"Keep thyself first in peace, and then shalt thou be able to pacify others."
This is harder than it sounds. I'm failing at it pretty miserably right now, so I feel the hardness of the good way, like the characters in C.S. Lewis' book The Great Divorce, who come from Hell on a busride to Heaven. They are like soft silver fishes flopping on diamonds: the very goodness of Heaven rubs like sharp points on their thin, selfish skin. But help is sent to them: the inhabitants of Heaven come with charity to lift them and strengthen them; but in the end, to be a good man and a man of peace requires great humility and the choice of the will.
" He that is well in peace, is not suspicious of any".
This is not so easy, especially in our closest familial relationships, when hurt has been passed around like a sour drink, me buying one round, and you another until we're dizzy with hurt and anger, it becomes very difficult to be at peace. I think of the Lord saying, "Forgive seventy times seven", completely blasting open the apparently more prudent Old Testament law to forgive seven times seven: that is a prudence which dictates one must have a limit on one's forgiveness.
A limit on forgiveness is a limit on love, the selfless love which lays down its life for the other: and with the grace of Christ, we became able to have charity, and thus to forgive endlessly. Thus, the suspicion ends, and you are well in peace. Easy? No. It requires the death of the selfish seeking in us. As in the New Testament, "Let me die with Christ, so that I may live with Him."
"Behold, how far off thou art yet from true charity and humility, which knoweth not how to be angry with any, or to be moved with indignation, but only against its own self."
I think this means that if you really understood the enormity of any sin you would realize your focus on rehabilitation must be foremost on the self, and that we have all sinned, and that I have sinned: I have sinned!! This brings either a despair from the proud, or a humility from the humble. The enormity of placing the self above God is the root of sin, it is pride: and this is enough to make us realize that we cannot treat others as if they are doing something 'that we would never do'. It is that feeling of 'how dare you' which falls against charity and humility. We, a fellow creature, a fellow sinner, have no business saying 'how dare you' with self-righteous indignation. This kind of pride is the sneakiest kind I know- that is, you are doing it before you realize it, and the more 'moral' a person, the easier it is to have this kind of pride.
Anger, however, is not an evil: it is, as Aquinas says, a motivating feeling; an emotional reaction to a real or apparent injustice. Anger is meant to motivate us to act decisively and courageously in the face of danger or evil. However, it is the anger and subsequent reaction of a perceived injury to one's self-image, one's ego, which is the bad kind. This is the hypocritical kind, because in the case of damaged pride, we are most at fault who have not first considered our own injustice to God and to others.
"But to be able to live peaceably with hard, and perverse, or undisciplined persons, is a great grace, and an exceedingly commendable and manly deed."
I would say this applies also to living with oneself in this regard: for often it is our own hardness and perverseness which brings us the most suffering, and lack of peace. But all of us, in whatever state of life we have been called, must suffer another's lack of discipline and hardness. Suffering another's burdens is a purgatory and when done with loving, manly resignation, can sanctify and purify us.
" And there are that keep themselves in peace and study to bring others unto peace. Nevertheless, our whole peace in this miserable life consisteth rather in humble sufferance, that in not feeling adversities. Who knowest best how to suffer, will keep the greatest peace. That man is conqueror of himself, and lord of the world, the friend of Christ, and heir of heaven."
Friend of Christ! What greater and sweeter title is there?
*Quotes from The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas 'A Kempis
