The Second Sword: Anger

 (Homily for September 17^th 2023)

At the Last Supper, the Lord told His Apostles to buy a sword, even if they had to sell their own vestments to obtain it (cf. Luke 22:35-36). This sword is God’s word, because this sword is more important than anything else we may have in life: this sword is the only thing which will save our souls at the time of persecution.

But that same night, (cf. Luke 22, vv. 37-38 and vv. 47-53) the Apostles, probably not understanding exactly what Jesus meant, said to Jesus, “Master, here are two swords.” Jesus responded, “It is enough.” These two swords can be understood as the two powers Jesus left to the Church: the power to liberate people by teaching the truth, and the power to defend herself from human enemies. However, this second sword is subordinated to the first. Christians do not defend themselves when this is detrimental to the preaching of the Gospel or to the work of redemption. Christians do not defend themselves when their enemies can benefit from the suffering of the Christians themselves. In a few moments, we will see an example of this in Jesus. But Christians can use this sword when the preaching of the Gospel must be defended, when the spiritual liberation of people is at stake. A simple example, if a priest scandalizes the people of God by his teaching, the Bishop could remove him from his position. The Bishop, in that case, is defending the true preaching of the Gospel.

Let us see now how Jesus subordinated the sword of self-defence to the sword of God’s word. Jesus, at the Last Supper, told His disciples that two swords would be enough. Later, when Jesus was surrounded by His enemies, the disciples asked Jesus, “Shall we strike with the swords?” Jesus did not answer, but let them go ahead: they were defending Him, they were doing the right thing. But once it was clear to the Jews that His disciples could defend themselves, Jesus stopped them: “No more of this!,” He said, and cured the only man injured by Peter. Jesus wanted to make clear that he was surrendering freely, that he was going to his Passion willingly. And Jesus stopped His disciples because, at that moment, the sword of Peter, the second sword would have prevented Jesus from redeeming us through His death. The sword of anger would have prevented the sword of liberation from working. And so, because the sword of anger had been put away, the sword of liberation, the word of God could be heard from the Cross when Jesus said: “Father, forgive them!” It is as if Jesus had said to Peter, “Peter, if you kill them, I will not be able to forgive them. Let them kill me, this time, so that I may forgive them and all human beings from my Cross, so that I may give everyone, even those who killed the Messiah, the hope of forgiveness.”

Anger is not a bad thing. It has been given us as a defensive weapon, but a dangerous weapon and very difficult to use. Excessive anger leads us to resentment and vengeance, rather than forgiveness. How, then, do we moderate our anger? Many things could be said, but not in one homily. Let me give you one advice only.

We need to be patient with ourselves, and humble. Many times people say, “I cannot control my anger! I always try and never succeed! It is so frustrating! It should not be so!” They do not realize that they are angry at their own anger, that they are impatient with themselves. “I cannot control my anger!” No wonder: we are all sinners. “I always try and never succeed!” No wonder: we are weak. “It should not be so!” Why not? Anger is a powerful force and we may still be too weak to master it. We must be humble and patient: human beings do not change in one day.

This is an important point. The first anger we need to overcome is the anger at ourselves. When we are more compassionate with ourselves, we become able to be more compassionate towards other people: we are all sinners! To be patient with ourselves is not to say that my excessive anger is good, but to acknowledge that my excess in anger is an illness of my soul: I am not bad, I am sick. The way to treat sick people is with compassion, not with frustration. When you find a person suffering from illness, you try to heal them: you don’t punch them in their faces. When Jesus was alive, people will bring the sick to His feet. Many times, instead, we hide our illnesses from Jesus, because we think He would be disgusted to see those things... And, actually, He wants to touch the sick part, so that we may be healed.

When we see ourselves in this new light, we begin to understand better other people’s frustration... and become more patient. My advice is, when you feel anger, get back to yourself, and see yourself as a wounded, suffering person: wounded, not by what the other person did to you, but by your own excessive anger. Forget about the other person and concentrate on yourself. As you feel your woundedness, try to be compassionate as you would with a sick person. Then, bring your wounded soul to Jesus, that He may heal you. Now, unless a miracle happens, healing from excessive anger takes time: we need to be patient with ourselves. 

May the Lord help us to be patient. May we be patient with others as He has been patient with us.