Unjust Anger Is Sinful

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“Whosoever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment.” MATT. v. 2.
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ANGER resembles fire; hence, as fire is vehement in its action, and, by the smoke which it
produces, obstructs the view, so anger makes men rush into a thousand excesses, and
prevents them from seeing the sinfulness of their conduct, and thus exposes them to the
danger of the judgment of eternal death. “Whosoever is angry with his brother shall be in
danger of the judgment.” Anger is so pernicious to man that it even disfigures his
countenance. No matter how comely and gentle he may be, he shall, as often as he yields to
the passion of anger, appear to be a monster and a wild beast full of terror. ”Iracundus,”
says St. Basil, ”humanam quasi liguram amittit, ferae specimen indutus.” (Hom, xxi.) But, if
anger disfigures us before men, how much more deformed will it render us in the eyes of
God! In this discourse I will show, in the first point, the destruction which anger unrestrained
brings on the soul; and, in the second, how we ought to restrain anger in all occasions of
provocation which may occur to us.
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First Point. The ruin which anger unrestrained brings on the soul.
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1. St. Jerome says that anger is the door by which all vices enter the soul. ”Omnium vitiorum
jantia est iracundia.” (Inc. xxix. Prov.) Anger precipitates men into resentments,
blasphemies, acts of injustice, detractions, scandals, and other iniquities; for the passion of
anger darkens the understanding, and makes a man act like a beast and a madman.
”Caligavit ab indignatione oculus meus.” (Job xvii. 7.) My eye has lost its sight through
indignation. David said: ”My eye is troubled with wrath.” (Ps. xxx. 10.) Hence, according to
St. Bonaventure, an angry man is incapable of distinguishing between what is just and
unjust. ”Iratus non potest videre quod justum est vel injustum.” In a word, St. Jerome says
that anger deprives a man of prudence, reason, and understanding. ”Ab omni concilio
deturpat, ut donee irascitur, insanire credatur.” Hence St. James says: ”The anger of man
worketh not the justice of God.” (St. James i. 20.) The acts of a man under the influence of
anger cannot be conformable to the divine justice, and consequently cannot be faultless.
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2. A man who does not restrain the impulse of anger, easily falls into hatred towards the
person who has been the occasion of his passion. According to St. Augustine, hatred is
nothing else than persevering anger. “Odium est ira diuturno tempore perseverans.” Hence
St. Thomas says that”anger is sudden, but hatred is lasting. ” (Opusc. v.) It appears, then, that
in him in whom anger perseveres hatred also reigns. But some will say: I am the head of the
house; I must correct my children and servants, and, when necessary, I must raise my voice
against the disorders which I witness. I say in answer: It is one thing to be angry against a
brother, and another to be displeased at the sin of a brother. To be angry against sin is not
anger, but zeal; and therefore it is not only lawful, but is sometimes a duty. But our anger
must be accompanied with prudence, and must appear to be directed against sin, but not

against the sinner; for, if the person whom we correct perceive that we speak through passion
and hatred towards him, the correction will be unprofitable and even mischievous. To be
angry, then, against a brother’s sin is certainly lawful. ”He,” says St. Augustine, ”is not angry
with a brother who is angry against a brother‟s sin.” It is thus, as David said, we may be
angry without sin. ”Be ye angry, and sin not.” (Ps. iv. 5.) But, to be angry against a brother on
account of the sin which he has committed is not lawful; because, according to St. Augustine,
we are not allowed to hate others for their vices. ”Nee propter vitia (licet) homines odisse”
(in Ps. xcviii).
