Anger/Wrath

When we hear the word anger we automatically connect it with something bad but this isn't always the case.  Anger is only bad when it is pursued excessively or disordered, as with all of the capital vices.  Anger is good when it is a passion for justice and motivated by love of others.  DeYoung says, "The goal of restraining anger is to keep reason's judgment clear" (121).  She says that anger turns vicious when it fights for its own selfish cause and not for justice.  Angry people think that everything should go their way and when it doesn't they find it unbearable.  On page 122 DeYoung says, "... Good anger depends on a rightful sense of what is 'due'..."  People get angry in different ways.  Aquinas says breaks down wrath's expressions in three categories:  we get angry too easily, we can get angrier than we should, and we can stay angry too long (124).  The Bible speaks of God's anger.  God burns with anger because he loves us and when we do not do him or ourselves justice he is angered.  We always have more anger when someone/something we love is involved.  God's anger reflects how our anger should be.  Psalms 103:8 says, "The Lord is merciful and gracious, ,slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love."  We should keep our anger under control and trust that God's will be done and not our own.  We get angry when our own will goes wrong and we think we have to power to fix things but we don't; we must trust in God's will.  "Our bad anger thus shows us to be trying - and failing - to be God" (134).  Anger is connected to our love for ourselves.  When we get embarrassed our pride is hurt and we get angry because we are being exposed.  DeYoung says, "... The tendency to get angry, or overly angry, seems rooted in vulnerability and fear" (133).  She says that dealing with this vice requires us to have realistic expectations and not be fragile.  What really helps is humor, which is the opposite of wrath's reaction.  To unlearn wrath we must change our hearts, priorities, and vision.  Gentleness is a great power against wrath.  Gentleness imitates Christ's character.  We can get this gentleness and humility from trusting God's power and will.


Our discipline associated with this chapter was to sincerely apologize we've offended and forgive someone who has offended us.  This discipline helped me to look at why I got angry at someone and why someone else got angry at me.  Looking back on the situations, in the case where I apologized I realized that I should not have gotten that angry over it and it should not have escaladed that quickly.  In the situation where I forgave, we realized that the person should have never gotten angry in the first place.  The discipline opened my eyes to how quickly I can get angry sometimes and motivated me to change my views on some things.