Untitled - Saints' Books

INSTR. vii.] Meekness. 323
St. John Chrysostom says that meekness is,
tues, that which renders us most like to God. 1
it belongs only to God to render good
for evil. Hence
of all vir
Yes, for
the Redeemer has said: Do good
to them that hate you,
. . .
that you may be the children ofyour Father who is in heaven?
Hence, according to St. John Chrysostom, Jesus Christ
has called the meek imitators of God. 3
To the meek, paradise is promised. Blessed are the
meek, for they shall possess the land. St. Francis de Sales
says that meekness is the flower of charity. 5
And Ecclesiasticus
has said: That which is agreeable to Him is faith
and meekness! A meek and faithful heart is the delight
of God. He knows not how to cast off the meek. The
Lord lifted up the meek} The prayers of the humble and
meek are very pleasing in the sight of God. The prayer
of the humble and the meek hath always pleased Thee?
The virtue of meekness consists in two things:
i. In
restraining the motions of passion against those that
provoke us to anger; and, 2d, In bearing insults.
I.
We must Repress Anger.
With regard to the first, St. Ambrose says that the
passion of 9
anger ought to be either avoided or restrained.
" 1
Mansuetudo prse cseteris virtutibus nos Deo conformes facit."
In Rom. horn. 19.
2 "
Benefacite his qui oderunt vos,
. . . ut sitis filii Patris vestri
qui in coelis est, qui solem suum oriri facit super bonos et malos."
Matth. v. 44.
3 "Eos solos qui mansuetudine conspicui sunt, Dei imitatores
Christus nominat."
Serm. de Mansuetud.
4 "
Beati mites, quoniam ipsi possidebunt terram." Matth. v. 4.
5 "
Introd. p. 3, ch. 8.
"Quod beneplacitum est illi, fides et mansuetudo." Ecclus. i.
34.
7 "
Suscipiens mansuetos Dominus." Ps. cxlvi. 6.
8 "
Humilium et mansuetorum semper tibi placuit deprecatio."
Judith, ix. 16.
9 "Caveatur iracundia, aut cohibeatur."
Offic. 1. i, c. 21.