The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter VIII: On Freedom from Anger, Part III

As we follow Saint John’s teaching on the passion of anger, we truly begin to get a sense of what a great spiritual teacher and physician he and the other fathers are. St. John has the capacity to see the various ways that anger manifests itself in our lives, the subtlety of the demon’s trickery, and the danger of our own blindness to self-conceit. St. John makes it very clear to us that if we struggle with the passion of anger we must be willing to place ourselves in a situation where we are going to be able to diagnose it and bring it before another in order that a healing balm might be applied. The person who is in the grip of anger is going to bring agitation to all those around him. Therefore, a person must go where this passion might revealed by testing and overcome by trial. Austerity in life and firmness from one’s spiritual director or elder is often needed to break one free from the grip of this passion. However, John tells us, he who has won this battle by sweat has conquered all the passions that precede it. Let us then not be afraid to be mortified in regards to our self-esteem and pride; for they both collaborate to hold us captive.

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Text of chat during the group:

00:07:22 FrDavid Abernethy: page 122, paragraph 17   00:10:12 Bonnie Lewis: Hi Father David!   00:14:21 FrDavid Abernethy: page 122 para 17   00:55:12 Ambrose Little, OP: “fuller’s shop”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulling   01:03:43 Bonnie Lewis: we lost you   01:04:17 carol nypaver: Come back, Father!   01:04:28 Sheila Applegate: You are frozen for us all. :(   01:15:58 Rafael Patrignani: Thaís week I had to face w tough situation from my Chief, who received false accusations against me. The advice I had received from my spiritual director was to be ready to listen for understanding but not for having a reaction. I found this very coincidental with your speech Father David. That position was very useful in that meeting and for that kind of attack   01:16:10 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂   01:16:11 Rafael Patrignani: * this   01:16:12 Jeff O.: Thank you!!   01:16:17 Cindy Moran: Thank you Father   01:16:17 Rafael Patrignani: Thank you   01:16:23 Dev Shukla: Thank you