Psalms 37:8

"Cease from anger, and forsake wrath." Wherefore art thou wroth? Wherefore is it that, through that passion and indignation, thou dost blaspheme, or almost blaspheme? Against "the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass, cease from anger, and forsake wrath." Knowest thou not whither that wrath tempts thee on? Thou art on the point of saying unto God, that He is unjust. It tends to that. "Look! why is that man prosperous, and this man in adversity?" Consider what thought it begets: stifle the wicked notion. "Cease from anger, and forsake wrath:" so that now returning to thy senses, thou mayest say, "Mine eye is disturbed because of wrath." What eye is that, but the eye of faith? To the eye of thy faith I appeal. Thou didst believe in Christ: why didst thou believe? What did He promise thee? If it was the happiness of this world that Christ promised thee, then murmur against Christ; yes! murmur against Him, when thou seest the wicked flourishing. What of happiness did He promise? What, save in the Resurrection of the Dead? But what in this life? That which was His portion. His portion, I say! Dost thou, servant and disciple, disdain what thy Lord, what thy Master bore? ...

If, by the prudent use of reason, you could cut away the bitter root of indignation, you would remove many other vices along with this, their source. Deceit, suspicion, faithlessness, malice, treachery, rashness, and a whole thicket of evils like these are offshoots of this vice.… It is a malady on the soul, a dark mist over the reason. It brings estrangement from God, forgetfulness of the ties of kindred, cause for a strife, a full measure of disaster. It is a wicked demon coming to birth in our very souls, taking prior possession of our interior, like a shameless tenant, and barring entrance to the Holy Spirit.

(Vers. 8). If you have overcome the previous passions, anger follows; and therefore Scripture says to you: Cease from anger, and forsake indignation. There are many vices that creep in upon the foolish. Anger is a heavy passion: it often ignites the unwilling; and it drags the willing into madness, so that he may destroy whom he thought to restrain. Stirred up, he often stabs the innocent with a sword. Many have killed friends and brothers out of indignation. Therefore, the wise man says: Anger destroys even the wise (Prov. XV, 1). It is the saying of Solomon, that anger not only destroys any men from among the crowd, but even the wise themselves. And David advises the wise man, saying: Cease from anger; lest when you are inflamed by it, it does not cease until its flame consumes you. Leave, he says, indignation; that is, nature carries you away, emotions move you, someone's fault or offense provokes you to be angry; but not always, so that you do not know how to control it: leave it, set a limit to it, lest it draw you into sin. This is what he said above: Be angry, and do not sin (Psalm 4:5). For he does not encourage you to be angry, but yields to the passion for a time; however, he provides a remedy so that the force of the wound does not spread for too long. Be angry, he says, for it is of your passion. For a physician does not immediately apply medicines to weakness; if pain is burning, he applies soothing remedies to alleviate the pain; if fever is raging, he waits for the right time for a remedy and often withholds drink from those who are thirsty. He does not say: Do not be feverish when the vapors of illness are boiling; but he says: Wait, the fever will cease, the agitation will subside. […]

Then when he says, "Cease," he assigns the reason for the aforementioned admonition, and this is twofold. One on the part of the one to whom the admonition is given; another on the part of sinners, at "Yet a little while." Regarding the first, he …

, 10, 20, 35, 36, 38 ) and the salvation and protection which the righteous are sure of from all the malicious designs of the wicked,

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