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Homily
Fr. Paul Ward
Sunday, September 11, 2016
24th Sunday in Ord.
Time, Cycle C
Social Doctrine (5/7):
Wrath (Anger), and a
Reflection on Peace
1.
Today we continue our
meditations on Church
Social Doctrines. For
seven Sundays this fall,
we are examining these
doctrines, using the
seven capital sins as
our outline. In seven
homilies, therefore, we
see first something of
the capital sin in
question; second, how it
produces manifestations
and consequences in the
public square; and
third, what the Church
teaches to arrest the
personal and social
evils under study. The
purpose of these seven
meditations is to inform
the Catholic conscience
somewhat as the
elections approach, and
so to assist each
Catholic to not sin when
they vote; and also to
provide, simultaneously,
some fruit for one’s own
personal, spiritual
progress.
We have examined
already those sins of
greed, laziness, pride
and envy. Today we move
on to another of the
capital sins, wrath. We
see wrath today
expressed in the older
brother of the prodigal
son, for he was angry,
unwilling to forgive in
obstinate in his spirit
of division. But we also
think of wrath
especially this day,
when we remember the
violence committed on
this date in 2001, when
many thousands were
killed in the twin
towers in New York, the
Pentagon and in a fourth
downed plane in
Pennsylvania. The topic
of anger will lead us to
discuss the topic of
war.
What is the capital
sin of wrath?
It is often called, in
more modern texts, the
capital sin of anger.
Lest we get confused,
let us distinguish that
there are two ways of
speaking of anger. There
is the feeling of
anger, and there is the
sin of anger.
Anger as a sin is always
a feeling; but anger as
a feeling is not always
a sin. We speak of this
passion, this strong
emotional response of
the soul, as that which
rejects evil, always
with a view for
vengeance. Anger
understood this way can
be sinful or not sinful,
for not all vengeance is
sinful. If one seeks
vengeance in the proper
order of justice, for
example, to put a bank
robber behind bars, or
to rejoice for God’s
eternal justice over one
who dies in unrepentant
mortal sin, is to stay
within the boundaries of
a vengeance that is
properly ordered
according to right
reason, and is no sin.
And if you are angry at
sin, and declare war on
sin in your own life and
within your home, this
is praiseworthy.
Anger, as this
feeling that stirs one
to seek vengeance,
however, is probably
more often than a sin.
It is a sin, first, when
one desires vengeance
over something small or
petty, or when it is not
due at all. Second, one
can sin with anger
imposing a vengeance
outside what the law
prescribes – here we
speak natural law, civil
law or God’s law. For
example, your neighbor
steals your lawn mower,
so you take it upon
yourself to burn his
house down. That is
sinful. Third, one sins
with anger when he
wishes to do away with
the sinner instead of
the sin. This happens
when, in wrath, one
hates his enemy, wishes
to destroy his enemy,
rejoices over his
downfall, refuses to
forgive, or even attacks
or kills his enemy.
These are all sinful.
What are some
manifestations of anger
in our social lives? One
can site many examples
of families wherein the
siblings are fighting –
and no, it does not take
two for this kind of
fight, it takes one very
unjust person. There can
be petty revenges in the
workplace, and from
anger one moves to other
sins, like a man
slandering a coworker so
that the man, and not
the coworker, can keep
his job or obtain a
promotion. There can be
many other various forms
of anger – fights,
unforgiveness, road
rage, outbursts,
intimidation or
violence, yelling and
screaming at each other,
sabotaging one another,
broken homes and so much
more.
As important as all
these are, the worst
manifestation of anger,
which goes more
importantly to the point
of Catholic social
teaching, is war. The
Church’s general
position is that of
“making peace.”
Some confuse this with
pacifism. Sometimes
peace needs to be made
with force; and in these
cases we speak of the
“just war.” It is hard
today to speak of the
just war, first because
most of our experience
is the political wars
created by corrupt
politicians; second,
because the nature of
weaponry today is such
that much of it is
directed to mass
destruction: atomic
weapons, chemical
weapons, biological
weapons and regular
artillery capable of
massive demolition.
While neither natural
law nor Church teaching
considers the dirty job
of a soldier sinful,
when he takes the life
of an enemy soldier,
weapons of mass
destruction carry with
them nearly a guarantee
of killing the lives of
“innocent” civilians –
“innocent” not that they
are sinless, or
crimeless, but
“innocent” here meaning
not engaging in combat.
