The anger of the “Vaccinated vs. Un-Vaccinated” : “It’s O.K. to be mad at people who refuse to get vaccinated” — Rev. Jim McDermott, S.J.



… “But you should pray for them, too”


Anger


21 “You have heard that it was said to our people long ago, ‘You must not murder anyone.[a] Anyone who murders another will be judged.’ 


22 But I tell you, if you are angry with a brother or sister,[b] you will be judged. If you say bad things to a brother or sister, you will be judged by the council. And if you call someone a fool, you will be in danger of the fire of hell.


23 “So when you offer your gift to God at the altar, and you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there at the altar. Go and make peace with that person, and then come and offer your gift.


25 “If your enemy is taking you to court, become friends quickly, before you go to court. Otherwise, your enemy might turn you over to the judge, and the judge might give you to a guard to put you in jail. 26 I tell you the truth, you will not leave there until you have paid everything you owe.


Matthew 5:21-26


Suffice it to say that America is an angry country right now. That is not necessarily the issue at hand right now, but in reality, anger is the issue. 


So few people know that the second great commandment after loving God is,


Love thy neighbor as thyself.


America is not a country in which love is the paramount emotion. 


Anger and hatred are — and that is unfortunate.


Today, that anger is being waged by the vaccinated against the unvaccinated, and that is the focus of today’s message. 


Jesus was angry, too


Certainly, no one had Jesus as angry as the Scribes and the Pharisees, but he did not hang onto that anger until it became a resentment. Instead, he asked people to pray for their enemies, to turn the other cheek — very tough advice, indeed. 


Father Jim McDermott wrote about the animus in the U.S. right now,


As Covid cases have started to rise again and the prospect of having to return to wearing masks or even more restrictions loom, I’ve found myself getting pretty angry. I hear it from others who have been vaccinated, too. For 16 months we suffered through the isolation and complexity of life in quarantine and finally, we got the shot and now are starting to get our lives back. 


The idea that the inaction or willful disregard of other Americans could threaten to drag us back into a place of confinement, danger and fear is incomprehensible.


The news that the Delta variant is far more infectious than previously understood, that it is more capable of breaking through current vaccine protections and may be more likely to cause severe illness—particularly among the unvaccinated—only increases that sense of outrage. 


What can we do with these entirely justifiable feelings of resentment? How are we to respond to others who are endangering both themselves and our society with their stubborn refusal to get a simple shot?


Jim McDermott, “It’s O.K. to be mad at people who refuse to get vaccinated. (But 

you should pray for them, too.),” America, July 30, 2021


Yes, the key is knowing what to do with anger before it turns into resentment against others. 


And this anger is entirely justifiable. 


Love thy neighbor


The problem with this is that so few “Christians” read the New Testament. They claim to be followers of Jesus Christ and have embraced him as their savior. 


However, while they like the first part of this part of the Book of Matthew, they dislike the rest,


“Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” 


Matthew 22:35-40 


Why are Americans unwilling to love one another? This issue with Covid-19 has made people more hostile toward one another, instead of joining together to fight the disease. 


With that in mind, how does Father McDermott suggest we approach this angst with the unvaccinated?


1. Let Your Anger Flow


2. Try the plus sign


3. Practice the Serenity Prayer


Jim McDermott, America, July 30, 2021


You will need to read the entire piece to understand what he is saying, but I will take out a few part of it. 


“Emotions are like kittens in a shoe box”


Father McDermott first talks about the anger part of this equation, quoting the late Jesuit Pedro Arrupe, S.J., who said “Pray first, then decide,”


[I]t is also true that telling yourself you are not supposed to be angry, that good Catholics or good people shouldn’t get mad at others or resent a completely avoidable crisis is both wrong and a recipe for disaster. 


Emotions are like kittens in a shoebox. You might be able to convince them to sit still for a little while, but eventually they are going to escape. And the longer you have made them stay in there, the worse they are going to behave when they do.


We start from where we are. If you are furious about what is going on—furious with an unvaccinated family member, furious you have to wear a mask again or that you’ve never been able to stop, furious or frightened that people are putting your kids and the rest of us at risk, furious that you feel like we should all still be wearing masks and not everyone is—allow yourself into a holy space where you can just be with that anger. 


Let yourself feel what you are feeling, without judgment. Treat yourself with the respect and care that God has for all of us.


It is completely appropriate to feel angry right now. And it is remarkable how much better you can sometimes feel, how much clearer in your own thinking when you just let those feelings inside you have a chance to speak and be heard. 


Jim McDermott, America, July 30, 2021


The “Serenity Prayer”


God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the different.


Who wrote the Serenity Prayer is still in dispute, but the reality is that it has helped many people. 


The truth is that is about humility, about ‘knowing my place in the universe,” as on Jesuit has written. 


The truth, Father McDermott writes, is that some problems cannot be solved with a simple equation,



Our current problem may seem 100 percent solvable. If everyone would just get the shot, this would all be over. But the uncertainty of the last 16 months proves this is absolutely not solvable by any one of us. The fact that so much has reopened may be simulating the feeling of a return to our normal pre-pandemic lives, but in so many ways we are still largely out of control.


Facing that reality of our place in the bigger scheme of things can be frustrating or scary. But I sometimes find it can also be liberating.  Yes, I wish the unvaccinated would get their shots right now. It is so clearly essential. I also wish that we could also silence the right-wing pundits spooking people with their badly written “X-Files” plotlines. But I cannot make any of that happen. Fixating on those things is like revving my engine while in park. It helps no one and exhausts me. And I don’t have to do it.


In the Serenity Prayer we ask God to grant us “the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.” Confronted with our frustrations and resentments, we might ask God to show us what it is that we can change or do right now and to help us let go of what we can’t. Maybe there are things we could be doing right now, ways of helping others, this situation or ourselves, just waiting to get our attention.


Jim McDermott, America, July 31, 2021


Conclusion


The reality is that Jesus realized that we were not going to love one another, that is why his father gave us free will: To demonstrate our love to him first, and then to our neighbors. 


Can we change the minds of those who refuse to be vaccinated? 


Probably not, but neither can God change their minds. That does not mean that we have to accept them or their nonsensical rejection of science. It means that perhaps the only thing we can do is pray for them to receive the same blessings that we ask for ourselves. 


That may not work either, but just like releasing our anger, it may make us feel better.


Jesus says try to make peace with the other person, but that is not always possible. Prayer may be the only tool we have. 

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