Can it be a mortal sin to have angry thoughts?

[Kathrin]

Thoughts may be temptations, or just our rumintions, but they may already be sinful themselves, right?

This question is about angry thoughts - when do they become a mortal in?

The question aroise for me just before, after I had had a kind of “daydream” in which I made up a converstion with somebody. I imagined what I would say to somebody (not a specific person) who (this HAS happened before to me) made me feel like I had to make an exception for them and give to THEM instead of understanding that my resources were limited and it kind of wasn’t right that they insisted that THEY be the exception… in my imaginary conversation I told that person my opinion. I felt real anger, and it may just have been righteous anger, but it felt ANGRY. I imagined calling the person selfish.
I later realized that I didn’t know such a person’s whole story either and that we are all human and sometimes driven to do things by our own desparation (I think some of the anger came from the feeling that such a person is often a con artist?).

Now was that angry thinking already a sin, and if yes, a mortal one?

Kathrin

 

[Al_Masetti]

Actually, it sounds like you successfully defeated Satan.

You had a temptation to anger and you defeated it; you analyzed it rationally with your intellect and in the end your will was persuaded not to act on that anger.

You may have actually gotten some celestial brownie points for doing a good job.

Pray over it so that you are able to continue to develop your intellect and your will.

Read up on it.

Watch EWTN and look for the talks by Fr. John Corapi … who just happened to talk about this very subject yesterday … just happened to surf by while they were playing his tape.

The intellect and the will are key to guiding and well-forming our emotional responses to situations.

You are doing fine; keep working along those lines.

 

[Penitus]

Anger is an emotion. All emotions are God-given gifts and can be used for good. After all, if someone tried to physically attack your loved ones, anger would motivate you for strength to fend off the attacker.

It is what you DO with emotions that can make or break sin.

So having a thought like, “I’m so mad at her” isn’t a sin, yet a thought such as, “I’m so mad at her that I wish she’d drop dead” IS a sin, and naturally can be mortal if the criteria for mortal sin fit.

You did a good job.

 

[Kathrin]

Thanks for replying, wow, you made me feel much better about this!
And yes it is something to keep praying about. I want to pray that I may always be guided by love over anger!

Kathrin