Anger isn’t just a vice; it’s a taste of hell on earth.
“There is no sin or wrong that gives a man such a foretaste of hell in this life as anger and impatience,” said St. Catherine of Siena.
St. John Climacus described anger as a force that “keeps alive sin, hates justice, ruins virtue, poisons the heart, rots the mind, defeats concentration, paralyzes prayer, puts love at a distance, and is a nail driven into the soul.”
Pope Francis pointed out that wrath is a particularly dark vice. “A person dominated by wrath finds it difficult to hide this impulse: you can see it in the way their body moves, in the aggressiveness, the laboured breathing, and their grim and frowning expression... Wrath is a pervasive vice: it is capable of depriving us of sleep, making us plot continuously in our mind, barring the way to reason and thought. Wrath is a vice that destroys human relationships. It expresses the inability to accept the diversity of others, especially when their life choices diverge from our own... when a person is dominated by wrath, they always say that the other person is the problem. They are never capable of recognizing their own defects, their own shortcomings.”
He continued, saying, “the ancients understood well that there is an irascible part of us that cannot and must not be denied. Passions are to some extent unconscious: they happen, they are life experiences. We are not responsible for the onset of wrath, but always for its development.”
The saints throughout time have offered solutions to anger and wrath. According to St. Peter Chrysologus, God “wants us to smother anger when it is still only a spark. If it grows to the full flame of its fury, it does not get checked without bloodshed.”
St. Francis de Sales advised quickly turning to God and asking for peace, then thinking about something else. “Don’t discuss the matter at hand, or make decisions, or correct another person while you’re angry,” Father Joseph M. Esper wrote. “When a person angers you, St. Francis advises, consider the person’s good qualities, rather than the words or actions you find objectionable.”
St. Francis de Sales said that it had taken him more than 20 years to gain full control of his temper. The saint loved to say, “A spoonful of honey attracts more flies than a barrelful of vinegar.”
Along similar lines, St. Angela Merici said, “you will effect more by kind words and a courteous manner than by anger or sharp rebuke, which should never be used but in necessity.”
St. Josemaria Escriva said, “say what you have just said, but in a different tone, without anger, and your argument will gain in strength and, above all, you won’t offend God.”
Two seventh century saintly monks from the East gave practical advice regarding anger. St. John Climacus said, “the first step toward freedom from anger is to keep the lips silent when the heart is stirred; the next, to keep thoughts silent when the soul is upset; the last, to be totally calm when unclean winds are blowing.”
St. Maximus the Confessor said, “Don’t recall to your memory anything your neighbour may have said in a moment of acrimony, whether he insulted you to your face, or spoke evil of you to another and that person has come and reported it to you. If you let yourself become angry, it is but a short step from anger to hatred.”
St. Maximilian Kolbe gave this advice: “We should make it a point never to do anything when we are ‘hot and bothered,’ but strive first of all to calm down, to hand ourselves over to the will of God and of the Immaculate, and then to act with serenity so that we may not commit blunders.”
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憤怒毒害心靈
聖加大利納．栖亞那說：「在這一生中，沒有任何罪惡或錯誤能像憤怒和不耐煩那樣讓人嚐到地獄的滋味。」聖約望、克利馬古說，憤怒「使罪惡繼續存在，憎恨正義，毀壞美德，毒害心靈，腐蝕心智，破壞專注力，癱瘓祈禱，疏遠愛，並且是釘在靈魂上的釘子。」
教宗方濟各指出，憤怒是一種特別黑暗的惡習：「被憤怒支配的人很難隱藏這種衝動：你可以從他們的身體動作、攻擊性、喘息和嚴峻皺眉的表情中看出來…憤怒是一種無所不在的惡習：它能讓我們失去睡眠，不斷地在腦海中策劃，阻礙理性和思考。憤怒是一種破壞人際關係的惡習。它表達了無法接受他人不同之處，尤其是當他們的生命的選擇與我們不一樣的時候…當一個人被憤怒支配時，他們總是說問題在於別人。他們從來無法認識到自己的缺點和不足…古人很好地理解，我們內心有一部分是易怒的，這部分不能也不應該被否認。情感在某種程度上是無意識的：事情發生了，是人生經驗的一部分。我們對這憤怒的出現沒有責任，但對憤怒的發展一定負全責。」
聖伯多祿．金言說，天主「希望我們在憤怒還只是火花的時候就將其撲滅。如果發展成憤怒的烈焰，就無法不流血地被遏制。」Joseph M. Esper神父寫道：「聖方濟、沙雷建議，要避免憤怒的罪過，你必須在生氣時迅速祈求天主賜予心靈的平安，然後將思緒轉向其他事情。不要在憤怒時討論問題、做決定、或糾正他人。當有人激怒你時，聖方濟建議，考慮這個人的優點，而不是你覺得令人反感的言語或行為。」
聖方濟、沙雷說，他花了二十多年才完全控制住自己的脾氣。這位聖人喜歡說：「一匙蜜比一桶醋吸引更多的蒼蠅。」
聖安琪拉．美利西說：「你用親切的言語和禮貌的態度會達到更好的效果，而不是用憤怒或尖銳的斥責，這些應該只在必要時使用。」聖若瑟瑪利亞、施禮華說：「把你剛才說的話，用不同的語氣，沒有憤怒地說出來，你的論點會更有力量，而且最重要的是，你不會冒犯天主。」
兩位來自東方的七世紀被封聖的隱修士提供了關於憤怒的實用建議。聖金口若望說：「擺脫憤怒的第一步是當內心激動時保持沉默；接下來是當靈魂不安時保持思緒平靜；最後是當污濁的風在吹時完全冷靜下來。」聖馬克西姆斯懺悔者說：「不要回憶起你的鄰人在憤怒時可能說過的任何話，不管他是當面侮辱你，還是對別人說你的壞話，而那個人已經來告訴了你。如果你讓自己生氣，從憤怒到仇恨只差一步。」
聖高比給出這樣的建議：「我們應該特別注意，永遠不要在『心煩意亂』時做任何事情，而是首先努力冷靜下來，將自己交托給天主和無玷聖母的旨意，然後以平靜的心態行事，這樣我們才不會犯錯。」
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More from Father Anthony Ho’s series on the seven deadly sins here: