Ever notice that people stay away from people who always seem angry? Who wants to be around them? Maybe that is why Pope Francis is so popular. He seems to be genuinely happy, even in the midst of so many difficulties!
Anger can become quite destructive if left unchecked, yet all people have anger issues, we just learn how to manage it. We may be angry because of something someone did, or did not do; or at those who seem to "tell us what to do"; or we are sometimes angry and we don't even know why.
Aristotle put it this way: "Everybody can get angry, that's easy. But getting angry at the right person, with the right intensity, at the right time, for the right reason and in the right way, that's hard." Some Christians justify that anger by saying that Jesus was angry when he chased the money changers from the Temple. Yes, he was angry; but after all, the Son of God has every right to be angry! Nonetheless, scientists who have studied the Shroud of Turin, which is believed to have covered the face and body of the battered, scourged, pierced and crucified Christ, continue to be amazed at the serene look on the face of the Son of God. If Jesus was angry at one time, and for some specific reason, he certainly did not stay angry like the rest of us do!
Anger, has become an epidemic today. We live in an angry world; and there is no sign of it letting up! Got anger? God invites us to find a way to "get over it". By tempering anger with love and mercy, as Pope Francis does, we can manage our lives a little better, and we will be happier, more like disciples of the Crucified One. Got Anger. Get God!
✝ Bishop Gregory J. Mansour
reprinted with permission