19 February 2020
Wednesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
The Lord is slow to anger, slow to anger, slow to anger (Cf. Exodus 34:6, Numbers 14:18, Nehemiah 9:17, Psalm 86:15, Joel 2:13, Jonah 4:2, Nahum 1:3, etc.). We should be slow to anger, too, if only to be more like God. Even to be good human beings, though, “it is good sense to be slow to anger” (Proverbs 19:11). “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty” (Proverbs 16:32).
In fact, as human beings, we should be even slower to anger than God is. “For it is written, ‘vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’” (Romans 12: 19). God’s vengeance is nothing more and nothing less than well-tempered retribution by which true justice is restored. When all is said and done, it is God who makes things right in this world, not us. We have narrow minds and limited concepts, so we must be extra “slow to anger, for anger does not accomplish the righteousness of God” (James 1:20). The righteousness of God is perfect. Our righteousness is imperfect, at best, only a reflection of God’s justice. Likewise, our anger is imperfect at best. It cannot bring about true righteousness. On the contrary, all too often human anger is a highway to unrighteousness, destruction and perdition.
The best way to overcome anger, according to the epistle of James, is to “put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls” (James 1:21). This is why it is so important for us to offer humble prayer every day and to join others in doing so every Sunday.