Fr. Martin Padovani: Anger is Important in Your Relationships
(View segment from 0 to 1:51)
Is it important to feel, deal with, and appropriately express anger in your relationships?
- Yes!
- Actually, dealing with and expressing anger is CRUCIAL for keeping relationships healthy.
What are some reasons we might be afraid of anger?
- We think it is a sin.
- We are afraid we will lose control of it.
- We falsely think that avoiding anger or ‘stuffing it’ is the nice, virtuous thing to do.
The catechism defines virtues as good habits.4 Using that definition, is the feeling of anger a virtue?
- No.
- The feeling of anger is not a virtue. Yet, expressing anger appropriately is a good habit and therefore virtuous.5
- It is virtuous to direct the anger you feel toward resisting evil and striving for good through fair conflict.6
4) CCC 1803
5) CCC 1774
6) CCC 1765