Our Lady of the Holy Rosary — St. Richard Catholic Church

Our Lady of the Holy Rosary-St. Richard Catholic Church

OCTOBER IS RESPECT LIFE AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH

October 21, 2018 - WORLD MISSION SUNDAY

PLEASE PRAY FOR THE SAFE RELEASE OF LEAH SHARIBU AND OTHERS WHO ARE HELD CAPTIVE BECAUSE THEY REFUSE TO RENOUNCE THEIR CHRISTIAN FAITH

“Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”
Luke 23:34


“Anger and intolerance are the enemies
of correct understanding.”

Mahatma Gandhi

"ANGER IS NOT THE WAY TO RESOLVE DISPUTES"

Has responding in anger resolved any issues you face?

Anger is generally considered as our normal response to pain—physical, emotional, psychological, relational, or spiritual—or the fear or threat of pain to ourselves or someone we care about.

Usually, when so triggered, our feelings of pain can motivate us to take action, such as by defending ourselves or our perceptions, or striking out against the source we believe has caused the pain. If not controlled, anger can lead to violence against others. Road rage is an example of uncontrolled anger leading to uncontrolled behavior.

Anger does not make the pain go away, it just distracts us from it. Perhaps this is why we may find difficulty in letting the anger go. We may fuel our anger through our thoughts and use it to hide the reality that we may feel frightened, vulnerable, not in control, or lack self-esteem. We believe our anger and actions are justified and we want the people who we believe hurt or wronged us to be punished.

Although we cannot always control what happens to us in life, we have the freedom and responsibility to choose how we respond to life’s situations. Difficulty arises when our perceptions do not accurately reflect reality, or when we overreact to a situation. Therefore, it is important to consider and reflect upon how we respond to and manage our anger, both individually and collectively. We need to recognize that although an emotion like anger may suddenly arise, it will usually dissipate within a short time unless we continue to harbor the emotion through our thoughts and reactions. Thus the old adage to “count to ten” before responding.

Persons who cannot control their anger may need to seek professional, psychological counseling and treatment to help them to understand the underlying causes of their anger, and to teach them how to better manage their reactions to their anger.

Harboring anger as a group leads to “us against them” mentality which we find so prevalent today. Anger doesn’t resolve or address the underlying problems. Responding with unjustifiable and uncontrolled anger or violence will only lead to escalation of the dispute.

To effectively reduce or eliminate anger in our life, we may need to transform the core beliefs, assumptions, and interpretations of our mind. Only through love, compassion, forgiveness, reason, self-reflection, respectful listening and dialogue, prayer, and discernment of the promptings of the Spirit can we hope to begin to resolve the issues we face today that are causing so much anger among God’s people.

Reflect on Your Experience

When anger arises, take time to reflect on the underling reasons that may be causing you to experience anger such as feeling frightened, vulnerable, out of control or in response to an attack on your self-esteem or for other reasons.