XII — MEEKNESS

Presence of God. — O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like yours.

Meditation

1 — As temperance makes man master of himself by restraining in him passions of concupiscence, so meekness makes him master of himself by restraining in him impulses of anger and wrath. The great value of this virtue lies in securing for the soul interior peace, so necessary for attending with equanimity to all duties toward God and neighbor.

A soul upset by resentments of anger is incapable of seeing things in their proper light, of forming impartial judgments, of making balanced decisions, of keeping words and deeds within the bounds of courtesy and gentleness. Its action becomes disordered and often unjust; it becomes occasion of sorrow for others, cooling charity and breaking harmony of good relations. Unchecked irritability clouds the spirit, preventing it from understanding God’s will and thus making it deviate from the line of duty according to passion’s impulses.

Meekness has precisely the task of moderating and pacifying all these passionate movements, making the soul master of itself and able to remain calm even before difficult and irritating circumstances. “Let us be very meek toward all,” exhorts St. Francis de Sales, “and let us take care that our heart does not slip from our hands. Therefore every morning set it in a posture of humility, gentleness, and tranquility. Perfect equality of spirit and continual sweetness and gentleness of heart are virtues rarer than perfect chastity, and are most desirable.”

To defend our heart from movements of anger, we must be ready to restrain them at their very first awakening, because if we indulge them, even briefly, they quickly grow more imperious and later it becomes very difficult to conquer them. Constant fidelity in repressing every movement of wrath will lead us little by little to taste meekness’s sweet fruit: “The meek shall delight in abundance of peace” (Ps. 36:11).

2 — Meekness has a particular importance for development of prayer and union with God. How can a soul agitated by anger’s wind attend recollection and intimate colloquy with the Lord? In vain it will try to apply itself to prayer: mind and heart will escape it, pursuing phantoms raised by passion. Besides, non in commotione Dominus (1 Kgs. 19:11): the Lord is not found nor manifested amid turmoil and excitement, but only in peace and interior calm.

When the soul is shaken, even briefly, by resentment of anger, it cannot perceive gentle motions of grace nor the delicate whisper of divine inspirations. The noise of unbridled passion prevents it from listening to the interior Master, and thus, losing its guide, it no longer acts according to divine good pleasure, but lets itself be carried by whims of impulsiveness, which always lead to faults.

A soul of interior life knows well that everything happening — even roughest circumstances — is permitted by God for sanctification; yet under anger’s storm this thought vanishes completely and it sees nothing except those creatures or things that have jarred it and against which it wants to react. If we want our life always to remain under the Holy Spirit’s guidance, our actions always moved by grace and conformed to God’s will, we must never allow ourselves to indulge, even under pretext of good, movements of anger.

Rather, in these moments we must have the strength to suspend every judgment and every action, applying ourselves instead to reestablishing the heart in that peace necessary for judging things in God’s light. The Lord “guides the meek in judgment; He teaches the meek his ways” (Ps. 24:9), because only the soul that has silenced resentment of anger and outbursts of wrath is in condition to be taught by God: to hear and follow his voice.

Colloquy

“O Jesus, most meek Lamb, who when cursed did not curse, who when suffering insults did not threaten, who when receiving very great contempt answered with divine sweetness or kept admirable silence, help me so that, in imitation of You, I may conquer anger, repress wrath, embrace meekness and, armed with patience, willingly endure every trial so as to enjoy eternal rest with You” (Venerable Louis da Ponte).

“O Lord, with your help I want to make a particular exercise of gentleness and resignation to your will, not so much in extraordinary things as in daily encounters and contradictions.

“As soon as I notice anger kindling in me, I shall gather my strength not with violence but with gentleness, not with harshness but sweetly, and I shall seek to restore my heart to peace. But knowing well I can do nothing alone, I shall be prompt, my God, to invoke your help as the Apostles did, tormented by the storm and tossed among the waves of the troubled sea. O Lord, will You permit me to invoke You in vain? Deign, in those moments, to come to my aid, to command passions to cease; deign to raise your blessing hand, and there will follow a great calm.

“Teach me to be meek toward all, even toward those who offend or oppose me, and even toward myself, not becoming irritated at my relapses and defects. When, despite my efforts, I find myself down, I shall recover gently: ‘Come now, poor heart of mine,’ I shall say, ‘here we are fallen again into that pit we had so often resolved to avoid. Let us rise now and leave it once and for all. Let us have recourse to God’s mercy, let us hope in it, and it will help us.’ Thus, O Lord, trusting in You, I shall begin again, walking the path of humility and meekness” (cf. St. Francis de Sales).