Anger

“Dismiss all anger and look into yourself a little. Remember that he of whom you are speaking is your brother, and as he is in the way of salvation, God can make him a saint, in spite of his present weakness.” (Saint Thomas of Villanova).

Recently, someone who is dear to me made me feel quite angry.

Perhaps it is easier to be angry with those who we love because our closeness to them allows us to feel that we have some sort of expertise in judging them?  Perhaps this is what Saint Simon Peter alluded to when he asked Christ, “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?’  Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times…’” (Matthew 18:21-22).

Perhaps Saint Simon Peter was trying to imply that if someone who is dear to us constantly disappoints us, we have some sort of right o deny our love and forgiveness and treat that person with anger instead?  Saint Thomas of Villanova said, “Dismiss all anger and look into yourself a little. Remember that he of whom you are speaking is your brother, and as he is in the way of salvation, God can make him a saint, in spite of his present weakness.”  And I have been reflecting on that today.

You see, the example is in the Saints…  Saint Bridget was subject to a succession of trials from various people.  “One of them made an insulting remark to her; another praised her in her presence, but complained of her in her absence; another calumniated her; another spoke ill of a servant of God, in her presence, to her great displeasure; one did her a grievous wrong, and she blessed her; one caused her a loss, and she prayed for her; and a seventh gave her false information of the death of her son, which she received with tranquillity and resignation. After all this, Saint Agnes the Martyr appeared to her, bringing in her hand a most beautiful crown adorned with seven precious stones, telling her that they had been placed there by these seven persons. Then she put it upon her head and disappeared. How could so much have been gained by any other exercise? The Blessed Angela di Foligno, when asked how she was able to receive and endure sufferings with so much cheerfulness, replied: ‘Believe me, the grandeur and value of sufferings are not known to us. For, if we knew the worth of our trials, they would become for us objects of plunder, and we should go about trying to snatch from one another opportunities to suffer.’”  (Cultivating Virtue: Self-Mastery With the Saints, page 137).

And I have been thinking about this as I consider the case of my dear one and my anger.  You see, the Gospel tells me how to behave…  “What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” (Matthew 10:27-28).

And I have been thinking about that today.  For it seems in my anger I have forgotten the treasure that is concealed to my mortal eyes, and I have forgotten that if I knew the treasure of such suffering, I would instead, try to plunder suffering from others, so that I could have the larger prize.

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.