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3. Hatred brings with it a desire of revenge; for, according to St. Thomas, anger, when fully
voluntary, is accompanied with a desire of revenge. ”Ira est appetitus vindicteo.” But you
will perhaps say: If I resent such an injury, God will have pity on me, because I have just
grounds of resentment Who, I ask, has told you that you have just grounds for seeking
revenge? It is you, whose understanding is clouded by passions, that say so. I have already
said that anger obscures the mind, and takes away our reason and understanding. As long as
the passion of auger lasts, you will consider your neighbour’s conduct very unjust and
intolerable; but, when your anger shall have passed away, you shall see that his act was not
so bad as it appeared to you. But, though the injury be grievous, or even more grievous, God
will not have compassion, on you if you seek revenge. No, he says: vengeance for sins
belongs not to you, but to me; and when the time shall come I will chastise them as they
deserve. ”Revenge is mine, and I will repay them in due time.” (Deut. xxxii. 35.) If you resent
an injury done to you by a neighbour, God will justly inflict vengeance on you for all the
injuries you have offered to him, and particularly for taking revenge on a brother whom he
commands you to pardon. ”He that seeketh to revenge himself, shall find vengeance from the
Lord …. Man to man reserveth anger, and doth he seek remedy of God? …. He that is but flesh
nourisheth anger; and doth he ask forgiveness of God? Who shall obtain pardon for his sins
?” (Eccl. xxviii. 1, 3, 5.) Man, a worm of flesh, reserves anger, and takes revenge on a brother:
does he afterwards dare to ask mercy of God? And who, adds the sacred writer, can obtain
pardon for the iniquities of so daring a sinner? “Qua ironte,” says St. Augustine,
”indulgentiam peccatorem obtinere poterit, qui præcipienti dare veniam non acquiescit.”
How can he who will not obey the command of God to pardon his neighbour, expect to
obtain from God the forgiveness of his own sins?
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4. Let us implore the Lord to preserve us from yielding to any strong passion, and
particularly to anger. “Give me not over to a shameful and foolish mind.” (Eccl. xxiii. 6.) For,
he that submits to such a passion is exposed to great danger of falling into a grievous sin
against God or his neighbour. How many, in consequence of not restraining anger, break out
into horrible blasphemies against God or his saints! But, at the very time we are in a flame of
indignation, God is armed with scourges. The Lord said one day to the Prophet Jeremias:
“What seest thou, Jeremias? And I said: I see a rod watching. ” (Jer. i. 11.) Lord, I behold a
rod watching to inflict punishment. ”The Lord asked him again: “What seest thou? And I
said: I see a boiling caldron.” (Ibid., v. 13.). The boiling chaldron is the figure of a man
inflamed with wrath, and threatened with a rod, that is, with the vengeance of God. Behold,
then, the ruin which anger unrestrained brings on man. It deprives him, first, of the grace of
God, and afterwards of corporal life. ”Envy and anger shortens a man‟s days.” (Eccl. xxx. 26.)
Job says: ”Anger indeed killeth the foolish.” (Job v. 2.) All the days of their life, persons

addicted to anger are unhappy, because they are always in a tempest. But let us pass to the
second point, in which I have to say many things which will assist you to overcome this vice.
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Second Point. How we ought to restrain anger in the occasions of provocation which occur
to us.
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5. In the first place it is necessary to know that it is not possible for human weakness, in the
midst of so many occasions, to be altogether free from every motion of anger. “No one, ” as
Seneca says, “can be entirely exempt from this passion. ” “Iracundia nullum genus hominum
excipit” (I. 3, c. xii). All our efforts must be directed to the moderation of the feelings of anger
which spring up in the soul. How are they to be moderated? By meekness. This is called the
virtue of the lamb that is, the beloved virtue of Jesus Christ. Because, like a lamb, without
anger or even complaint, he bore the sorrows of his passion and crucifixion. ”He shall be led
as a sheep to the slaughter, and dumb as a lamb before his shearer, and he shall not open his
mouth.” (Isa. liii. 7.) Hence he has taught us to learn of him meekness and humility of heart.
”Learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart.” (Matt. xi. 29)
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6. Oh! how pleasing in the sight of God are the meek, who submit in peace to all crosses,
misfortunes, persecutions, and injuries! To the meek is promised the kingdom of heaven.
”Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land.” (Matt. v. 4.) They are called the
children of God. ”Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of God. ”
(Ibid., v. 9.) Some boast of their meekness, but without any grounds; for they are meek only
towards those who praise and confer favours upon them: but to those who injure or censure
them they are all fury and vengeance. The virtue of meekness consists in being meek and
peaceful towards those who hate and maltreat us. “With them, that hated peace I was
peaceful.” (Ps. cxix. 7.)
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7. We must, as St. Paul says, put on the bowels of mercy towards all men, and bear one with
another. “Put on ye the bowels of mercy, humility, modesty, patience, bearing with one
another, and forgiving one another, if any have a complaint against another.” (Col iii. 12, 13.)
