Lenten Righteous Anger

Brandon Lily, Animal sponsored powerlifter, talks a lot about anger in this episode. He mentions how he hated his dad when he was younger due to his working long hours. He even goes on to mention that his first experience in the weight room was in middle school, and he was humiliated. His coach put a certain amount of weight on the bar and had the students squat it. On Brandon’s attempt he unracked the bar and was crushed under its weight.

Anger seems to have played a large role in Brandon’s life. And, it seems to have played that role for a long time. But, over time he was able to use that anger to learn more about himself and to focus it into a more positive direction.

Anger is not a bad thing. Anger is a natural reaction when an injustice has been experienced. The righteous anger we possess is geared towards bringing justice and right order back to a situation or relationship. We know anger in itself is not sinful because we can see that Jesus was angry when he saw his Father’s house being abused. He was very angry and so he set things right. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was very angry at racism in America and he used that anger to fight against it. Ghandi was very angry at the occupation of his country, and he used that anger to fight for change. Pope John Paul II was very angry at the communism that controlled his beloved Poland, but he used that anger to affect change. Anger can be a powerful tool, but how it is used makes all the difference.

Anger is included in the seven deadly sins. Anger turns deadly when we allow it to control us, enslave us. When we clench and hold tight to our anger we are not able to receive something good, nor are we able to receive. Sirach 27:30

Let’s use the rest of this Lenten season to see where anger may fester in our lives and to loose it in the right direction like a King or Ghandi. The correct use of a righteous anger can live to a more fruitful life, even within a short 24 hour period:

“I’m trying to live a more thankful existence, you know, and beyond that I try to be better than I was yesterday, and I don’t mean in the weight room I’m talking about as a person if I can grow as a person every single day, and the third thing would be to help another person, even if it’s just one or 10. If I can wake up and honestly be thankful, be better than I was yesterday, and help somebody else to be better I really don’t know how a man could ask for much more in 24 hours.” – Brandon Lily

Fr. Barron on Anger and Forgiveness

And here's a beautiful story from the Aurora, CO shooting where anger did not win out:
"I do forgive him"

Unattainable and Avoiding the Millstone

Sam Byrd takes us through chapter 4 of the “Journey to Capo” series. He begins the video by talking about the lofty goals he set earlier in life of what he wanted to do, who he wanted to become.

I’ve always pushed myself to the limit in everything that I’ve done. I set goals that at the time seem unattainable and then set little stepping stones to get there. When I started lifting weights I started small. I wanted to have the heaviest squat of all time, not a bad goal. Here I am 17 year later, I’m still not there yet, but I’m getting closer. I set big goals and then I set stepping stones to get me there, just like in life. When I decided I wanted to become an attorney I knew I had 8 years of school in front of me. I wanted everything now just like everybody does, I want to wake up tomorrow morning and look like Mr. Olympia, that ain’t gonna happen. I wanted to be established, I wanted to be a professional, I wanted to be making money, I wanted to be driving nice cares, having a nice house, but that wasn’t coming right then but I knew the work that was in front of me and I just made a commitment and did it.

Sam mentions that as an attourney now his advertising is mostly online. But, when someone does a search on him all the pictures that come up are of him lifting. What comes up when you search your own name online? Are these things you want others to see? Do you want your job to see what you have posted?

Who, what are we striving to be? What are our goals in life? These are important questions. But have we stopped to think, “Who does God want me to be”, “What does God want me to do,”? In scripture we are told that we are to be examples for others. Jesus says, “No disciple is superior to the teaching; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher.” Who are we discipling? Do we really want others to be like us? In Luke 17:2 Jesus says, “It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin”. What are we teaching our children, siblings, and those in our care? 

Paul tells us in his letters, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ”, (1 Corinthians 11:1). A very popular quote that is attributed to St. Francis of Assisi is, “Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.” Are we practicing what we preach or living out what we claim to believe. If not, God has a warning, “So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth,” – (Revelation 3:16).

No Limits and the Examination of Conscience

“Powerlifting has made me a better person and made me who I am. It taught me how to be strong. It’s a parallel with life. You have to take the negative and build off the negative. You take what happened and you look at your flaws and you build up off of your flaws.” - Richard “The Ant” Hawthorne

In this chapter we follow Richard “The Ant” Hawthorne. His nickname is “The Ant” because of his small size, though he is pound for pound the strongest man in the world. At the CAPO he set 3 world records for his 132lb weight class. His raw world records at 130lbs were: Squat – 562, Deadlift – 601, Total (with a 308lb bench) – 1471lb.

Richard starts off talking about how all of his life when people have seen him they saw his size as an impediment. But, he used that as motivation and fuel. He loved to rise to the occasion and exceed beyond others’ expectations, which we hear about when he talks about his football days as a middle linebacker and his opponents not seeing him but they did feel him.

Richard talks about how for him form is everything in powerlifting. To improve upon form one has to be in tune with one’s body and be introspective and retrospective in critiquing what is going on physically. A lifter could not be lifting to his current full potential due to a muscle imbalance or certain muscles not firing or working in unison. Quads might overpower the hamstrings, one glute might not be firing as much as the other, the glutes or hamstrings may be weak, there may not be sufficient leg drive, and on and on. But, unless a lifter is willing to take a look at himself or take the critique of others, see his faults and weaknesses, and then improve upon them, he will not progress as much as he could or worse, get injured.

The same goes for our spiritual life. We are all called to be saints, spiritual warriors, people of heroic virtue. Yet, if we don’t take the time to examine our life, see our short comings, do everything in our power to turn away from sin, we will not make progress. The Church has a great tradition of a daily examination of conscience and doing an examination of conscience before going to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This allows us to look back on the day or on the time since our last confession and see where we have failed to live out heroic virtue. Many times we want to point out what is wrong with others when we should be looking inward to first make the change in ourselves (Matthew 7:1-5)

Take the time during Lent to examine where you have fallen and where and how you can improve because as Socrates is quoted, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

2. Lament grievously and be sorry, because thou art still so carnal and worldly, so unmortified from thy passions, so full of the motion of concupiscence, so unguarded in thine outward senses, so often entangled in many vain fancies, so much inclined to outward things, so negligent of internal; so ready to laughter and dissoluteness, so unready to weeping and contrition; so prone to ease and indulgence of the flesh, so dull to zeal and fervour; so curious to hear novelties and behold beauties, so loth to embrace things humble and despised; so desirous to have many things, so grudging in giving, so close in keeping; so inconsiderate in speaking, so reluctant to keep silence; so disorderly in manners, so inconsiderate in actions; so eager after food, so deaf towards the Word of God; so eager after rest, so slow to labour; so watchful after tales, so sleepy towards holy watchings; so eager for the end of them, so wandering in attention to them; so negligent in observing the hours of prayer, so lukewarm in celebrating, so unfruitful in communicating; so quickly distracted, so seldom quite collected with thyself; so quickly moved to anger, so ready for displeasure at others; so prone to judging, so severe at reproving; so joyful in prosperity, so weak in adversity; so often making many good resolutions and bringing them to so little effect.

3. When thou hast confessed and bewailed these and thy other shortcomings, with sorrow and sore displeasure at thine own infirmity, make then a firm resolution of continual amendment of life and of progress in all that is good.             -Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