Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
When God revealed Himself to Moses on Mt. Sinai, He said that He was “slow to anger” (Exodus 34:6). The Hebrew text at this point reads arech apaim, which literally means that God was long of nose. That is a Hebrew way of saying that God is slow to anger, given that, among human beings, a flared nose is a sign of rising aggression. When the subconscious human mind realizes that a burst of violence is imminent, it signals the nostrils to flare out to allow for maximum air intake to prepare the entire organism for fight or flight. This is called nasal wing dilation. Thus, when God tells Moses that He is long of nose, it’s a Hebrew way of saying that God is not preparing for fight or flight.
Thanking God for his mercy, and striving to be like Him, we, too, should cultivate the habit of keeping long nostrils, being slow to fight or flee. St. Ignatius Loyola held it as a basic presupposition of Christian interaction that we would be more ready to love our neighbor than not, and more ready to put a good interpretation on his statement than to condemn it as false (cf. Spiritual Exercises 23).
The next time someone cuts you off in traffic, or posts something irritating online, call to mind God’s long nostrils, together with the demands of Christian charity, and ask for the grace to be slow to anger and rich in kindness.