Week Beginning August 21, 2022
Wrath
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, and public disturbances. Wrath can elevate a lesser crime into fatal situation and can be triggered when someone feels marginalized.
In ancient times, it was believed that violent passions like wrath originated from deep within the body. For that reason, bile has become synonymous with anger and irritability. Just as bile removes toxins from our body, anger can be 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 turned 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 consider 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? 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.”
Week Beginning August 14, 2022
Envy
The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes envy as “the sadness at the sight of another’s goods and the immoderate desire to acquire them for oneself, even unjustly” (CCC 2539). The philosopher Socrates called envy “the ulcer of the soul.” Saint Augustine viewed envy as “the diabolical sin.” When taken to extremes, envy can be deadly. “But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world” (Wisdom 2:24). Envy also inspired the first murder (Genesis 4:1-8).
Envy is not simply admiring the advantages of another. Saint Thomas Aquinas observes that “charity rejoices in our neighbor’s good, while envy grieves over it.” Envy is an insatiable desire to covet or destroy the traits, status, abilities, possessions, or rewards of the other. An envious person suffers a discontented longing for those goods expressed by despair, hostility, and resentment. The underlying cause of envy is often a feeling of unworthiness or inferiority. Envy differs from jealousy in that envy seeks to obtain what one does not yet possess, while jealousy is triggered by a threat to something already obtained.
Pope Saint Gregory the Great teaches us that the daughters born from envy are detraction, tale-bearing (calumny), joy at the misfortune of others (schadenfreude), grief at the prosperity of others, and hatred. In his Summa Theologiae, Saint Thomas Aquinas explains that the struggle caused by envy is progressive. During the first stage, one seeks to tarnish the reputation of another–either openly in the form of detraction or secretly in the form of tale-bearing. In the following stage, one either succeeds in defaming the other and exults over their misfortune, or one fails at detraction or calumny and becomes sorrowful over their prosperity. In the final stage, hatred results from the hinderance of attaining what was envied.
In our ever-competitive society where perception often replaces reality, envy is fueled by a bombardment of unhealthy comparisons to others. We are often tempted to squander our resources to create a picture-perfect image of our lives or to keep up with those we lionize. We waste our time obsessing over someone else’s blessings instead of appreciating our own gifts. Saint Augustine wisely remarks, “Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.”
Envy can lead to isolation, loneliness, and bitterness when our inability to get what we think we deserve drives us apart from others and from God. Left unchecked, this vice may fool us into believing that those we envy actually wish to harm us. Envy can be physically and mentally destructive, leaving us miserable, stressed, and weak. “A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones” (Proverbs 14:30).
We find envy displayed through gossip, teasing, sarcasm, criticism, ridicule, scorn, spite, unnecessary rivalry, antagonistic behavior, prejudice, and back-stabbing. Envy is a red flag for false accusations, public shaming, libel, slander, harassment, bullying, sabotage, and theft.
Kindness is the key to overcoming envy. By showing love to those we might otherwise envy, we learn that they have struggles, too. Compassion and considerate behavior can help us foster a positive relationship with others and support them when they are in need. Appreciating their fullness enables us to share their joy. Saint Paul instructs us to “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15). When something good is achieved in this world, the benefits can be enjoyed by everyone. When others are blessed, we are blessed, too.
This week, look for areas where you may fall into the trap of envy. When appropriate, let your desires motivate you toward self-improvement. Recognize that your true identity is defined less by your outward appearance and more by the charity in your heart. Rather than wanting what others might have, give thanks for what you do have. Reflect on the many blessings God has shared, and trust that His plan for you is greater than anything you can imagine.
Week Beginning August 7, 2022
Pride
Sin entered into the universe when Lucifer rebelled against serving God. Lucifer became enamored with his awesome beauty, power, and wisdom–all of which were gifted to him from God. He wished to be served and to be worshipped; he wished to raise his throne above God. His pride led to this first and fundamental sin. In the book Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis explains: “The essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere flea-bites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.”
Although theologians may dispute the order of the severity of the seven deadly sins, they agree that pride is the mother of all the capital vices. Pride is both the source of other sins and a component within sins. It is a direct aversion from God through an unwillingness to recognize and serve Him. While aversion from God is a consequence of all sins, it is the very essence of pride. It is the deadliest vice, because it drives the greatest division between man and God. Pride turns us away from our love for God and from our love for one another.
“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). Original Sin introduced sin into our world and to humanity. Satan promised the forbidden fruit would turn people into gods. He tricked Eve into believing God was limiting her potential; he seduced Eve with the temptation that she would no longer need to serve Him. Pride caused shame, destruction, and ruin and distanced Adam and Eve from God.
In his Summa Theologiae, Saint Thomas Aquinas refers to pride as an “inordinate desire of one’s own excellence.” Pope Saint Gregory the Great describes four species of pride: claiming to possess an excellence that one does not have, crediting one’s excellence to oneself, recognizing the excellence originated from God but only because one was more deserving of it, and despising or denigrating others through an unwillingness to share an excellence given from God undeservedly.
The habit of hubris disposes us to believe we are greater than what we actually are. When we feel we are morally superior and above the law, we are at risk to place our needs before all others and to neglect the common good. Pride goes beyond feeling positive about ourselves to actually thinking we are better than everyone else. It promotes our contempt for others as we exploit them for our own personal gain. Pride creates an attitude of entitlement fueled by all of our selfish tendencies. It leads to a quest for power and attention. The daughters of vainglory are disobedience, boastfulness, hypocrisy, contention, obstinacy, discord, and love of novelties. We see pride in acts of deceitfulness, narcissism, vanity, arrogance, conceitedness, disbelief, sycophancy, self-importance, humiliation of others, pomposity, shamelessness, defiance, false intellect, moral relativism, desire for status, reliance on earthly things, and rejection of criticism. Pride can lead to violence from protests, hate crimes, wars, and terrorist threats.
The modest and selfless behavior of humility guards against pride. “But he bestows a greater grace; therefore, it says: ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ So submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:6-8). Through God’s grace and provision, we overcome our innate pride when we imitate Christ who came to serve and reject Satan who desired to be served. In The Purpose-Driven Life, Rick Warren sums it up: “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.”
“If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step” writes C.S. Lewis. “The first step is to realise that one is proud. And a biggish step, too. At least, nothing whatever can be done before it. If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.”
This week, reflect on how pride conflicts with faith. Think about what makes you “proud.” Do you credit God for those gifts, share your blessings with others, and maintain a healthy balance within your life? When you have a problem, do you seek God’s help, or do you try to fix everything by yourself? Do you spend too much time obsessing about your appearance, or are you thankful for the assets you have? Do you feel the need to receive constant attention, to post everything about yourself on social media, and to seek on-going approval from others? Do you compromise your values to fit in? Are you open to listening to the opinions of others, or do you think you are always right? Do you think everything is about you? Is your self-image in line with what other people think about you? Do you love people for who they are or for what they can do for you? Do you put others down to build yourself up? Are you realistic about your strengths? Do you exaggerate your credentials or your contributions? Do you always have to be in charge? Do you desire more than you deserve? Do you place higher value on those things than on God? Do you believe that God loves you? Are you ashamed to confess your sins?
Pride turns our gaze inward at the cost of everything else. We begin to grow in virtue when we shift our focus toward God in service to Him and to others.
