To be a true follower of Jesus Christ each one of us must be a spiritual mountaineer. Mountain-climbing is one of the most dangerous of all sports: the ascent is oftentimes perilous, the effort is generally laborious, and the gains made are, as a rule, precariously held. The same is true in our spiritual life in our ascent up the mountain of spiritual perfection. The ascent is perilous when often times only a thin skein of the rope of free-will and God's grace holds us from falling under the fierce winds of temptation into the abyss of mortal sin. The effort is generally laborious, so much so, that many people become discouraged and give up the struggle altogether, forgetting that no saint became a saint in a day. The gains are held so precariously many people wonder if it is worth the effort. Well, Our Lord said: "Be ye perfect as also your Heavenly Father is perfect." Therefore, we have received a positive command to scale the dizzy heights the saints have climbed.

Now, another Lent has passed, and we must try to hold the gains made up our spiritual mountain and continue forward from year to year.

During the Lenten season you must have made a special effort to get rid of your grudges. I say this, because grudges are a favorite hobby of certain Christians. They seem to coddle the grudge and nurse it as they would care for a little child. So many culprits who constantly entertain grudges seem to feel quite self-righteous. If they became drunk, they would feel extremely mortified and would do penance in sackcloth and ashes. But they do not worry about their grudges, in fact, they exult in their grudges. yet, to hold grudges is one of the distinct marks of the good pagan.

Some pagans like, Heine, the German poet and critic, are most vindictive in their grudges. Heine said: "I have the most peaceable disposition. My desires are a modest cottage with thatched roof....but a good bed, good fare, fresh milk and butter, flowers by my window and a few fine trees before the door. And if the Lord wished to fill my cup of happiness, He could grand me the pleasure of seeing some six or seven of my enemies hanged on those trees. With a heart moved to pity, I would, before their death, forgive the injury they had done me during their lives....Yes, we ought to forgive our enemies - but not until they are hanged!"

Other pagans are not so vindictive, but nevertheless, they still have none of the spirit of the Gospel of Christ. They may be represented by the Chinese who have an adage: "If thine enemy wrong thee, buy his children a drum." However, the true Christian wouldn't even inflict such light punishment as that. Christ repeatedly asserted that we are not only to forgive our enemies ("as we forgive those who trespass against us"), but we are to love them as friends.

No Christian can be called a Christian who holds a grudge. Further, it is even bad psychologically. By holding a grudge, a person keeps himself in an uproar, he is always seething, boiling inside, he never can know peace of mind, he can never practice the art of true friendship.

Friendship should be a mark of Christian community. "By this will all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another." Love was such a conspicuous mark among the early Christians that the pagans would say: "See, how these Christians love one another!" It is rather a bad gamble today for a priest to allow a prospective convert to attend the meetings of some Catholic groups. The bickering of clique against clique, the recriminations and gossip, are so scandalizing that an inquirer into the Faith receives a very unpleasant jolt when attending a meeting for the first time. As a result, we priests in our instructions have to confine our argument for Faith to the four marks of Unity, Holiness, Catholicity, and Apostolicity: we dare not point to the mark of Friendship.

Most of the sins of gossip, grudges, irritability and anger come from the tongue. The Catholic can well ask himself at Easter if he has risen with Christ. Does the Catholic understand how true is the saying that "the tongue is the only edge-tool that grows keener with constant use"? Is he using his tongue as a precision instrument or as a healing instrument? Is it a knife that cuts or cures? To control the tongue is harder than to control a wild horse, but yet God gives us sufficient grace for the accomplishment of every spiritual task. He is always eager to help us in our mountain-climbing.

St. James in his Epistle used some very stern words towards those who offend by the tongue. He says that the tongue (of some Christians) is a very fire of iniquity, a restless evil full of deadly poison. As he writes, "With it we bless God the Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made after the image of God....These things, my brethern, ought not to be so....Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to wrath."