Anger
One
Anger
Anger is a God-given emotion meant to prompt us to achieve something difficult, correct some evil, or endure something we can’t change without giving up. Anger is meant to be constructive. It’s meant to give us energy, the power to correct an evil we can change or endure an evil we cannot change.
Anger becomes sinful when it’s destructive. When we blow up, curse, yell at our kids, say and do very hurtful things. Or when anger is disproportionate to the situation, it’s too strong and last too long, like going postal over minor things or holding on to grudges, resentment and hatred. Or when anger is directed to an evil that is not your place to correct.
If you’re getting angry about people, situations, and policies that you can’t change, and that you have no right to change, things that are beyond the scope of your authority, well, how can that anger be constructive?
So are you always getting angry about the decisions of political authorities or church authorities? What good is that kind of anger going to do anyone? Why worry about the decisions you can’t make? The point of anger is to help you carry out the decisions that are within the scope of your authority.
Two
We overcome sinful anger by meekness
When I say meekness, what is the first word that comes to mind? That’s right, you think of weakness. But meekness is not weakness. It’s just the opposite. Meekness is the calm strength that harnesses the power of anger and directs it to the good.
During the Exodus, Moses is described as the meekest man who ever lived. But he was no wimp or pushover. He was the only one who could confront Pharoah face to face and lead one million rebellious Israelites through the desert for forty years. And I don’t think the people in the Temple thought Jesus was weak when he drove them out with a whip. Yet he was meek. He said, “Learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart.”
So, maybe we need to rethink our understanding of meekness.
Three
The Virtue of Meekness
Meekness is the virtue, the calm strength, that harnesses the power of anger and uses it for good. Meekness is the transformation of the raw power of anger into disciplined strength.
The training of war horses illustrates meekness. Wild stallions were brought down from the mountains and broken for riding. Some were used to pull wagons, some were raced, but the best were trained for warfare. They retained their fierce spirit, courage, and power, but were disciplined to respond to the slightest nudge or pressure of the rider’s leg. They could gallop into battle at 35 miles per hour and come to a sliding stop at a word. They were not frightened by arrows, spears, or torches. The war horse had ‘power under authority,’ ‘strength under control.’ A warhorse never ceased to be determined, strong, and passionate. However, it learned to bring its nature under the discipline of its rider. It gave up being out of control and rebellious. To understand the meek, picture a great stallion at full gallop on a field of battle, who, at his master’s voice, seizes up to an instant halt, awaiting the next order.
We don’t want to get rid of the power of anger, just harness it for good. Meekness is the calm strength that harnesses the power of anger.
Four
Check and Command
We harness the power of anger and become meek by two steps: check and command. When the emotion of anger begins to rage, check it, like a hockey player checking an opponent into the boards. Check the anger that is getting out of control, stop it. Then command the right response.
So, when you face something which causes anger: stop, check it. Then, think before you react. Ask yourself, what do I really want in the end? A wake of destruction, to burn relationships and bridges, vengeance, just to look like an idiot who is out of control? No. I want union with God; to love him and to love my neighbor and even enemies. Keep that in the front of your mind. Then think, “What can I do in this situation?" If there is something you can or should do, then act, do what you can, change what is possible.
If this thing is not your responsibility or there is nothing you can do, it is beyond my control, then stay calm and stay out of it. Then command the right response. Remember, when anger rises, check and command.
Five
Righteous wrath
There is such a thing as righteous anger and the model for it is Jesus in the Temple. But be careful, Jesus was cleansing the Temple, and too often we read that passage and think that we should follow him primarily by getting outraged at the corruption in the Church. We think the primary way to imitate Jesus’ wrath is by reforming the institutional Church or society. And certainly, we may all have some small role in reforming the Church and society. But it’s a small role. Because we’re not to Pope or the President, or the bishops or the governors. We’re not even the priests or the congressmen.
And, of course, in the New Testament, the Temple doesn’t primarily represent the Church. It represents the individual Christian. You and I are each, says St. Paul, “Temples of the Holy Spirit”
So against what evil should our wrath primarily be directed? What corruption are we primarily called to reform? Us. Our sin. Our evil. Our vice. Our corruption. That’s the primary evil we know, that’s the primary evil we’re called to correct. If you’re going to get angry, get angry about your own sins. And then use that energy to cleanse God’s temple which is your own soul. Anger is the God given energy first to change the evil within us, the only thing we can control.
Suggested Resolutions:
Choose one resolution for today to help you grow closer to God, or create your own. Here are some ideas to inspire you.
Practice the principle of check and command, pausing before you act to give yourself time to decide the best course of action.
At the end of each day, take time to reflect on your moments of anger and consider your intentions. Did you want to correct an evil? Was your anger just? Was it proportional?
Ask yourself who you’re holding a grudge against. What can you do right now to forgive them?
Consider the things beyond your control that make you angry and try to find something within your realm of responsibility to direct that energy towards.