In the last issue of this article, I presented the first two of three stages of “freedom from anger”. As was fairly obvious, I think, anger usually is the result of a lack of humility. The first two stages of dissipating anger are: (1) keeping one’s mouth closed when the feeling of anger arises, and (2) keep thoughts silent when you feel upset. The final step is: not to take offense at insults or be grieved by injuries.

What is very obvious when we search our lives and those of others, few of us ever truly master anger! To master anger, however, does not mean to become incapable of it. This is an important notion. Even our Lord   became angry when He saw people turning the temple of God into a marketplace. He was also furious with the hypocrisy of the religious elite.

Now if it is indeed true that Christ, in His humanity, is like us in every respect except sin, then we cannot say that all anger is sinful. As the psalmist says: Be angry and do not sin (Ps 4:4).

Of course, we must sometimes be careful when we speak of Jesus as an example for, as God, He had a right to do and say some things no one else has the right to do or say. But this makes the example of profound humility we see in His Passion all the more powerful and relevant to us. For He expressed no anger when He Himself was the victim of sin, although no one but Christ could ever claim to be undeserving of true disrespect and suffering. Our ultimate example is the King of Glory abused and crucified in humility and love.

While pride is the cause of anger, anger is, in turn, the root of so many other sins. Those who are experienced in doing battle with the passions are keenly aware of this. From experience they know that anger leads not only to sins of a similar nature, such as hatred, but of other acts that we call sins.