IRA. – From the Latin ira, also called anger, it is a deviation of the instinct that leads one to defend oneself when attacked, repelling force with force.
I. NOTION
It may be considered as a passion, and consists in the need for reaction, determined by a physical or moral opposition or by any kind of suffering, which arouses a violent emotion of all the forces tending to overcome the difficulty. Like all passions, it has no morality of its own and may be directed toward good or evil.The i. may also be considered as a feeling; in that case, it is the desire for vengeance, or rather the longing to repel and punish the aggressor. The desire for vengeance considered in itself is not yet sinful. Sin lies in disordered desire, that is, in failing to contain the desire for vengeance within its proper limits and in failing to direct it toward reasonable objectives.
There is, in fact, a legitimate i., which is the impulse for virtuous acts, e.g., the correction of others (as in the case of Jesus with the merchants in the Temple [Jo. 2. 13-17]); and there is an illegitimate i. (which is one of the capital sins), involving a violent and immoderate desire to punish one’s neighbor without regard for the requisite conditions, and opposed to the virtue of meekness. It is also often accompanied by hatred and transformed into a more deliberate and enduring feeling, which does not stop at repelling the aggression but proceeds to exact vengeance for it, with more serious consequences.
II. MALICE
To determine the malice of anger, one must first ascertain whether the disorder derives from the moral object itself or from excess in the manner.If the disorder derives from the object, whether one desires an unjust vengeance, or vengeance not in accordance with the order of reason, or vengeance desired not for the proper end, which is the preservation of justice and the correction of guilt, then, in itself— that is, independently of the other constituents of sin—there is grave matter of sin, because charity and justice are opposed. Nevertheless, most often the movements of anger are venially sinful, because they are imperfectly deliberate.
If the disorder concerns the manner of becoming agitated, there is in itself a venial sin, which because of the circumstances may become mortal, as when someone, through the vehemence of anger, breaks out into blasphemies or causes serious harm to his own health.
III. EFFECTS
The effects are described effectively and vividly by the pagan philosophers themselves (Seneca, De ira, bk. I, no. 2), who attribute the gravest crimes to anger, from homicide to civil conflicts, from family disagreements to war. But even without reaching such extremes, anger is the source of a great number of sins,because it causes one to lose control of oneself. It is therefore also a major obstacle to spiritual perfection, disturbing inner recollection, relations with one’s neighbor, and deliberation.