Wrath and Criticism

Criticism can be a good thing. But wrathful criticism is not. How do we discern the difference between spiritual wrath and righteous anger?

For some, they think that by the mere fact that a person has done something unjust (perceived or real), that they are entitled to say all sorts of things in all sorts of ways. Therefore, there is nothing bridling the passion of such anger.

Humility demands that we first distrust ourselves with our own anger. This type of distrust pauses before we “impulsively” react. It takes time to look at our passions remembering that our disordered heart and mind (concupiscence) is real, and that we need to put our own soul in check before seeking to reprove the soul of another.

Second, understanding the philosophy of anger is important. The emotion itself, according to Aquinas, is the composition of two attitudes: hope and the perception of an injustice.

The sin of “wrath” takes place, he explains, when one or both of these are disordered. That is, the “hope” we uphold is not real. That is, the “control” we think we have over a situation is not real. We expand our circle of influence beyond what God has actually given us. If we do this then we are guilty of pride — and perhaps grief is a better emotion to experience? If we hold onto more control than God has assigned us, then we are trying to be God. On the other hand, we must remember that avoiding responsibility is sloth, where God demands it. And so we cannot relinquish responsibility out of a mere fear of conflict.

Our perception of justice can also be disordered. Two ways come to mind. First, what may have taken place may actually be unjust, but that is only the façade of why we are upset. We actually are indifferent towards the injustice, and rather our own ego is wounded.

For instance, if a person cuts us off while driving, we may be upset because their act was unsafe (unjust), but we might also be upset because our ego has placed us at the center of the universe. In this case, we use the injustice as the façade to hide the real reason for our anger, which is that we think it unjust that we are not the center of other people’s lives.

This motive may even be hidden from ourselves. Therefore, if we can do some digging, we might discover that a great deal of the injustices we are upset about are not born from a place of concern for others or the sinner themselves, but it is born from a place of personal woundedness and ego.

Second, our wrath can be generated by the way of relativism. In this sense, objectively we react to what is actually not an injustice, but have defined it in our mind as such according to our own self-imposed centrality. In such a way of thinking, we again define justice around our own pride, obscuring it. Thus what we witness in the deadly sin of Wrath, and all other deadly sins, is that pride is what makes it disordered.

Now let’s get very specific. Many leaders, both of state and in the world, are terrorized by gossip, judgments and wrathful criticisms. At the end of the day, each one of us is solely responsible for our own words. So let’s examine our own actions first before applying this to others.

Can it be the case that many of these leaders have failed us in both grave and severely unjust ways? Yes. But does a wrathful disposition informed by pride aid the situation, or only make us victim to the same spirit of pride that is at the root of all sin, including the one we criticize? How blinding.

Therefore, when offering criticism, may we examine interiorly the real motivation for our judgments and ask ourselves if in all the impulsivity and post-sharing and statements as such, whether or not we are motivated to save the soul of those in authority as we see in St. Catherine, or whether we mean only to bury them in shame and resentment. As we criticize them, do we cheer “your fault”, or do we as fellow sinners also call to mind in all humility “my fault” or “our fault”?

Do we actually care about our leaders, rather than the mere exercise of their own ministry? There is nothing in God’s teaching, including the excommunication of our enemies, that excuses an absence of love for those enemies. And offering criticism as shown above does not ipso facto imply a loving act.

Such a merely external examination of “the act itself” reveals more blindness than is to be expected from a follower of Christ. Let us pray therefore, that all of us can be dedicated to the work of meekness that forgoes seeking to overcome injustice by the injustice of wrath.

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Photo: Johannes W, Unsplash / PD-US