Alright so
if you thought the seventh rung was a trip, rung eight is going to blow your
mind. Well at least my mind. After all, I’m writing as much to myself as I am
to you my dear brothers and sisters. We discussed a very heavy topic in the
previous post, Mourning that produces joy is not an easy thing to come by and
had I continued on the subject we probably would be there for hours on end. The
next topic is just as heavy, just as intense but with a little more for us to
learn. Grasping the reality of our mortality and turning it into joy does not
sit well with everyone. However in the world today there is an even bigger
problem. One that I didn’t really think about until I started writing this
blog. Anger. I spoke about anger in the Cancelling Cancel Culture blog a few
days ago, but in reality it was more of focusing on cancel culture than it was the
anger people show when they don’t get their way. St. John knew that if we were
to overcome the problems we face in the world, we would need to overcome our
anger. He gives us a clear cut picture as to achieve this. He says, “The
beginning of freedom from anger is silence of the lips when the heart is
agitated; the middle is silence of the thoughts when there is a mere disturbance
of soul; and the end is an imperturbable calm under the breath of unclean winds”
I have had
many arguments over the course of my life. In fact my family is known for their
tempers, of which I inherited. The slightest thing could set us off and we
could spend minutes and sometimes hours yelling and hollering about whatever it
is that day that made us mad. But this is not the way in which God intends us
to live. I mentioned the trial of Jesus in the last blog, showing how in the
face of immense injustice and persecution Jesus was able to stay calm and not
retort in anger and hate. People today could learn from this, and I myself can
take away an example of how Jesus acted. Even when Peter cut the ear off of the
slave with the sword, Jesus immediately healed him instead of confirming Peter’s
anger. St John says, “Anger is a reminder of hidden hatred, that is to say,
remembrance of wrongs. Anger is a desire for the injury of the one who has
provoked you. Irascibility is the untimely blazing up of the heart. Bitterness
is a movement of displeasure seated in the soul. Peevishness is a changeable
movement of one’s disposition and disorder of soul.” He also says, “An
angry person is a wilful epileptic, who on a casual pretext keeps breaking out
and falling down” Finally he says, “If the Holy Spirit is peace of soul,
as He is said to be, and as He is in reality, and if anger is disturbance of
heart, as it actually is and as it is said to be, then nothing so prevents His
presence in us as anger.” How sad that we would prevent the presence of God
in our lives for a moment of passion just to prove ourselves right or to exact
revenge on someone. Instead we lash out and reject the presence of God to have
a moment of temporary glory.
What then
must we do? We obviously must refrain from anger. To do that we are heretics and
hypocrites. Of course we will all have moments of anger and moments of rage,
but repentance of these moments. St. John says, “Freedom from anger in novices
as a result of mourning is one thing; the tranquillity that is found in the
perfect is another. In the former, anger is held in by tears as by a bridle;
but in the latter it has been mortified by dispassion, as a snake is killed by
a sword” People who have mastered their temper are some of the most
peaceful people on earth. They are kind, they are gentle. They do not boast,
and do not fear the slightest injustice. We kill the snake as St. John says. We
remove from ourselves any form of pleasure and form of satisfaction. I know
from personal experience that when I win an argument that I feel satisfied that
I have overcome my opponent and, in some ways, have dominion over them. God does
not expect us to have lordship over a person. For that is His and His alone. Rather
he expects us to be brothers. A military company does not fight amongst itself,
its brother members. A family might have disagreements but at the end of the
day, they defend one another and protect their own. We are the family of
Christ. Brothers and sisters all joined together by God. St. John then says, “So
let the tyrant anger be bound with the chains of meekness and be beaten by
patience, and dragged out by holy love; and, being arraigned before this court
of reason, let it be duly examined: ‘Tell us, base idiot, what is the name of
the father who begot you and the mother who brought you for evil into the world, and the names of your foul
sons and daughters. And not only that, but tell us the designations of those
who wage war against you and kill you.’ And anger tells us in reply: ‘Many are
my origins, and I have more than one father. My mothers are vainglory, love of
money, greed, and sometimes lust. My father is called conceit. My daughters
are: remembrance of wrongs, hatred, enmity, and assertion of rights. But my
opponents, who are now holding me captive, are the opposite virtues of freedom
from anger and meekness. She who schemes against me is called humility. But as
to who bore humility, ask her in due time herself.” Do not be like the
tyrant. Do not wish to become something that you are not called to be. Stop
being offended and start living together in harmony and peace with each other.
The eighth
rung has once again called back to the previous rungs as we have continued to
climb up the ladder. We have seen all the previous rungs of the ladder in use
to overcome the anger in hearts. While there is much more that could be said, I
will allow for you to pray and seek God in your own timing. Anger is a
dangerous field in which we must not allow ourselves to fall prey to. Let us
pray that God will remove the anger of our hearts and allow each of us to live
in peace with our brothers and sisters
Amen.
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