Better to Be a Hammer Than an Anvil

This past Sunday, I had the joy of being with the Lay Dominicans at Our Lady of Grace Monastery in Guilford, CT. I myself am discerning to be a Lay Dominican, currently in a temporary profession. Some of us were sitting outside the monastery grounds before a statue of St. Dominic.

As we were engaged in study, I found myself reflecting on St. Dominic since his feast day (August 8th) was recent. I recall a particular quote that St. Dominic once said when I first learned about him as a saint:

“A man who governs his passions is master of his world. We must either command them or be enslaved by them. It is better to be a hammer than an anvil.”

Ever since I was little, managing anger was something that I always found difficult. Being in formation as a Dominican friar for a time helped me to understand more about anger in my life and how to best approach it. Now as a husband and father, these life milestones present new situations in which anger can manifest: disagreeing with your spouse, disciplining your child your, waiting to hear from family, etc.

Anger as a Passion

Edward Sri in an article “Anger and Virtue” notes that anger by itself is neither bad nor good. “It can be noble if it is directed toward maintaining justice and correcting vice. One can think of anger as a passionate desire to set things right in the face of a perceived evil.”  What Sri notes here is that anger is about protecting what is good. With this understanding, we can get a better glimpse into Jesus’ interactions with those selling oxen, sheep, and dover in the Jerusalem temple as Passover approached:

“He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” (John 2: 15-16)

When I think about anger in the way Sri explains, it helps me to understand the importance of circumstance and intention. St. Dominic mentioned that a man who governs his passions is master of his world. When one becomes angry, they need to understand the environment in which they are in. What are the circumstances that are causing one to be angry?  The other important thing to consider is the intention. When one is angry, what do one intend to do? If one can ask ourselves these two questions, it’s a good opportunity to keep oneself in check.

Command or Be Enslaved

St. Dominic continues on by saying that we can either command them or be enslaved by them. I’m reminded of what St. Paul said to the community at Ephesus, “Be angry but do not sin, do not let the sun set on your anger, and do not leave room for the devil.” (Ephesians 4: 26-27). The Catechism of the Catholic Church notes this about passions:

“They are morally qualified only to the extent that they effectively engage reason and will. Passions are said to be voluntary, ‘either because they are commanded by the will or because the will does not place obstacles in their way.’ It belongs to the perfection of the moral or human good that the passions are governed by reason.” (no. 1767)

When we are angered, what’s most important is what anger causes us to do. Furthermore, it’s important to be attentive to what our anger is prompting. Sri notes:

“Being angry about the right things and in the right way is virtuous. But avoiding anger at all times may be a sign of weakness. St. Thomas Aquinas notes how it is a vice not get angry over things one should. He calls it “unreasonable patience.” A failure to correct the wicked encourages them to persist in their evil deeds, since there are no reprimands for their wrong actions. It also causes confusion in the community over what is truly right and wrong, and thus may lead even good people to do evil.”

This gets at the last past of the quote, that it is better to be a hammer than an anvil. I come to understand that it is ok to get angry and we have to allow that anger to prompt us in a constructive manner. Here, we are taking an active role and striking at the hot metal like with the hammer. On the other hand, if we become the anvil, we take on a passive role and we fall prey to unreasonable patience. As mentioned, this passiveness leads to evil persisting and confusion.

St. Jerome and Dealing with Anger

One saint that I have a devotion to is St. Jerome, priest and Doctor of the Church. His major contribution was the Latin translation of Holy Scripture, the Vulgate. St. Jerome was no stranger to anger. Through his correspondences with others, he came across as uncharitable because of his name calling, biting words, and grudges he held. Being a learned man, pride was at the root of his anger. He overcame his anger through penance by carrying a stone around and using it to strike himself in the chest whenever he became angry.

St. Jerome directed his passions and gifts to scholarship and love for Scripture. Pope Francis writes in the apostolic letter Scripturae Sacrae Affectus, “Thus, in the pursuit of knowledge that marked his entire life, he put to good use his youthful studies and Roman education, redirecting his scholarship to the greater service of God and the ecclesial community.” 

Reflecting on St. Dominic’s quote and the example of St. Jerome, anger is a passion that moves us. If our response is properly ordered, towards God and love of neighbor, it can be virtuous. There are ways for us to overcome anger, perhaps taking on a penance, but what is most important is drawing closer to God and allowing this prompting to use our gifts instead of reclining to sin.