There exists other names for this virtue, such as sweetness and gentleness. It is closely linked with the virtue of charity, as an essential component. St. Vincent had great consideration for this virtue, and he worked hard to develop it in struggling with his ‘dark moods’. This allowed him to express himself with gestures inspired by meekness and patience. Here too his teaching on meekness is the fruit of his own life experience and personal commitment that led him to mortify and control his somewhat tactless character.
1 – The message of Scripture.
We can find at least three types of biblical references for this virtue.
- Christ’s own example. The Lord is the exemplary model for meekness. Jesus, as a gentle person, was able to say: ‘Learn from me that I am meek and humble of heart’ (Mt 11:29). He is the gentle king riding on a donkey (Mt 21: 5), he is the meek lamb led to the slaughter, he is the suffering servant who, instead of reacting to every offense, accepts them. To the very end, he is the obedient son, and in the Passion, he offers a wonderful example – characterized by sweetness and peace. But this virtue also animated by a great firmness (Mt 21,12-17) against opponents of his Word. We must learn from Christ to unite together a just meekness and an appropriate firmness. In his meekness, Jesus reveals to us the true face of God, and also makes us understand that “being mild” does not mean “being weak”, but only “submitting to God.” Jesus himself shows us that a gentle person is always serene and trustworthy: he relies on God because he expects everything from Him.
- The beatitude of meekness. ‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land’ (Mt 5: 5) [Ed: all bible citations translated are from the New American Bible Revised Edition: NABRE] .
Meekness is thus an essential part of the Kingdom of God. Closely linked to the first beatitude – being poor – meekness constitutes a strong testimony to the newness of the Gospel. After all, the meek, like the poor, are those who make room for God in their lives, trusting in God’s hands. For this reason they need not boast, nor claim positions of prestige; they have nothing to defend nor to be attached to. After rediscovering the beauty and importance of this virtue, there comes to mind the entire movement of non-violence and its commitment to never surrender to the temptations that come with struggle and oppression. (Just look throughout history and recall the ‘Truce of God’ (Treva Dei), and churches respected as ‘sanctuary’ and ‘asylum,’ as well as efforts to reduce or eliminate the practice of duels, which St. Vincent himself implemented).
- Meekness as a fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22). It is a question of recognizing that being meek is a gift that is received from above, that it must always be prayed for and must animate the life of the Christian community, so that it can then effectively encouraged with others (see Titus 3:2; Eph 4: 2, Col 3:12). We are meek persons when we are modest, patient, understanding, and humble.
Next to Christ, St. Vincent looks elsewhere in the Bible to find models of meekness. There is Moses who was ‘a very humble man, more than anyone else on earth’ (Num. 12: 3). There is the prophet Isaiah who describes the future Messiah thus: ‘He will not cry out, nor shout, nor make his voice heard in the street. A bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench. (Isaiah 42:2-3).
2 – St. Vincent’s teaching on meekness.
As already mentioned, St. Vincent had to work to achieve dominion over himself, working to improve his character, surly, bilious and moody. He had to make many efforts to dominate himself! Nevertheless, the fruits could be seen in his patient and merciful behavior, which could win over people, as he himself said: ‘Meekness, oh what a beautiful virtue! Still I have not yet learned to be mild’. For him this virtue is valid and necessary for everyone, because it allows one to live in healthy harmony and at peace.
St. Vincent sees this virtue at work in three specific areas.
- In people’s lives: it is a virtue of balance. For the Saint, meekness constitutes a great force against every form of anger. It is not weakness, but the ability to suppress the momentum of vice, to learn to control one’s instinctive reactions. It allows us to maintain a great serenity, affability, cordiality. We learn how to dominate the sorrows we has received, we knows how to apologize for the wrongs we have received, we try to love those who harm us, we allow everyone to approach us, complying in all that is not evil; we shun fights and discords. Whoever is meek is constant in good, unlike those who are irascible.
- It is an indispensable virtue in community life. Fraternal life requires respect and meekness, without which there is no true charity. In fact, we must begin to have charity within our communities and our groups in order to be able to carry it out with outsiders. ‘I hope that the many fruits from the goodness of Our Lord, if the union, the cordiality and the support are among you’ (SV to the Missionaries). Everyone is involved in working in this direction. We will also need to set aside our authority, our role to get along with other community members. It is a question of always seeking what unites, letting the tones of controversy drop, having delicacy and respect. Meekness draws us closer to others because it helps to eliminate barriers, obstacles and divisions, to overcome harshness, resentment, retaliation, envy, jealousy. It is a matter of not heeding the temptations of the devil, which are by nature about “division, rupturing, imposing on other, searching for supremacy”. Meekness is thus revealed as the delicacy of charity (Cf. the hymn to charity of 1 Cor 13). True meekness helps to realize all this because it is based on respect for the person and on the commitment to imitate the very way of acting of our God-who-is-Love. Where there is respect and meekness, there is paradise.
- It is the virtue that wins over hearts – it is pastoral virtue. Serving the poor, dedicating oneself to the apostolate is not easy, because one must deal with difficult, crude people, to whom one must reveal the love of God, as well as satisfy their material needs. Meekness makes it possible to lessen the distances between us, to meet others with a serene face, to accept them as they are, to go beyond appearances. It is essential to be accepted, and this is possible only if we leave behind an attitude of pride, superiority, imposition. The kindness that opens hearts and wins over people, creating an atmosphere of trust and availability, this is indispensable. It is a matter of sympathizing with their needs, suffering and poverty. We must understand and accept their ignorance and their difficulty in understanding. It is necessary to know how to be patient, not to pretend to have been successful. It is a matter of ‘convincing and not winning’: this is the only way to hope to convert heretics or to convince opponents. Today we talk about dialogue and mutual recognition. St. Vincent tells us that arrogance, anger, and especially verbal violence accomplish nothing: only mildness conquers, even if sometimes it is necessary to ‘blend the bitter with the sweet’. Certainly, and especially in the apostolate and in service, we need a lot of asceticism to learn meekness and to live it concretely, joining it with the ability to know how to recognize one’s mistakes, to ask forgiveness and especially, to know how to learn from others.
In all this teaching, St. Vincent maintains before his eyes at least these two figures:
• St. Francis de Sales, the saint of meekness; - Marguerite Naseau, the first Daughter of Charity.: “for her everyone was lovable”.
3 – The virtue of meekness, today.
Like other virtues, meekness also is relevant in the world in which we live.
- It is the ability to know how to dominate one’s instincts, anger and resentment. On the positive side, it is also the ability to know how to use the energy of one’s own irascibility constructively, knowing how to combine it with firm determination as well as with just outrage at particular injustices.
- It is maintaining an attitude of affability with everyone; it is knowing how to approach and welcome everyone; it is knowing how to make good use of correction but always ‘in a spirit of meekness’ (Gal 6: 1).
- It is the ability to know how to bear offenses; not to react violently, but to act with the conviction that patience can win over the toughest opponent.
- It is knowing how to respect people, it is courage to go as far as to forgive others.
- It is courage and boldness in announcing the Gospel, bearing witness to one’s faith and hope, but with “gentleness and reverence” (l Peter 3:15).
- It is accepting the logic of non-violence, of a genuine pacifism that sustains the ability and courage to commit oneself to the good and to justice, even at a personal cost.
In any case, in order to be ‘gentle, patient and mild’ with everyone, one must have meekness in the heart and be willing to learn to always combine meekness with prudence. It is to be both ‘simple and prudent.’
P. Mario di Carlo, CM
Province of Italy
Translation: Dan Paul Borlik, CM
Western Province, USA
