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Hi, I think the comment "Anger in itself is just a passion, neither good nor bad" is a true one. There is such a thing as 'righteous anger', for example Jesus showed anger with the Pharisees and also when He overturned the tables in the temple. In Ephesians 4:26 it tells us "Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger". So we are allowed to be angry, permitted we don't let it fester.. Anger is a human emotion which can either be well-founded (eg. anger at injustice) or out of control (eg. leading to violence). Anger as a deadly sin is anger that is excessive, much more common unfortunately than righteous anger, which is why we usually think of it as always a bad thing. St Thomas Aquinas teaches that 'Virtue lies in the middle". A lack of anger over injustice might indicate lack of charity and empathy. An excess of anger might indicate hatred or lack of self control. Righteous anger is in the middle. It sees the thing clearly but is balanced so as to react properly to remedy the situation without going overboard. So, anger is a passion (emotion), but how we use it is what determines whether it is good or bad.

Anger can be bad unless we stifle it within ourselves.

Anger as a passion is not good or bad. That is what Fr. means. HOW we control our passions make the passion good, or bad. All of our passions, be it anger, joy, etc, need to be under our control and our self control must come from prayer and the knowledge of God.

True. Anger and passion are opposite energies towards accomplishing a task.