11.1 Jesus, the model of meekness for us to imitate.
The first reading from the prophet Isaiah in today’s Mass (Is 40:25-31), together with the responsorial Psalm (Ps 102:1-2,8,10), invite us to contemplate the greatness of God as opposed to that weakness of our own which we know through the experience of our repeated falls into sin. And they tell us that the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love (Ps 102:8), and that those who hope in Him shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint (Is 40:31).
The Messiah brought a yoke and a burden to humankind. But this yoke is easy to bear because it liberates us, and the burden does not weigh us down because He Himself carries the heaviest part. Our Lord never oppresses us with his instructions and commands. On the contrary, they make us freer and simplify our life. In the Gospel of today’s Mass Jesus says to us: Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me: for I amgentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light (Matt 11:28-30). Our Lord proposes Himself as a model of meekness and humility, virtues and dispositions of the heart which always go together.
As Jesus talks to the people who follow Him, harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd (Matt 9:36), He wins their trust through the meekness of His heart, always so welcoming and understanding.
The Advent liturgy shows us Christ as gentle and lowly so that we can go to Him in all simplicity, and also so that we can prepare for Christmas by trying to imitate Him. Only in this way will we be able to understand what is happening at Bethlehem. Only in this way will be able to get those around us to come with us towards the Baby who is God.
Souls open wide to a heart that is gentle and lowly, like Christ’s. There, in His most lovable Heart, the crowds used to find shelter and rest; and even now they still feel strongly attracted by Him and find peace in Him. Our Lord has told us to learn from Him. The fruitfulness of all apostolate will always be very closely bound up with this virtue of meekness.
If we look closely at Jesus we will see how patient He is with the defects of His disciples, and how unweariedly He repeats the same teaching over and over again, explaining it in detail, so that His slow-minded and easily-distracted friends can master His saving doctrine. He never loses patience with their obtuseness and failure to grasp His meaning. Truly, Jesus who is our master and Lord and at the same time is meek and humble of heart, acted patiently in attracting and inviting his disciples (Second Vatican Council, Dignitatis Humanae, 11).
The way to cure our bad temper, impatience and failure to be warm and understanding, is to imitate Jesus in His meekness. This calm and welcoming spirit will be born and develop in us in exact proportion to our efforts to remember the constant presence of God and to think more often about Our Lord’s life. How I wish your bearing and conversation were such that, on seeing or hearing you, people would say: This man reads the life of Jesus Christ (J. Escrivá, The Way, 2). To contemplate Jesus will especially help us not to be arrogant, and not to lose our tempers when things go wrong.
We must not make the mistake of thinking that this ‘bad temper’ of ours, which bursts out in very definite circumstances and times, depends on the character of the people around us. The peace of our spirit does not depend on the good nature and kindness of other people. Our neighbours’ good nature and kindness are in no way subject to our control or opinion. That would be absurd. The tranquillity of our heart depends on ourselves. The ability to avoid anger, with all its ridiculous effects, has to come from within ourselves and not be dependent on the nature of other people. The power to overcome the evil in our character must not depend on some perfection outside us, but on our own virtue (Cassian, Constitutions, 8).
Meekness is particularly necessary in circumstances where living with other people is very difficult.
11.2 Meekness rooted in great spiritual strength.
Meekness does not go with being feeble or character less. On the contrary, it is founded on great spiritual strength. The very practice of this virtue calls for continuous acts of such strength. Just as, according to the Gospel, the poor are those who are truly rich, so the meek are those who are truly strong. Blessed are the meek because they, in this world’s warfare, are protected against the devil and against earthly persecutors. They are like glassware so well packed into straw or hay that it is not broken when it is struck. Meekness is like a strong shield which blunts and shatters the sharp arrows of anger. The meek are like people dressed in garments of thick quilted cotton which protect them without harming anyone else(F. Osuna, Third Spiritual Alphabet, III, 4). Anger in all its many forms is the material on which this virtue has to work. Meekness controls and directs it, so that it is aroused only when necessary and to the extent to which it is necessary.
Learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. Comparing it to the majesty of God, who has made Himself a Baby in Bethlehem, we see our own life in its real proportions. And what could have seemed an enormous trial shrinks to its true insignificant size. As we contemplate the birth of Jesus we find that our prayer comes alive, our love becomes wider and deeper and our peace more unshakeable. Close to Him, we learn to consider the various happenings of our everyday life in His presence and so give them their true value, to be silent sometimes when we would have liked to speak, to smile, to be nice to everybody, to wait for the right moment in which to correct a fault. At the same time, we are ready to leap to the defence of truth and the interests of God and of other people with as much force as may be necessary. For there is no opposition between meekness, closely connected as it is with humility, and a righteous anger against injustice. Meekness is not a shelter for cowardice.
An anger which protects the rights of other people is righteous and holy; and most especially the sovereignty and holiness of God. We see the righteous anger of Jesus against the Pharisees and traders in the Temple(John 2:13-17). Our Lord found the Temple turned into a den of robbers, a place where there was no reverence, given over to business which had nothing to do with the true worship of God. Our Lord was terribly angry, and showed it by word and deed. The Evangelists have shown us few scenes as forceful as this one.
And yet, together with His righteous anger with those who prostitute that holy place, Jesus shows us simultaneously his great compassion for the needy. And the blind and the lame came to him in the Temple and he healed them (Matt 21:14).
11.3 The fruits of meekness. Its necessity for social life and apostolate.
Meekness sets its face against those pointless displays of violence which at bottom are signs of weakness, such as impatience, irritation, bad temper and hatred. It is opposed to all useless waste of energy in unnecessary anger, which so often originates in little things that might have been passed over in silence or with a smile, and which never has any useful results.
Those explosions of bad temper between husband and wife, which can gradually corrode true love, stem from a lack of this virtue. So does irritability, with its serious consequences for the bringing up of children. The same lack of meekness destroys our peace in prayer, because instead of talking to God we brood over our injuries. It is the absence of meekness which leads to that bad temper in conversation which makes even the most solid arguments powerless to convince. Mastery of oneself – which is part of true meekness – is the weapon of those who are really strong; it prevents us from answering back too quickly and from speaking wounding words which afterwards we wish we had never said. Meekness knows how to wait for the right moment, and to express its judgements in a way that carries conviction.
The habitual lack of meekness is the result of pride, and produces nothing but loneliness and sterility. Your ill-temper, your roughness, your unfriendliness, your rigidity (not very Christian!) are the reasons why you find yourself alone, in the loneliness of someone who is selfish, embittered, eternally discontented or resentful; and they are also the reason why you are surrounded not by love but by indifference, coldness, resentment and lack of trust.
With your good humour, your understanding and your friendliness, with the meekness of Christ as part and parcel of your life, not only should you be happy, but you should bring happiness to everyone around you, to the people you meet on the road of your life (S. Canals, Jesus as Friend).
The meek shall inherit the earth. First they will possess themselves, because they will not be the slaves of their impatience and bad temper; they will possess God, because their souls will always be inclined to prayer, in a continual consciousness of the presence of God; they will possess those around them, because they have the kind of hearts which win friendship and affection, indispensable for everyday social life and for all apostolate. As we pass through the world we must spread around us the fragrance of Christ (2 Cor :15), with our habitual smile, good humour and happiness, love and understanding.
Let us examine ourselves on our readiness to make the sacrifices necessary to make life pleasant for other people. Let us see if we are able to give way to other people’s opinions, instead of claiming to be always right about everything, and if we know how to control our temper and disregard the frictions which are inevitable in daily life. Advent is a good time for strengthening this attitude of mind. We will achieve it if we talk more often to Jesus, Mary and Joseph; if we make a real effort every day to be more understanding with the people around us; if we never stop trying to smooth out the rough edges of our characters; if we know how to go to the Tabernacle to talk over with Our Lord the subjects which are uppermost in our thoughts.
By Francisco Fernandez, In Conversation with God, New York, Scepter, 1990, Volume 1, pp. 81-87
Photo by Saulius Sutkus on Unsplash
