These are strong words in a world that from the beginning has been a place of conflict, disputes and enmity on all sides, where we constantly pigeonhole others on the basis of their ideas, their customs and even their way of speaking or dressing. Ultimately, it is the reign of pride and vanity, where each person thinks he or she has the right to dominate others. Nonetheless, impossible as it may seem, Jesus proposes a different way of doing things: the way of meekness. This is what we see him doing with his disciples. It is what we contemplate on his entrance to Jerusalem: \u201cBehold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey\u201d (Mt 21:5; Zech 9:9).<\/p>\n
Christ says: \u201cLearn from me; for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls\u201d (Mt 11:29). If we are constantly upset and impatient with others, we will end up drained and weary. But if we regard the faults and limitations of others with tenderness and meekness, without an air of superiority, we can actually help them and stop wasting our energy on useless complaining. Saint Th\u00e9r\u00e8se of Lisieux tells us that \u201cperfect charity consists in putting up with others\u2019 mistakes, and not being scandalized by their faults\u201d.<\/p>\n
Paul speaks of meekness as one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit (cf. Gal 5:23). He suggests that, if a wrongful action of one of our brothers or sisters troubles us, we should try to correct them, but \u201cwith a spirit of meekness\u201d, since \u201cyou too could be tempted\u201d (Gal 6:1). Even when we defend our faith and convictions, we are to do so \u201cwith meekness\u201d (cf. 1 Pet 3:16). Our enemies too are to be treated \u201cwith meekness\u201d (2 Tim 2:25). In the Church we have often erred by not embracing this demand of God\u2019s word.<\/p>\n
Meekness is yet another expression of the interior poverty of those who put their trust in God alone. Indeed, in the Bible the same word \u2013 anawim \u2013 usually refers both to the poor and to the meek. Someone might object: \u201cIf I am that meek, they will think that I am an idiot, a fool or a weakling\u201d. At times they may, but so be it. It is always better to be meek, for then our deepest desires will be fulfilled. The meek \u201cshall inherit the earth\u201d, for they will see God\u2019s promises accomplished in their lives. In every situation, the meek put their hope in the Lord, and those who hope for him shall possess the land\u2026 and enjoy the fullness of peace (cf. Ps 37:9.11). For his part, the Lord trusts in them: \u201cThis is the one to whom I will look, to the humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at my word\u201d (Is 66:2).<\/p>\n
Reacting with meekness and humility: that is holiness.<\/strong>Cf. EG, 71-74<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" These are strong words in a world that from the beginning has been a place of conflict, disputes and enmity on all sides, where we constantly pigeonhole others on the basis of their ideas, their customs and even their way of speaking or dressing. Ultimately, it is the reign of pride and vanity, where each […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1410,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-noticeboard"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.claret.org\/postulgen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/CIMG9498.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdY6zS-ld","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.claret.org\/postulgen\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.claret.org\/postulgen\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.claret.org\/postulgen\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.claret.org\/postulgen\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.claret.org\/postulgen\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1315"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.claret.org\/postulgen\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1459,"href":"https:\/\/www.claret.org\/postulgen\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315\/revisions\/1459"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.claret.org\/postulgen\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.claret.org\/postulgen\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.claret.org\/postulgen\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.claret.org\/postulgen\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}