You wish others to bear with your defects, and to pardon your faults; you should act in the
same manner towards them. Whenever, then, you receive an insult from a person enraged
against you , remember that a “mild answer breaketh wrath,” (Prov. xv. 1.) A certain monk
once passed through a cornfield: the owner of the field ran out, and spoke to him in very
offensive and injurious language. The monk humbly replied: Brother, you are right; I have
done wrong; pardon me. By this answer the husbandman was so much appeased that he
instantly became calm, and even wished to follow the monk, and to enter into religion. The
proud make use of the humiliations they receive to increase their pride; but the humble and
the meek turn the contempt and insults offered to them into an occasion of advancing in
humility. “He,” says St. Bernard, ”is humble who converts humiliation into humility.” (Ser.
xxiv. in Can.)
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8. “A man of meekness,” says St. Chrysostom, “is useful to himself and to others.” The meek
are useful to themselves, because, according to F. Alvares, the time of humiliation and
contempt is for them the time of merit. Hence, Jesus Christ calls his disciples happy when
they shall be reviled and persecuted. “Blessed are ye when they shall revile you and
persecute you.” (Matt. v. 11.) Hence, the saints have always desired to be despised as Jesus

Christ has been despised. The meek are useful to others; because, as the same St. Chrysostom
says, there is nothing better calculated to draw others to God, than to see a Christian meek
and cheerful when he receives an injury or an, insult. ”Nihil ita conciliat Domino familiares
ut quod ilium vident mansuetudine jucundum.” The reason is, because virtue is known by
being tried; and, as gold is tried by fire, so the meekness of men is proved by humiliation.
“Gold and silver are tried in the fire, but acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation. ”
(Eccl. ii. 5.)”My spikenard, ”says the spouse in the Canticles, “sent forth the odour thereof” (i.
11.) The spikenard is an odoriferous plant, but diffuses its odours only when, it is torn and
bruised. In this passage the inspired writer gives us to understand, that a man cannot be said
to be meek unless he is known to send forth the odour of his meekness by bearing injuries
and insults in peace and without anger. God wishes us to be meek even towards ourselves.
When a person commits a fault, God certainly wishes him to humble himself, to be sorry for
his sin, and to purpose never to fall into it again but he does not wish him to be indignant
with himself, and give way to trouble and agitation of mind; for, while the soul is agitated, a
man is incapable of doing good. ”My heart is troubled; my strength hath left me.” (Ps. xxx
vii. 11.)
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9. Thus, when we receive an insult, we must do violence to ourselves in order to restrain
anger. Let us either answer with meekness, as recommended above, or let us remain silent;
and thus, as St. Isidore says, we shall conquer. “Quamvis quis irritet, tu dissimula, quia
tacendo vinces.” But, if you answer through passion, you shall do harm to yourselves and
others. It would be still worse to give an angry answer to a person who corrects you.
”Medicanti irascitur,” says St. Bernard, ”qui non irascitur sagittanti.” (Ser. vi. de Nativ.)
Some are not angry, though they ought to be indignant with those who wound their souls by
flattery; and are filled with indignation against the person who censures them in order to
heal their irregularities. Against the man who abhors correction, the sentence of perdition
has, according to the Wise Man, been pronounced. “Because they have despised all my
reproofs,. . . .the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.” (Prov. i. 30, etc.) Fools regard as
prosperity to be free from correction, or to despise the admonitions which they receive; but
such prosperity is the cause of their ruin. When you meet with an occasion of anger, you
must, in the first place, be on your guard not to allow anger to enter your heart. “Be not
quickly angry” (Eccles. vii. 10.) Some persons change colour, and get into a passion, at every
contradiction: and when anger has got admission, God knows to what it shall lead them.
Hence, it is necessary to foresee these occasions in our meditations and prayers; for, unless
we are prepared for them, it will be as difficult to restrain anger as to put a bridle on a horse
while running away.
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10. Whenever we have the misfortune to permit anger to enter the soul, let us be careful not
to allow it to remain. Jesus Christ tells all who remember that a brother is offended with
them, not to offer the gift which they bring to the altar without being first reconciled to their
neighbour. ”Go first to be reconciled to thy brother, and then coming thou shalt offer thy
gift.” (Matt. v. 24.) And he who has received any offence, should endeavour to root out of his
heart not only all anger, but also every feeling of bitterness towards the persons who have
offended him. “Let all bitterness,” says St. Paul, “and anger and indignation be put away
from you.” (Eph. iv. 31.) As long as anger continues, follow the advice of Seneca”When you
shall be angry do nothing, say nothing, which may be dictated by anger.”

