I receive a daily email message from an area Priest. Today’s is an interesting excerpt from a book entitled In Conversation With God:
**Christian Character & Meekness
**
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 humor, 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.
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.’" with our habitual smile, good humor 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.
- In Conversation with God by Francis Fernandez Volume 1 pp. 85-87th
