"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, whoever is angry with his brother
will be liable to judgment"

Holy smokes! That really puts a spin on the old "I'm just thinking about hurting him, not doing it." Does that mean Jesus keeps us accountable for what we think? Or our emotions? Perhaps that is what the Desert Fathers and Mothers mean by nepsis, keeping guard over our thoughts.

The Mass readings for lent are proving to be a rich storehouse for Lectio. Because my mind works this way, I try to make sense of all the readings for the day. Today's reading for the Office of Readings was the death of the firstborn of Egypt. Exodus 12:21-36. For me, that is a tremendously sad meditation on what type of sorrow can afflict a life that remains so stubbornly resistant to God. However, it was only Pharaoh that was stubborn, not the thousands of Egyptians who lost their children. I would like to know what the Rabbi's have to say about this, because I have never dared to meditate on it too much.

Yet, the first reading at Mass was Ezekiel 18:21-28

Thus says the Lord GOD:
If the wicked man turns away from all the sins he committed,
if he keeps all my statutes and does what is right and just,
he shall surely live, he shall not die.
None of the crimes he committed shall be remembered against him;
he shall live because of the virtue he has practiced.
Do I indeed derive any pleasure from the death of the wicked?
says the Lord GOD.
Do I not rather rejoice when he turns from his evil way
that he may live?

There is a passage which seems to say everything I've said so far in this entry. The only sticker is that the poor Egyptians did not get to make any sort of choice at all. Pharaoh did all the choosing and the people did all the suffering. There is something unfair in that.

Oh, but God has something to say about that too in the Ezekiel reading

You say, "The LORD's way is not fair!"
Hear now, house of Israel:
Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair?

Now that makes me return to the very first quote and thought of this entry. We have to take into account our own thoughts and actions. The anger we harbor in our hearts. That refusal to forgive, holding grudges, or as the Ironic Catholic said, we don't have time for this crap people. We really don't have time to worry about conservative/liberal, republican/democrat, or "he/she hurt my feelings twenty years ago and I hope they get the plague."

Julian of Norwich says "All will be well," and it will, if we remember "forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us." And, "whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment."