Article June 21, 1982 Issue

Anger? Don't divert it ... destroy it!

CATHERINE B. O'HARA

A friend once confided to me that she couldn't enjoy playing on her racquetball team because many of the other players seemed to be using the game as an opportunity to let out their pent-up anger.

Most people recognize the need to maintain self-control when facing the pressures, conflicts, and frustrations of modern living. If we find that we can do this only through the use of human will, it may be that our calm is merely a temporary cover for anger. Such anger becomes evident eventually, sometimes victimizing other people. Very often harbored wrath contributes to physical illness. So let us recognize the need to destroy anger instead of merely suppressing or rechanneling it.

Christ Jesus at one time was faced with the fierce wrath of two men "possessed with devils" (evil). The devils resisted their destruction, suggesting that they simply be rechanneled: "If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine." But when the devils entered the swine, the herd immediately ran into the sea and drowned. See Matt. 8:28-32 . Jesus' deed illustrates the fact that evil should not be tolerated in any form. It must be completely and irrevocably destroyed.

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Reflections on Psalm 150
June 21, 1982
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