BOILING POINT

MARCH 16, 2007

Anger has been described as something that boils at different degrees in different people. Not only does it make happiness impossible, it represents a failure to practice two of the spiritual works of mercy: to forgive all injuries and to bear wrongs patiently. As one of the seven deadly sins that sever our relationship with God, it also represents a loss of freedom, for “whoever angers you conquers you”. Fundamentally a passion, an emotion, it is a furious wind that extinguishes the lamp of the mind, making it impossible to think straight. No one can think clearly when gritting his teeth. Petrarch, the Italian scholar and poet, said that if anger is not checked, it leads to madness and even death. Emotions are like waves at sea. They rise and fall without our starting or stopping them. The main challenge is to ride the waves and not let them overwhelm and sink us.

The angry person, in his resolve to destroy those who have incurred his wrath, does not see how he is destroying himself, or does not care. The angry person is willing to suffer pain in the hope that he is causing pain for someone else. Anger is like a beast in a cage. Let it out to devour an enemy, and it will devour its owner, as well. The only way to stay human is to not let the beast of anger out. The proverb says that he who withholds his anger for a moment avoids a hundred days of sorrow.

More simply, anger is a prolonged form of suicide. Modern medical research has confirmed this. Anger alters the body’s chemistry in a negative way. It creates distress which the body endures as trauma. Prolonged anger can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, premature aging, and if nothing else, a face warped by deep wrinkles carved by the facial muscles tensed in anger. And this is nothing compared to what anger can do to the soul. Anger condemns us to isolation. Just as no one can live too close to an active volcano, no one can live close to someone whose anger frequently erupts.

Not all anger is sinful. Jesus displayed a righteous anger when he made a whip and drove the merchants and money changers out of the Temple (Jn 2:13-16). Anger is sinful when it is unjust, or when we allow anger to enter into and control our will, so that we brood over past wrongs and slights, real or imagined.

St. Paul counseled us, “Do not let the sun set on your anger” (Eph 4:26). In other words, “Don’t hold on to anger; let it go.” Anger also becomes sinful when it leads us to desire ill or misfortune on another, and more gravely sinful when it moves us to take steps to harm another.

We must be very cautious in claiming just anger. Jesus was sinless, but we are not. Sin blinds us with pride, and makes us perceive wrongs and injustices where they may not exist. What we might consider to be righteous indignation may be simply a disguise for arrogance.

A thirst for revenge can easily arise from anger, and revenge always involves a failure of faith in God as the just judge who rewards and punishes fairly. It is virtually impossible to anger the humble person.

Jesus teaches that God will judge us not simply according to our acts, but also according to our interior dispositions: “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”’ (Mt 5:21-22). The Apostle Paul warns that anger can cause us to be excluded from God’s kingdom (cf. Galatians 5:19-21).

We tend to rationalize anger’s brooding silence, harsh tone, and offensive outbursts by saying, “This is just the way I am.” But anger never solves problems or rights wrongs. The challenge is to stop cursing the darkness and light a candle, to stop judging and condemning others, and try to help them. Augustine said, “While you are striving for perfection, never let yourself be offended by imperfection.”

At root, the angry person lacks the peace that only Christ can give. To keep anger from reaching the boiling point, consider the example of the Christ crucified. If he could endure his terrible cross without anger, we can certainly endure our far smaller crosses without anger.

+Bishop Raymundo J. Peña

last updated 05-Jun-2008 9:48 sitemap