It appears that anger, bitterness, rage, and vengeance are the prevailing emotions in our world today. By anger, I mean the kind of anger that Chaucer’s good Parson describes in his Canterbury Tales. He writes: “Anger is the wicked will to vengeance. Wicked anger is either sudden or premeditated; the latter is the worse. Malice aforethought chases the Holy Ghost out of the soul. It is the devil’s furnace and heats hatred, manslaughter, treachery, lies, flattery, scorn, discord, menaces, and curses.” The kinds of sinful behavior that this level of sinful anger gives birth to are clear here. The problem is that the evils of this level of anger are so often hidden under, or disguised by, self-righteousness and the pleasure that arises from its immediate gratification.
Do we not see these offspring of this sinful anger all around us? Indeed, are we guilty of this kind of anger on occasion? Do we see lies, treachery, discord, and cries for vengeance in much of the public discourse at every level? Is it not clear that these behaviors are evident on social media, or in the common political ‘dialogue’ of our time? Is it any wonder that our society is so divided, to the point of seeming irreconcilable? Are we comfortable with this atmosphere in our consciences? More importantly, as Christians, shouldn’t we rather be more uncomfortable with this atmosphere? Should we not be able to see that this kind of anger is a tool of the evil one, that it is not of God? Indeed, God’s righteous anger toward those who are unjust toward others, those who treat others with indifference and cruelty, is governed by his infinite love and mercy toward each one of us, but especially toward the poor, the downtrodden, and the forgotten among us. Let us, then, listen to what God has to say to us in the scriptures.
“By waiting and by calm, you shall be saved, in quiet and in trust your strength lies” (Is. 30:15). Here we can deduce that the peace we all desire resides solely and completely in our surrender to the Lord, in our trust in the wisdom of his way, his truth, and his life modelled for us in his Son, Jesus Christ. When we allow ourselves to fret over and be overcome by our anger toward the wrongs done by others, we lose our balance, and we can lose our way. This kind of anger/rage takes our focus off Jesus, and in doing so, we lose the true delight that only he can give to us. When we do not see our capacity for this kind of anger, or worse, if we refuse to see it in ourselves, when our actions and words toward others are driven by it, we become tools of the evil one, not the true disciples of Jesus that we want to conceive ourselves to be. When we see ourselves as righteous in our rage and demands for vengeance, and when we rationalize cruelty toward others, or participate in it ourselves, either actively or passively, with our words or our support, we become the problem, not the solution we hope to bring about.
Listen to the psalmist here: “Commit your life to the Lord,/ trust in him and he will act, so that your justice breaks forth like the light, your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and wait in patience; do not fret at the man who prospers; a man who makes evil plots/ to bring down the needy and the poor./ Calm your anger and forget your rage; do not fret, it only leads to evil./ For those who do evil shall perish; the patient shall inherit the land” (Ps. 37:5-9). And listen again to the Apostle Paul, who recognizes that anger can be a tool for the good, if it is governed by patience, compassion, and understanding: “Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun set on your anger, and do not leave room for the devil. All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you, along with malice” (Eph. 4: 26).
Chaucer not only describes the evils of excessive anger and vengeful rage, but he also gives us their remedy. For Chaucer, the remedy to this kind of anger is Patience. He is speaking here of the fruit of the Holy Spirit mentioned in the Letter of Paul to the Galatians, chapter, verse 22. Chaucer suggests here what the whole of scripture suggests, that is, when we recognize and admit our sins, the opportunity for repentance, healing, and the graces we need to develop virtuous habits becomes possible. Paul, too, speaks of the remedy for this kind of anger more concretely in the passage from his Letter to the Ephesians mentioned above writing, “Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you” (v. 32). Only when we learn to practice these virtues, with the help of God’s grace, will we begin to gain control over the promptings of the devil to this kind of sinful and destructive anger. Let us pray daily, then, for the fruit of the Holy Spirit that is patience.
Lord, when we are tempted to anger, envy, or vengeance, grant us inner peace. Help us to respond to bitterness and insults with patience and kindness. When we see injustice being done to others, pour your grace upon us and deepen our capacity to confront it and to challenge it with patient endurance. Give us the grace to be better, more courageous examples of the wisdom of your healing compassion and forgiveness. Make us instruments of your peace in this all too often bitter, angry, and divided world. We pray these things in your name, Jesus. Amen.
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