Anger and Vengeance

Audisti convicium, ventus est; iratus es, fluctus est. Vento igitur flante, fluctu surgente, periclitatur navis, periclitatur cor tuum, fluctuat cor tuum. Audito convicio vindicari desideras: et ecce vindicatus es, et malo alieno cedens, fecisti naufragium. Et quare hoc? Quia dormit in te Christus. Quid est, dormit in te Christus? Oblitus es Christum. Excita ergo Christum, recordare Christum, evigilet in te Christus: considera illum. Quid volebas? Vindicari. Excidit tibi, quia ipse cum crucifigeretur dixit: Pater, ignosce illis, quia nesciunt quid faciunt? Qui dormiebat in corde tuo, noluit vindicari. Excita illum, recole illum. Memoria ipsius, verbum ipsius: memoria ipsius, jussio ipsius. Et dices apud te, si vigilat in te Christus: Qualis ego homo, qui volo vindicari? Qui sum ego, qui in hominem exsero comminationes? Morior forte antequam vindicer. Et anhelans, ira inflammatus, et sitiens vindicatam, exiero de corpore, non me suscipit ille qui noluit vindicari: non me suscipit ille qui dixit, 'Date, et dabitur vobis; dimittite, et dimittetur vobis. Ergo compescam me ab iracundia mea, et redibo ad quietem cordis mei. Imperavit Christus mari, facta est tranquillitas. Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensis, Sermons ad Populum, Sermones De Scripturis Veteris et Novi Testamenti, Sermo LXIII

You have heard abuse, it is the wind; you are angry, it is a wave. When therefore the wind blows and the wave swells, the ship is endangered, the heart is in imperil, the heart is shaken. When you have heard an insult, you long to be avenged, and, yes, you are avenged and so falling into doing evil to another you have been shipwrecked. And why is this? Because Christ is asleep in you. What does this mean: Christ is asleep in you? You have forgotten Christ. Rouse Christ then, recall Christ, let Him wake in you, pay attention to Him. What did you wish? To be avenged.? Has it slipped from your mind that when He was being crucified, He said, 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do?'1 He who was asleep in your heart did not wish to be avenged. Rouse Him, call Him to mind. Be mindful of Him and His commands. And then, if Christ is awake in you, you will say to yourself, 'What sort of man am I, who longs to be avenged?' Perhaps I may die before I am avenged, and breathing my last, burning with rage and thirsting for vengeance, I shall depart from the body and He will not receive me who did not wish to be avenged, He will not receive me, who said, 'Give, and it shall be given to you; forgive, and it shall be forgiven you.'2 Therefore I will check my anger and I will return peace to my heart. Christ has commanded the sea, tranquility is restored. Saint Augustine of Hippo, Sermons on the Old and New Testament, Sermon 63 1 Lk 23.34 2. Lk 6.38