Once a Turkish sultan, Bajazet, was at war with the Tartars. During the war, he felt that the officers in his army had made a mistake and he became very angry at them. Calling together a council of war, the furious sultan judged that all of his officers were not only guilty - but must be put to death!

Bajazet’s counselors were greatly alarmed at his rash decision, and did not know what to do. To try and reason with him was unthinkable! For the sultan was so angry that any argument with him would only make things worse. At last, one member of the court dared to confront Bajazet. This brave person was the court jester.

Walking up to the sultan, the jester said, "You are quite right. The officers very much deserve to be beheaded. Then we shall have no reason to fear. You shall take the flag, and I will strap the marching drum around my shoulders. And together we two shall be able to defeat the enemy without anyone's help."

These words brought the sultan to his senses. His anger cooled. He forgave the erring officers and spared them.

Obviously, Bajazet was not in the habit of controlling his temper. If he had been, he would not have so quickly condemned his officers to death.

In fact, his anger got out of control so quickly that he did not even realize how stupid it would be to kill off his own soldiers while he was still in the midst of a war! More importantly, he did not take the time to reasonably determine whether his men were truly guilty of such punishment. If God had not intervened through the calm wit of the court jester, Bajazet would surely have felt the consequences of his anger…the hard way.

If we do not control our anger, it will control us - especially in the little things we don’t think are important. If we don’t keep control when the struggle is small and easy, we will certainly fail when the challenge is big and hard. And then it won’t be long before our anger leads to disaster - for ourselves and for others.

Before making any decision, no matter how we are feeling, we must pray to Heaven for God’s Will on the matter, and to Jesus and Mary for Their help to do the right thing. Human beings falter, but God always knows what is best.