Anger Management

I came back to work yesterday after my nearly 2 week funeral leave.  I was confronted by a couple of managers lamenting about the animosity they perceive to be directed towards them by some of the other supervisors I work with.  While the wording of some of the emails they received does in fact sound demeaning and angry, I know both sides of the issues at hand and I think I was able to defuse a potentially damaging situation and save a few jobs through mediation.  Mom’s death and the ensuing meditations inspired by it seem to have given me (at least for now) a certain need for peaceful relationships in my everyday life.

It seems like we live in an age of anger.  We hear the phrase and maybe even feel “road rage” as well as read about celebrities and other offenders who need “anger management.”  So many situations today are causes or effects of anger: partisan politics, computer crashes, Boko Haram, airport security, inequality, umpires, Vladimir Putin, school shootings.  Wouldn’t it be great if all of us could, as the gospel recommends, let go of our anger and be reconciled with each other?  We need to be peacemakers—on the personal and global level.  We must release our rage or our need to win and embrace compromise, forgiveness, and mercy.  We must think of others with love and not think of them as Raqa, which in Aramaic means “imbecile.”  (Matthew 5:20-26)

As always, the way to God–the way to follow the supreme commandment of loving God—is through one another and the second greatest commandment.  In some respects, it is easier to love God, who isn’t trampling our petunias or invading our nation, than it is to love our neighbor.  It seems simpler and less messy to approach His altar than it is to have a meal or negotiate a peace treaty with those who have offended us or whom we’ve offended.  But Jesus is adamant.  We must settle with our opponents before going to God.  His allusions to the scribes and Pharisees, who were very big on the letter of the law and correct behavior, remind us that the spirit of the law is even more important.   Our actions should be infused with a sense of love; our hearts should not be hardened.  We must always aim for reconciliation because love of God and love of neighbor are inextricable.

The etymology of the word reconcile is from the Latin and means “to bring together again.”  As we consider this day, let’s look for opportunities to forgo anger, mend wounds, and get back together with those at odds with us.