Hi Teresa! Good to catch up with you again! I have had to edit quotations from your post in the interests of word count: apologies!
Basically I agree with your Post with a few comments.
Pride is the sin of sins…
Anger is not always necessarily a sin
I absolutely agree that at the root of all sin is pride or self love, for sin is to choose against God and for self. Self love. Absoltely there is a just anger, as there is a just war. I agree too that to insight if my anger is just then I need think and pray with care and one cannot think peacefully and carefully if emotions are on the boil which more or less anger is, hence I need to be able to detach myself from my anger to establish myself in peace, prayer and pondering.
It is impossible to remain angry with someone once a person has forgiven them.
Agree here too in the sense of the fullness of forgiveness. But I may be able only to forgive in a spiritual sense, while my anger and emotional state may remain for a time. There is however a ‘transformation of feeling’ which eventually takes place and my forgiveness is total. Of course God can grant that gift where the moment my spirit moves in forgiveness, my anger dissipates too.
…when the Lord is so merciful…
I hold that God’s Loving Mercy flows from His Justice. He insights with compassionate merciful love the heart of his creatures which is inclined to sin through original sin “Oh Lord that you be without reproach when you judge, oh see a sinner was I conceived” (Divine Office). Not only this, but the mercy I ask from The Lord is the mercy that I owe to others. If I beg God to pardon me my sins and failings, why do I not pardon other theirs or their imagined perhaps offences against me. “the mercy metered out is the measure of mercy granted”. But then again “why is it that I find myself doing the things I have made up my mind not to do?” St. Paul insights with clarity his own weaknesses. Or what St. Teresa calls, advising her nuns to never forget it, self knowledge and with a degree of accuracy.
I recently posted a poll on patience, the thread fizzled out…
Very often reality does not meet our expections, but which is correct the reality that transpires or our expections? Of course the reality because our hopes were only our hopes unmet. “all things work together for those that love God”. We need to see even in failure (after all your hopes for the thread were good hopes) that The Lord is with us…not only with me but with all. Mysteriously to our own insight, God is at work for good even in our failures. For one thing they can teach us much about ‘the plans of mice and men’ and the reality of what God brings about or permits and we need to see that as entirely positive and good over and against our desires. There is another insightful saying: “man proposes God disposes”. Even in human or even spiritual failure we need to see if in only dark Faith that God is working and it is good and I am joyful.
however if I had posted a thread about anger …
I think you are seeing matters from your perspective and one
assessment angle. Perhaps others are more concerned about their failures and the threads they answer tends to reflect this concern. Perhaps your own perspective on matters may indicate to gauge your threads towards the negative aspect of the corresponding virtue, which would enable you to point out the virtue as the thread unfolds. You have taken it seems to me the first step in problem solving: What is the problem?..you have assessed what you think the problem is and the next step is how do I address that problem? And it really is a problem from your perspective and thus, tho I truly mean no offence, it is a problem of your own that you need to solve, after all the posters may not be able to perceive your perspective or find it a valid one. But if you gauge the post differently, you will I am sure have opportunity to point out the corresponding virtue. It is a very interesting concept in theology that we only see connected vices with clarity once we are gifted the corresponding virtue.
50% of the battle is recognising the sin in ourselves and the other 50% is praying for the graces and being open and receptive to the graces to cease that sin. It never does any good to think that we cannot conquer that sin, we must put on the mind of Christ and believe all things are possible in Him and every sin is conquered in Him. Positive thought, to desire to be one of His Saints, to be His likeness, to be a Christ bearer to others and not to desire this for the ‘self’ but to desire it for love of God and love of each other.
One comment while agreeing with above, we cannot overcome sin of ourselves as I am sure that your realize, only the free and unearnt gift of God in Grace can achieve this as you indicated.
Regards Teresa: Barb