Hey Google, how can I stop being angry?

Today’s Gospel (Mt 5:20-26) centers around the importance of letting go of anger and forgiving people in our lives who we see as having wronged us. Anger in my life has had many sources. Injustice, insecurity and inconvenience are the most frequent causes of anger in my life. While I have felt angry on behalf of others, most of the time my anger is on behalf of myself and it is usually a reaction to my unmet expectations of how important I think my own life is. I experience anger when I expect someone to treat me a certain way and they don’t. Those differences in expectations can be big moments (like a loved one betraying my trust) or small (like discovering that someone didn’t clear a jam in the copier before walking away), but I believe they have the same underlying cause of unmet expectations. When thinking about how to achieve what we are being called to do by this Gospel - to let go of anger, one of the most powerful emotions we can experience - I felt overwhelmed. (Has anyone else ever Googled how to stop being angry at someone? I have. It didn’t help, by the way.)

After thinking about it, I realized that the principle of Ignatian indifference offers more guidance than Google on how I can let go of my frustration. Ignatian indifference teaches us that we should be receptive to what God has in store for us, no matter how good or bad we might want to view a particular experience. We are encouraged to prioritize what brings us closer to God and let go of what doesn’t serve that ultimate goal. God created everything in this world as part of His vision for us. The first principle and foundation teaches us the following:

“We should not fix our desires on health or sickness,
wealth or poverty, success or failure, a long life or short one.
For everything has the potential of calling forth in us a deeper response to our life in God.”

Ultimately, I am not in control of what happens to me. So, why should I waste the little time I have on Earth mad about it? I hope the next time I find myself upset with someone, I am able to pause, take a breath, remember that God wants me to be in community with others and just let it go. And maybe next time I won’t feel the need to ask Google for advice either.

Author: Liz Grindinger, Science Department