Latest / The Catholic Current / LTACL: The Most Dangerous Sin? | Fr. Robert McTeigue, S.J.

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LTACL: The Most Dangerous Sin? | Fr. Robert McTeigue, S.J. · The Catholic Current

• 0:00
  Let me ask you this, what do anger and a hand grenade have in common?
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  Well, in both cases, you hope that you never have to use it, but if you do have to use
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  it, you better know how, because once you pull the pin on a hand grenade, you either
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  have to use it properly or reinsert the pin under very stressful conditions, or you end
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  up with a whole lot of undesired damage.
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  Said less graphically but more eloquently by Ambrose Bierce, he said, speak when you
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  are angry and you will make the best speech you ever regret, and I would add, so too
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  for the moral life.
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  And what I mean by that, stay with me, I've got a story to tell.
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  Hi, I'm Jesuit Father Robert McTague, your host here for The Catholic Current, coming
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  to you from the Station of the Cross Catholic Media Network.
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  Let's take a closer look.
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  Glad you're here.
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  I have been making a series of videos reflecting on the seven deadly sins, and one of them
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  is variously called anger or wrath, but anger and wrath can also be good things.
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  We hear about the wrath of God.
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  St. Paul never said, don't ever be angry.
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  He said, be angry, but sin not.
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  So what about that?
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  So we're going to say the good kind of anger is a just wrath, as Aquinas said, and the
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  out of control anger we're going to call rage.
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  So you don't want to rage, but you do want to make use of anger.
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  Well, why?
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  Well, St. John Chrysostom said this, he said, he who is not angry when there is a just cause
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  for anger is immoral.
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  He goes on to say, because anger looks to the good of justice, and if you can live amid
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  injustice without anger, you are immoral as well as unjust.
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  So anger used the right way for the right reasons as an obligation, failure in that
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  righteous anger and that just wrath as Aquinas would call it, that's a sin.
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  And St. Augustine, it has been suggested, links righteous anger with courage and with
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  hope.
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  We've been told that he said this, hope has two beautiful daughters.
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  Their names are anger and courage.
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  Anger at the way things are and courage to see that they do not remain as they are.
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  So anger gives us the energy to protect the weak and the vulnerable, two right wrongs.
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  And St. Thomas Aquinas says that righteous anger, a just wrath, is strongly linked with
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  courage.
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  He said, courage, fortitude, bravery, we think primarily as passive, just holding on, holding
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  the line, persevering, gritting your teeth, but he said that there is an active form of
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  fortitude coupled with righteous anger that he calls a just wrath.
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  And listen to this, he says proactive courage linked with a just wrath, he calls it a holy
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  pouncing.
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  Now, I don't know about you, but I'd be willing to get up early two, three, four times a week
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  if we could all engage in a good, holy pouncing every now and again.
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  I think the world would be a much better place if we engaged in a little holy pouncing when
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  we needed to.
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  So what's the moral of the story?
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  Anger like courage has to have a worthy object.
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  When we feel ourselves bubbling up, when we feel the steam coming out of our ears, we
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  have to ask ourselves, is it really worth it?
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  I have to check and say, do I have a good intention?
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  Am I going to use my anger under the control of reason to build up, to achieve a good rather
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  than to tear down or to destroy?
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  And there has to be a proportionate and just means.
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  You don't shoot someone because he stepped on your shadow.
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  That's rage.
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  That's not just anger.
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  So anger is a powerful tool like fire, like a weapon, intelligent, smart people use it
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  in a moral way.
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  And then there's everybody else.
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  So take some time this week, have an examination of conscience.
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  Where have you popped off?
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  Where have you failed to exercise a righteous anger?
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  And how could you and some of your closest friends engage under God's direction with
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  a good holy pouncing?
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  Think on these things today, take them to prayer and talk about it with those you love.
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  Go in peace and please do pray for me for I am a sinner.
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  Thanks for watching today.
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  I release new videos on Mondays and Wednesdays.
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  Check out the archives for more videos.
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  You can listen to my podcast at stationofthecross.com and you can find my written work at heraldofthegospel.org.
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  See you next time.