Anger And The Devil

Sol non occidat super iracundiam vestram: nolite locum dare diabolo... Iram transire vult, nec retineri in pectore, ut die orta, cum die decidat, quia si in animo manserit, dat occasionem diabolo gloriandi. Necesse est enim iratus animus mala cogitet, quod cupit diabolus; invenit enim mentem paratam ad malum, cui se inserens, affectu suo decipit hominem factum ad vitam; quia hominis cogitare est diaboli implere. Ambrosiaster, In Epistolam ad Ephesios, Caput IV Source: Migne PL 17.392b

Do not let the sun go down on your anger. Do not give a space to the devil. 1 He wants anger to pass away, not to be retained in the heart, that having risen in the day, it is cut off in the day, because if it remains in the soul, it gives occasion for the devil to glory. The soul which is angry must think on evil, which is what the devil desires. He finds a mind prepared for evil, and inserting himself in it, with his own passion he deludes a man to act in life, for then it is of the man to think, the devil to fulfil. Ambrosiaster, Commentary On The Letter of Saint Paul To The Ephesians, Chapter 4 1 Ephes 4.27