Like David, be silent, and do not speak, when you feel that you are disturbed. ”I was troubled, and I spoke
not.” (Ps. Ixxvi. 5.) How many when inflamed with anger, say and do what they afterwards,
in their cooler moments, regret, and excuse themselves by saying that they were in a passion?
As long, then, as anger lasts we must be silent, and abstain from doing or resolving to do
anything; for, what is done in the heat of passion will, according to the maxim of St. James, be
unjust. ”The anger of man worketh not the justice of God.” (i. 20.) It is also necessary to
abstain altogether from consulting those who might foment our indignation. “Blessed,” says
David, “is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly.” (Ps. i. 1.) To him
who is asked for advice, Ecclesiasticus says. “If thou blow the spark, it shall burn as a fire;
and if thou spit upon it, it shall be quenched.” (Eccl. xxviii. 14.) When a person is indignant at
some injury which he has received, you may, by exhorting him to patience, extinguish the
fire; but, if you encourage revenge, you may kindle a great flame. Let him, then, who feels
himself in any way inflamed with anger, be on his guard against false friends, who, by an
imprudent word, may be the cause of his perdition.
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11. Let us follow the advice of the apostle: ”Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil by
good.” (Hom, xii. 21.) “Be not overcome by evil:” do not allow yourself to be conquered by
sin. If, through anger, you seek revenge or utter blasphemies, you are overcome by sin. But
you will say: “I am naturally of a warm temper.” By the grace of God, and by doing violence
to yourself, you will be able to conquer your natural disposition. Do not consent to anger,
and you shall subdue the warmth of your temper. But you say: ”I cannot bear with unjust
treatment.” In answer I tell you, first, to remember that anger obscures reason, and prevents
us from seeing things as they are. “Fire hath fallen on them, and they shall not see the sun.”
(Ps. lvii. 9.) Secondly, if you return evil for evil, your enemy shall gain a victory over you.
”If,” said David, ”I have rendered to them that repaid me evils, let me deservedly fall empty
before my enemies.” (Ps. vii. 5.) If I render evil for evil, I shall be defeated by my enemies.
”Overcome evil by good. ”Render every foe good for evil. ”Do good,” says Jesus Christ, “to
them that hate you.” (Matt. v. 44.) This is the revenge of the saints, and is called by St.
Paulinus, Heavenly revenge. It is by such revenge that you shall gain the victory. And should
any of those, of whom the Prophet says, ”The venom, of asps is under their lips” (Ps. cxxxix.
4), ask how you can submit to such an injury, let your answer be: “The chalice which my
Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?” (John xviii. 11.) And then turning to God you
shall say: ”I opened not my mouth, because thou hast done it” (Ps. xxxviii. 10), for it is certain
that every cross which befalls you comes from the Lord. “Good things and evil are from
God.” (Eccl xi. 14.) Should any one take away your property, recover it if you can; but if you
cannot, say with Job: ”The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away” (i. 21.) A certain
philosopher, who lost some of his goods in a storm, said: ”If 1 have lost my goods I will not
lose my peace.” And, do you say: If I have lost my property, I will not lose my soul.
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12. In fine, when we meet with crosses, persecutions, and injuries, let us turn to God, who
commands us to bear them with patience; and thus we shall always avoid anger. “Remember
the fear of God, and be not angry with thy neighbour.” (Eccl. xxviii. 8.) Let us give a look at
the will of God, which disposes things in this manner for our merit, and anger shall cease. Let
us give a look at Jesus crucified, and we shall not have courage to complain. St. Eleazar being
asked by his spouse how he bore so many injuries without yielding to anger, answered: I
turn to Jesus Christ, and thus I preserve my peace. Finally, let us give a glance at our sins, for
which we have deserved far greater contempt and chastisement, and we shall calmly submit
to all evils. St. Augustine says, that though we are sometimes innocent of the crime for which

we are persecuted, we are, nevertheless, guilty of other sins which merit greater punishment
than that which we endure. “Esto non habemus peccatum, quod objicitur: habemus tamen,
quod digne in nobis flagelletur.” (in Ps. Ixviii.)
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