of worship and, about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God.

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In class, once again, I noted similarities in The New Testament and Alcoholics Anonymous.

You've got to make amends

Went home looking for open AA meetings in my neighborhood. It now costs six dollars to go somewhere and back in L.A. and I have become unable to get out of my neighborhood.

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Have to break this isolation. Have to deconstruct. How did I end up once again, working in a situation where I am in a room all alone for hours on end.

Why do I keep ending up this way when what I crave is interaction with humans.

It's amazing, I started City of Angels in 2007 looking for a way out of isolation and ended up more cut off from the world than I was before.

That isolation is the problem I have that has to be solved right now, and looking in the same places expecting different results is insanity.

So for now I'm finding new ways to survive here in my thousand dollar a month squat in East Hollywood, where I can't even get out of the neighborhood anymore.

That's my life.

Disassociating...

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This passage jumped out at me at Anger Management at Hope Again Tuesday morning:

Proverbs 24:24-25
24 Don’t befriend angry people
or associate with hot-tempered people,
25 or you will learn to be like them
and endanger your soul

(That's New Living translation, here is The Message:)

24-25 Don't hang out with angry people;
don't keep company with hotheads.
Bad temper is contagious—
don't get infected.

(Amplified translation is supposed to be most accurate:)

24 Make no friendships with a man given to anger, and with a wrathful man do not associate,

25 Lest you learn his ways and get yourself into a snare.

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In a snare, is that anything like a SNARL?

Whatever, I'm changing my perspective, stepping away so I can see better.
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SO next day, Wednesday, the only thing I want to write is more from my Anger Management Notes.

It's OK to Not Be Right. and Keep Your Mouth Closed Tight

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From Tuesday Anger Management at Hope Again

Let Go to Get Beyond

Clenched Fists are Closed Tight so Cannot Be Refilled but when you relax and let your hands be open, New Stuff is Able to Pour In

A rear view mirror can sometimes seem more clear. Closing doors can set you free.
- Why would you want to go backwards?
- Don't let past events define you.

AGAIN
Like last week:
Let go of Needing Approval

FEAR
is a big roadblock. You have to step into your fears to get through them.

THEN
The group conversation detoured first into how today's times are Evil Times, so today especially people need to turn to God-

Then this new female participant went off on a tangent about her Catholic family not being real Catholics and arguments at home about whether a priest could remove bad spirits from their house or not, she had an East L.A. accent but said she came from Cleveland. She was sure the priest could remove evil spirits, as she's a real Catholic, her mother in law is not.

I wrote in my notes, "Don't say a word," again wishing there were recovery centers for adult victims of pedophile priests somewhere, but we do the best we can with what we've got, don't we.

-ke

NOTE: Details of female's tangent changed to protect her true identity.