Wednesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/021512.cfm

…everyone should be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger
for anger does not accomplish
the righteousness of God.

As a child I learned about anger: Don’t do it. Some people might enjoy the privilege of anger but I was not among the elect. And so I grew up very angry. One of my seminary professors described me as that ad we used to see in the 1960's -- a little fellow kicking the world as if it were a tire. It took me a long time to see my anger, and even longer to think I might have reason for it. 

They tell me that people who love and trust one another are often angry with each other. It’s a vital part of their relationship. During angry moments faithful lovers communicate; clear up misunderstandings; explore differences; reveal sensitivities and sensibilities; claim rights, privileges, likes and dislikes; redraw boundaries; heal old wounds; salve new ones; reassure; restate; recommit and reconcile. That sounds wonderful.

Unfortunately, many lovers miss the opportunities and their relationships, even vowed relationships, fail.

I have a nasty little secret: It’s fun to be angry. Anger stimulates adrenalin and drives the body even as the mind grows sharpens. It gives me an intoxicating sense of power, superiority and righteousness. “By God I have a right to be angry!” even if I don’t. Tennyson celebrated the exhilaration of anger in his poem Ulysses. The hero claims to have…

“…drunk delight of battle with my peers,
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.
I am a part of all that I have met!”

Anger is an upsurge of the self; it demands attention. Habitual, irrational suppression of the angry self stifles nature and must eventually fail. Though it is locked in a fiery pit for a thousand years, anger will eventually break out.

If my anger was suppressed and submerged, I watch others who let it have free rein. They control people with anger and the threat of anger. They say things like, “You make me angry,” and thus disown responsibility for their rage. People tiptoe around them, try to please them, blame themselves and generally fall into codependent dysfunction. It’s not a pretty picture.

Anger, like everything else in my life, must be subject to obedience. There is, as Qoheleth said, a time for everything under heaven; and anger certainly should enjoy his place in the sun. At Christ’ behest it is a force for justice, especially when it protects and promotes the needs of others.  Anger is a work animal, like dogs and horses. Given direction, discipline and depth it can accomplish the righteousness of God.