Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time: Anger

In today’s Gospel, Jesus references three of the 10 Commandments: the 5th (You shall not kill); the 6th (You shall not commit adultery); and the 8th (You shall not bear false oath)–all to illustrate a point about who he is and his purpose. "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill”. To paraphrase, I have come to help you live this beautiful law in a spirit of truth. Rather than this Law being limited to one’s words and actions—that is, merely outwardly—I have come that it might be reflected in your whole being—your heart, your mind, your way of seeing.

Jesus begins with the 5th commandment, You shall not kill, and then proceeds to speak about anger towards one’s brother. It’s curious, because when did we ever think of brooding anger as killing someone? Even more, in the context of the command to not kill, he uses the Aramaic word Raqa (a term used to insult someone as being empty-headed or a numskull). Again, what does this have to do with killing? Jesus is saying that our anger and insults are a way by which we kill others—not necessarily physically, but instead spiritually. Remember, Jesus is asking us to consider more than just the outward response and its effect, but also the interior part of ourselves.

We see this soul-killing anger all around us, in a society that seems all too full of people who are easily brought to anger. We see it in the various platforms for social media, too often serving as a forum where one can launch the most bombastic and hurtful utterances, doing so facelessly, often under the veil of anonymity and without unaccountability.

We see anger so easily made manifest when someone does something that even mildly violates our idea of order. We see it in how worked up we get navigating traffic, yelling inside our cars at drivers near and those three lanes away from us. We often see it in those who live on a steady diet of network news, especially political programs, angry at the world and those whom they believe to be ruining it.

There is the anger that comes when we lash-out like a knee-jerk response, even to a spouse. Sometimes we tell ourselves that we have no control over it, that ‘they’ elicited that response. And regardless of whatever ways we apologize for what we’ve said, the damage is already done. Yes, these forms of anger can indeed be soul-killing.

To be clear, there are true causes for anger, and there is such a thing as righteous anger. It’s anger felt out of concern for another. We think of references in the Scriptures that speak of God’s anger, such as at the lack of trust given Him by His chosen people (Num 25:3). We think of when Jesus overturned the tables of those who were treating God’s house as a place for financial profit (Mk 11:15-19).

Anger is a normal response when someone does something that genuinely wounds us or a person we love. While Jesus calls us to reconcile with this feeling, it doesn’t mean it happens instantly, especially when the wound inflicted is great. Even that is an anger that we must prayerfully work to be freed from.

But as for our sinful forms of anger, where does it come from? It’s a good question, though not so simply answered. Fear? Pride? While the devil may not be the direct source of our anger, he surely takes delight in the way we give it harbor within us—especially that it lives in the very place that should be reserved for God—our hearts.

In Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, and his presentation of the seven capital sins, anger, referred to as wrath, is identified as an irrational human response. Those in Purgatorio, undergoing purification from their tendency toward anger are thus inundated with smoke, stifling their ability to spew their anger.

So, on a practical level, what counters that sinful anger? It’s the virtue of patience. The very thing that’s lacking when anger is within us: patience. Patience, one of the Fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:22), is what enables us to maintain peace when things are not as we wish them to be, what helps us to not get our hearts coiled around so many things unnecessarily. Where anger is so often soul-killing, patience tends to be life-giving.

In today’ Gospel, Jesus says: ”You shall not kill….(and) whoever is angry with brother will be liable to judgment….Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled…. Jesus seems to say that this gift of grace, his life, that awaits us at this altar, can’t even truly be received, unless we are working at trying to reconcile within. Is there any anger you’re carrying within you now that needs to be released? Are you struggling with the tendency toward anger that comes too often and too easily? It’s likely soul-killing, perhaps especially your own soul. To fight against it, ask God for patience that can liberate your heart. It’s only then, that you’ll be able to draw life and grace from the gift of this altar.