This has caused,
therefore, mixed
messages about the
Church’s teachings about
war. For there is a
doctrine of the just
war, but more recently,
the last few decades
especially, the Church
has spoken very strongly
against war, making no
distinction between just
war or unjust war. The
well informed Catholic
understands that these
more recent, categorial
condemnations of war
refer to unjust war. The
teachings of just war
theory go untouched.
For a war to be just,
the Church speaks of a
“legitimate defense by
military force” (CCC
2309). See, we speak of
a defensive war here.
This is one of the
places where the Church
parts ways from the
pacifist, who will not
go to war even in case
of defense. Defense is
sometimes a duty of
charity towards your
family and your people,
and to not defend would
be sinful cowardice; let
us see the pacifist to
be part peace lover and
part coward.
The criteria of a
just ware are four:
first, the damage
inflicted by the
aggressor must be
lasting, grave and
certain. Second, all
other means used to
attempt to end the
inflicted damage have
failed. For “all other
means,” one is to
understand “all
reasonable means,” all
that those involved can
think of in the time
allotted to them to
solve the conflict; for
man has not the mind of
God, and cannot see all
the infinity of
hypothetical
possibilities. Third,
the evils produced by
war must not be greater
than the evils already
being endured – and here
again the use of weapons
of mass destruction are
condemned. And fourth,
there must be serious
prospects of victory.
The Church also says
that it is not up
to the hierarchy of the
Church to determine when
these criteria are in
effect; that depends on
those who govern civil
society. Therefore, if a
deacon, priest, bishop
or even Pope support or
condemn a specific
military conflict, one
may differ from the
judgment of that member
of the hierarchy and
possibly be still a good
Catholic. What one
cannot dissent from
is the list of
principles of what
just war is.
The solution to all
of this starts with the
person. Many saints have
written about anger in
the context of one’s
personal interior life;
for example, Pope St.
Gregory the Great speaks
about how, by anger, the
angry man loses wisdom,
righteousness, kind
social ife, harmony,
truthfulness and even
the Holy Spirit himself;
maybe he will even lose
his life in a moment of
fury.
He recommends that one
brace himself against
anger by vigilance and
preparedness for
contrary things, people
and words. He also
recommends that humility
which, before condemning
transgressions of
others, stops to condemn
oneself for his own
transgressions more
strongly.
But in the Church’s
social teachings speaks
very clearly about the
State’s obligations to
take the matter with
grave reflection and
responsibility, and to
defend one’s people
especially the most
innocent – I might add,
especially the unborn.
But the Church wishes to
make peace, and peace is
made where justice
prevails. When one
nation is afflicted by
another, either by theft
of a natural resource
like water, forestry,
livestock or oil; or by
economic sanctions which
never hurt those who
govern but only
legitimate businesses
and the average guy on
the street; or by brutal
punishments of entire
nations as more or less
happened after the first
world war; or by
terrorism, racial
cleansing, religious or
ethnic persecutions, and
by other such things,
situations of injustice
arise that infuriate
people and inspire them
to band together and
fight back in dreadful
ways – war.
Politicians, worse
still, wage war to gain
control of gold mines,
or manage the oil
industry, or to reduce
nations to third-world
status for purposes of
control, or other such.
Sometimes they cause
wars abroad to distract
their populace from
problems at home. These
and other wars are
extremely evil, and such
persons will answer for
their wars, and all the
death, tears and misery
they cause, when they
stand before the
judgment seat of God.
An excellent means,
furthermore, to bring up
peace, not only in the
international community
but also within the
homes, schools, business
places, and elsewhere,
is the good of
forgiveness. Forgiveness
breaks the cycle of
revenge. When men want
revenge on each other,
they go back and forth
escalating the payback…
until one says, “Here I
stop; I forgive, and ask
for forgiveness.” When
situations of injustice
are solved, still
forgiveness is needed to
rebuild a society of
justice and peace.
Catholics should
strive for peace, in
their interior lives, in
their parishes, in their
volunteer groups, in
their homes and
everywhere they go. They
should also demand that
their political
representatives observe
the Church’s teachings
regarding the just war,
and the prudent
procuring of peace among
peoples and nations. May
the Lord, through Mary’s
intercession, extinguish
sinful anger, and bless
us with peace –
spiritual peace and
public peace – now and
for all our days. Amen.■
Compendium of
Social Doctrine
of the Church,
from the
Pontifical
Council for
Justice and
Peace, Librevia
Editrice
Vaticana
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