As I forgot to take my photo when I woke up, the time stamp on my Hallow app will hopefully suffice.

Started my day strong

Is anger the same as wrath? Is there a difference? In short, one is the cause, the other is its expression. The distinction between wrath and anger is important because too often they are conflated to mean the same thing, when in fact, one is a passion with the other a vice. To be clear, passion is not a sin in itself. Vices, however, are all sins, and wrath is one of them; one of the seven “deadly” sins. In contrast, anger is the passion that can lead down one of two possible roads, one is vice, the other is virtue. Anger is one of the passions. Passions unbridled go in any direction. They can lead to destruction as readily as victory. Like the other passions — love and hatred, desire and aversion, hope and despair, fear and daring, anger and joy — passions are movements in the soul, forward or back, towards or away from certain circumstances and situations. The intellect and the will serve to rein in one’s passions and provide direction for them. Without direction, they remain unruly, driving in whichever direction that seems most expedient. In the same way that the horse takes direction from its rider, the passions take their cue from the intellect and the will. The will and the intellect are the bridle and bit that move the passions towards their proper aim; for the virtuous, that aim is the Good. The question then, is where are those passions directed? The difference between anger and wrath is the final orientation of that passion. It would be better and more clear to say that anger is the passion that leads either to virtue or vice; the virtue would be charity, the vice, wrath. This clarification makes apparent the truth that anger in itself is no sin, but rather what one does with that passion. For instance if someone is angry at being wrongly treated, that anger is quite reasonable. Any injustice requires some reparation. Wrath, in contrast, seeks revenge. Wrath is an anger let loose; anger is unreasonable and their solution is the elimination of that which makes them angry. Children who have yet to learn how to master their passions, cannot express why they are angry; instead they throw tantrums, damage property (like breaking toys) and scream and yell.

Are you angry? So am I! Anger in this evil culture is an appropriate response. We can be angry at the violence in our culture. We can be angry that innocent people are murdered every day. We can be upset that politics turns to hyperbole and social media is destroying the brains of our young people. Anger signals that our culture has taken the wrong turn and that we know we could be better. Anger is one of the daughter virtues of Hope. Hope tells us that life can be better, that we were made for more, that this is not the way things ought to be. Hope is not optimism: optimism believes that things will naturally turn out for the better. Hope has no such illusions. Hope recognizes that life can be better because good people choose to make it so. Anger is a righteous response to evil and violence and sin because we know that we were made for more! The other daughter virtue of Hope is courage. Courage tells us to choose to do the hard thing and change the culture. Courage tells us to love our enemies and those who persecute us. Courage tells us to dialogue with those with whom we disagree and find some way to love them. Courage tells us to turn the other cheek, to go into the lion’s den to serve the most vulnerable. It takes courage to love, it takes courage to get involved and not sit on the sidelines, it takes courage to make a difference. Charlie Kirk was a man of hope. A world divided by politics, rhetoric more about hyperbole and gainsmanship rather than serving the public, bent on harming the other side rather than preserving the good in society led Charlie to go into the Lion’s den and talk to the next generation. Charlie was a man of hope who was angry that the world had become so divided and sought to turn the corner through the next generation. His “prove me wrong” tour was an invitation to engage in dialogue with people that viewed him as their enemy. He spoke with charity, clarity, and a little humor in order to engage the next generation in the debate that would cause some reflection and perhaps give them some light in what had already become a dark world. Even when he was threatened with violence, treated with hostility, he chose to remain calm, peacefully challenge, and simply talk. In short, Charlie Kirk was a man of hope who sought to change the world around him because he believed we could all be better.

Thank you for joining our SKOOL community! SKOOL has proven to be a really helpful tool to share the gospel online with a dedicated community. This page allows us to: 1) post videos and content for little cost 2) share our calendar and updates 3) keep valuable resources online for anyone in the community to revisit at any time 4) allow our community to connect to each other. This has been a great experience for the few of us who have been using it regularly. Now, I ask that you help me to share it! I’m asking for your help to spread the word and help us change someone’s life by helping them encounter the gospel. If you have seen 1 post, 1 video, 1 homily that made you think, “I know someone who needs to hear that” then I ask you to share! Here is the Link https://www.skool.com/ephesians6ministry Thank you! Let’s help our neighbor come to know more about the life of grace through a community that will help and support them! Fr Fleming.