SWIFT TO HEAR, SLOW TO SPEAK

 A SERMON FOR THE 4TH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER

One of the things I’ve tried to stress over the years is based more in Catholic philosophy than theology.  It’s the question of prioritization of what goes on in our heads.  We’re all aware that there are two warring factors constantly doing battle.  Sometimes we attribute these to the good angel on our right shoulder and the little demon on our left.  Or less dramatically, but with the same significance, we say that the spirit is willing but the body is weak.  It all boils down to temptation, where our fallen human nature wants to do one thing while our conscience tells us not to.  It’s our Faith, in other words, doing battle with our “feelings”.

In today’s epistle, St. James focuses in on just one aspect of these feelings at war with what we know to be right.  Addressing us as his “beloved brethren,” full of concern for our well-being, he admonishes us: “Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.” 

Wrath, or anger is generally not a good thing.  It’s not always sinful of course, and by way of proof we have the example of a very angry Saviour whipping the moneylenders out of the temple.  Anger is often justified, and so long as our higher intellect is in control of it and we don’t just go berserk, screaming and shouting like a maniac, we may control that anger to effectively achieve the desired results.  We spank our children when necessary and that’s okay.  We’ve spoken about this often enough before, and by now you should all know that anger in itself is not sinful.

Generally speaking though, anger is dangerous.  Dangerous, because of what it is.  More often than not, it’s not a rational but an emotional response to a tense situation.  And emotions are nothing more than “feelings”, and so we must be on our guard.  First of all, anger can lead us into sin by losing our temper, or acting with disproportionate violence towards the object of our anger.  But even if we don’t cross that line, there is still a great danger to our own spiritual and psychological equilibrium.  When we get angry, we often lose that peace of mind, that serenity that is the hallmark of the saints.  We cannot imagine our Blessed Lady, for example, going off the deep end.  It’s unthinkable.  But for us, who are not saints, it happens all too often, and our spiritual peace is disturbed.

The key to maintaining that perfect balance between anger and calm lies in placing our priority on the rational above the emotional.  In other words, when we experience the first rising of anger within us, we should stop, pause to reflect rationally on whether anger really is the appropriate and most effective way to deal with the situation at hand.  Very often, if we do this, we’ll realize that it isn’t.  Maybe instead, it may be preferable, as St. James tells us, to be “swift to hear.”  We might listen to the arguments of our adversary; try and see things from his point of view, appreciate the value of his objections if they’re genuine.  And then we could try and excuse his own lack of politeness or whatever it might be—maybe his ignorance is not through his own fault, maybe he’s suffering some unknown pain or sorrow in his life, maybe he was mistreated as a child and knows no other way to behave.  I don’t mean to sound like a liberal here, excusing every instance of bad behavior in others.  There is always a line that should be drawn, and we certainly must defend with vigor the Truth, the natural law, the Faith, and so on.  But generally, even this is usually better done by de-escalating the situation rather than putting one’s foot down right from the start.

St. James sums it up perfectly: “Be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.”  He doesn’t say, “don’t speak, avoid wrath altogether,” but simply “be slow.”  Take your time, reflect on what’s the best way to deal with the situation, don’t just blow up at the first provocation, but use your brain to decide on the most effective solution.  “For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.”  Think about that—when we give in to anger, we are the least likely to make our case effectively, the least likely to win a convert, the least likely to shine forth as the reflection of God’s light and peace and love.  On the contrary, we are more likely to give scandal than food for thought, more likely to provoke the other person to greater anger himself than to win our argument.

Whenever “feelings” come into play, know that we’re playing with fire.  Stop, think, and only then, speak or act.  “But what if I don’t have time to think?” you may ask.  “What if someone attacks me unexpectedly, violently even?”  At times like that, we have to rely on our training, if we’ve had any.  Law enforcement officers are often placed in situations like this, and if they’re trained well, will know how to handle the situation.  Sometimes, this involves using violence in return, and it’s morally quite acceptable as it falls under the heading of self-defense.  It’s a judgment call made on the spot by a trained individual who hasn’t time to do anything else, and we should never second-guess someone who is placed in such a position.  And if we don’t have any training, then we have to rely on instinct.  Instinctively, our actions will be based on self-preservation, and surely any snap decisions made in such circumstances will be judged, at least by God, with mercy and understanding.

Such situations are few and far between, thank God.  More usually, we’re dealing with situations that don’t require such an instant reactions.  More likely, unexpected and instinctive anger will be caused by someone cutting us off on the freeway or some such thing.  How should we act then?  After we’re done braking and swerving, our next response may be to curse and scream at the other driver, whether he can hear us or not.  As a way of venting, it is understandable, but wouldn’t it be better to say a thank-you prayer to our guardian angel (who can hear us) that we didn’t hit the other car? 

There’s a time and place for everything, including a time to be angry.  But our temperament should not such that we are permanently just one step away from losing it.  If it is, we must work on it, as that type of anger is a vice, and can be a very bad one.  In fact, it’s one of the seven deadly sins.  So be sure to take your time in deciding, rationally, and with the blessing of God, to be angry.  “Be slow to wrath.”  And when you do make that decision to be angry, make sure it’s based on sound principles of charity for the one you’re angry at.  As it tell us in the Fourth Psalm, Irascimini, et nolite peccare!—Be angry, and sin not.