Anger

When somebody commits an offense against us, our first impulse is to punish the offender. Now there are two kinds of punishment. One type makes the person meting out the punishment feel better while the other kind makes the person being punished become better.

The point is not that we should not punish anybody at all cost, but that our punishment and rebukes should not be motivated merely by anger. They should not be occasion for ventilating anger. Our punishment ahold be motivated by love and concern for a brother or sister gone wrong. Our punishment should not be to make us feel better, but to make th offender be a better person

Thus we ask ouselves, " What kind of anger do I feel? Am I an impulsive person who flies into uncontrollable rage once I see something wrong? " It is always good to ask the Lord to make us patient. When we ask for patience let us implore the Lord to grant us the grace to correct, not simply to exprees our anger, but so that other people will become better as a result of our anger. Only through this will our anger become life giving. Then our anger becomes God's instrument for grace.