Deacon NewsomeA lot of people are angry today, about a lot of different things. Some of that anger is justified. Some of it is not. Thus has it ever been.
My purpose here is not to talk about this or that thing that may make us angry, but to reflect on how we should deal with anger from a spiritual perspective.
It’s tricky business. Wrath, we are taught, is one of the seven deadly sins. But anger is an emotion. Emotions are not sins, but things we experience. We are not morally responsible for the feelings we have because we don’t choose them; but we are responsible for how we respond to them.
Anger is a powerful emotion, so we must be especially careful when it comes to how we choose to act when we are angry. Unless the situation demands an immediate response, in most cases the prudent course will be to delay action until our anger subsides so that we can approach things with a cool head.
Does anger serve a purpose?
What purpose does anger serve? One may wonder why God would give us such a powerful and troubling emotion. The feeling of anger is a natural response to injustice, whether real or perceived. In that sense, anger can be good, functioning like pain in the body, alerting us to the fact that something is wrong.
Justice is the virtue of doing the right thing, what the Catechism calls “the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbor” (CCC 1807). Injustice occurs when someone acts in a way contrary to the good of others, or that disregards their natural rights and human dignity. Addressing a matter of injustice often requires courage and may involve some real risk on our part.
A powerful emotion like anger can provide the motivation we need to stand up for what is right even if it costs us. This is how healthy anger is meant to function.
While there is such a thing as righteous anger, the problem is, as St. Francis de Sales observes in his Introduction to the Devout Life, everyone believes their anger to be righteous! “No angry man,” he writes, “ever thinks his anger is unjust.” As our emotions are not infallible, we must be on guard against making such presumptions. What if the injustice we perceive is false? What if what angers us is not an offense against justice, but an offense against our pride?
Anger is a powerful motivator, but a reckless driver. If our heart is troubled by anger, it is important not to permit our emotions to sit in the driver’s seat. Our actions should be directed by reason rather than feeling. Our emotions inform us but should not control us. Evaluating our emotions objectively is difficult but it is something we can learn to do.
Questions to ask
When we experience anger, there are helpful questions we should ask. First, why am I angry? Sometimes the cause is obvious, but other times it may be less apparent. The experience of trauma or loss may cause us to feel a general anger that is directed at no person in particular. This is a natural part of the grieving process and can be helped by counseling, therapy and time.
As we deal with anger that stems from woundedness, we should make every effort not to allow our anger to become an excuse to treat others uncharitably.
Anger can also be the result of wounded pride. It is important for us to ask: Are those I am angry with truly acting unjustly, or merely not doing things the way I would have them done? The remedy for prideful anger is to practice the virtue of humility. There is a powerful Litany of Humility prayer, composed by Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val, that includes petitions such as, “From the desire of being consulted, deliver me Jesus. From the desire of being approved, deliver me Jesus.”
What if our anger is a valid response to injustice? Even then, we must ask ourselves a further question: Am I in a position to do anything about it? If it involves a situation in our personal lives, we may be able to do something to resolve the matter. In that case, our actions should still be directed by justice and charity, never anger itself. If we cannot reasonably resolve the matter, then our anger serves no further purpose. We should therefore let it go and entrust the situation to God. This holds true any time we are angry over situations beyond our personal control.
anger as a tool of manipulation
A particular malady of our time is the immediate access we have to news reports, commentary and opinion, much of which is negative. Politicians and media moguls alike figured out long ago how to capitalize on anger. Those with a vested interest in motivating us to buy their papers, click on their links or vote a certain way often use anger as a tool of manipulation.
It is spiritually damaging for us to be confronted with a non-stop barrage of evil news we are in no position to do anything about. This can leave us feeling not only angry, but helpless, leading to despair. Unless we are in a position to positively impact a situation, it is best to entrust these broader concerns to God’s loving providence and let go of our anger before it becomes a cancer in our hearts, festering into bitterness and hatred.
The scriptures tell us “be angry, but do not sin” (Eph 4:26). The emotion of anger becomes the sin of wrath when we latch onto it, nurture it, and allow it to take root in our heart. Anger can be like a powerful drug; we can become addicted to it.
St. Francis de Sales, by his own admission, struggled with a hot temper. Being aware of this aspect of his temperament, he made an intentional effort to always act with gentleness toward others, so much so that gentleness became his defining trait. His life stands as testimony that even something as strong as anger can be overcome through a combination of discipline and grace.
Jesus experienced righteous anger, as when He drove the money changers from the temple, but He always acted with justice and mercy. Let Christ therefore be our model. Our Lord warns us that whoever is angry with his brother is liable to judgment (Mt 5:22), and also invites us to “learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart” (Mt 11:29).
When anger rears its ugly head, may we seek refuge in the heart of Jesus and pray, “Lord, make my heart like unto Thine.”
Deacon Matthew Newsome, Catholic campus minister at Western Carolina University and regional faith formation coordinator for the Smoky Mountain Vicariate, is the author of “The Devout Life: A Modern Guide to Practical Holiness with St. Francis de Sales,” available from Sophia Institute Press.