Wrath or unreasonable anger is categorized by uncontrolled feelings of hatred and rage that promote an obsession for revenge and punishment. Saint Thomas More explains:
“This deadly cancer of anger from which so much harm grows: It makes us unlike ourselves, makes us like timber wolves or furies from Hell, drives us forth headlong upon the points of swords, makes us blindly run forth after other men’s destruction as we hasten toward our own ruin.”
While the Bible describes wrath and anger as abominations that are embraced by the sinner (Ben Sira 27:30), Mark Twain eloquently warns, “Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.”
Aristotle classifies the three species of troublesome anger as choler, sullenness, and sternness. A choleric person angers quickly, even for a small cause; a sullen person bitterly broods for an extended duration, remaining sad in the beautiful light of God’s world; a stern or ill-tempered person orders life toward revenge and will not cease the rancorous wrath until vengeance is served.
Saint Thomas Aquinas describes how anger escalates from thoughts in the form of internal mental churn, to words such as verbal outbursts, and to deeds like violent behaviors. The six daughters of this vice follow the same inflammatory pattern. The first two daughters, indignation and swelling of the mind, are disorders of thought. Clamor (disorderly or confused speech), contumely (harsh or insulting language), and blasphemy are disorders of speech. Finally, quarreling (including physical encounters) is a disorder of action. Understanding that wrath can cause a simple thought to erupt into a deadly attack, experts advise that we strive to temper our anger. “Refrain from anger; abandon wrath; do not be provoked; it brings only harm” (Psalm 37:8).
Wrath is a red flag for the majority of violent crimes, including school, domestic, or workplace violence, active shootings, rapes, arsons, suicide bombings, vandalism, terrorism, and public disturbances. Wrath can elevate a lesser crime into a fatal situation and can be triggered when someone feels marginalized.
Ancient beliefs contend that violent passions like wrath originate from deep within the body. For that reason, bile is now synonymous with anger and irritability. Just as bile removes toxins from our body, anger can serve as an outlet for the toxic triggers in our life.
Rightly-reasoned anger can motivate us to correct wrongdoings and seek justice for the common good. Although anger is a natural response in our world broken by sin, we are cautioned to control our anger instead of allowing our anger to control us. When we respond out of love rather than out of hatred, righteous anger serves an important purpose to remedy disordered states of affairs. For that reason, Saint Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologiae states that “lack of the passion of anger is also a vice.” Unreasonable patience is a moral defect, because it encourages evil, fosters negligence, and confuses right and wrong. The Catechism of the Catholic Church distinguishes between sinful anger and righteous anger as follows:
“By recalling the commandment, ‘You shall not kill,’ our Lord asked for peace of heart and denounced murderous anger and hatred as immoral.
Anger is a desire for revenge. ‘To desire vengeance in order to do evil to someone who should be punished is illicit,’ but it is praiseworthy to impose restitution ‘to correct vices and maintain justice.’ If anger reaches the point of a deliberate desire to kill or seriously wound a neighbor, it is gravely against charity; it is a mortal sin. The Lord says, ‘Everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment’” (CCC 2302).
Left unregulated by reason, the passion of anger degrades into madness. Saint John Chrysostom says that “anger differs in no way from madness; it is a demon while it lasts, indeed more troublesome than one harassed by a demon.” Because wrath can be both physically and spiritually deadly, we must rationally judge the appropriateness, frequency, and intensity of our anger. We evaluate if the anger is just, if it is directed toward the correct object, if it is motivated out of love not vengeance, and if the response matches the severity of the offense.
Appraising our anger, however, presents challenges. There are numerous scriptural references that affirm how anger itself poisons our judgement. We must also take care to respond gently, lest we fall prey to countering incendiary activity with anger. Saint John Cassian observes:
“No matter what provokes it, anger blinds the soul’s eyes, preventing it from seeing the Sun of righteousness. Leaves, whether of gold or lead, placed over the eyes, obstruct the sight equally, for the value of the gold does not affect the blindness it produces. Similarly, anger, whether reasonable or unreasonable, obstructs our spiritual vision.”
Referencing the instructions of Saint Paul in Ephesians 4:26-27, Saint John Cassian suggests that we avoid sinful consequences by focusing our anger against our self-indulgent thoughts rather than using it to harm ourselves or others. We can find insight and courage to redirect our anger against our own vice and temptation through Jesus Christ, who turns his own violent death into a path toward salvation for mankind.
In order to convert potentially destructive anger into a positive life force, we must first critically evaluate our passions. This week, keep a journal of all the things–big and small–that make you angry. At the end of the week, determine what precipitates your anger. What are you fighting for?
Evagrius of Pontus challenges us to heed what our anger is protecting:
“Do not give an evil sword to the devil by getting inflamed by anger…Over what, pray tell me do you fall to fighting, if indeed you have scorned food, riches, and esteem? And why do you feed this dog, if you claim to own nothing? If it barks and attacks people, obviously it has possessions inside and wants to guard them. Such a person is far from pure prayer, for anger is the destroyer of such prayer.”
Are we guarding food, riches, or esteem? What do these items and the degree to which we defend them say about our priorities? The roots of wrath reveal our desire for possessions, security, control, power, and pleasure. Are we ordering our love for those aspirations above our love of God? Are we favoring the visible over the invisible, the flesh over the spirit, and the transitory over the eternal? Or, are we willing to surrender to God and trust in His providence? Saint Maximos the Confessor remarks:
“If you totally fulfill the command to love your neighbor, you will feel no bitterness or resentment against him whatever he does. If this is not the case, then the reason why you fight against your brother is clearly because you seek after transitory things and prefer them to the commandment of love.”
Anger is often prompted when we feel slighted. Saint Thomas More attributes this reaction to over-valuing ourselves:
“From what does such contrariness arise in habitually angry people, but from a secret cause of too high an opinion of themselves so that it pierces their heart when they see any man esteem them less than they esteem themselves? An inflated estimation of ourselves is more than half the weight of our wrath.”
Blaming others for our wrath is a major obstacle to overcoming it. We deny responsibility for our emotions when we make excuses and assign fault to others. Note that an angry person will become frustrated with inanimate objects when people are unavailable for condemnation. Regardless of the source of our anger, our progress in responding virtuously should result from development of our own patience rather than righteous behavior of another person.
According to Saint Catherine of Sienna, “There is no sin or wrong that gives a man a foretaste of hell in this life as anger and impatience.” To that end, patience is the virtue that conquers wrath. “Love is patient” (1 Corinthians 13:4). Patience brings thoughtful reason to angry surges. It reminds us of the consequences of our actions. Patience helps us reflect on our situation with meekness, humility, and compassion. It empowers us to control our emotions. Patience leads us to charity, mercy, and forgiveness. Pope Saint Gregory the Great concludes that “a person who piously considers that he also has something which others must bear patiently in him will be easily disposed to bear patiently injuries he receives from others.”
