Summary of the Morrow's Meditation
We will meditate tomorrow upon the second characteristic of charity, which is benignity (I. Cor. xiii. 4), and we shall see that we owe: 1st, to God; 2nd, to our neighbor; 3rd, to ourselves, to maintain always within us the spirit of benignity. We will then make the resolution: 1st, to exercise great watchfulness over ourselves, in order to repress movements of impatience and fits of bad humor; never to speak or to act under the influence of emotion, and to wait until we have attained to calmness; 2nd, to endeavor to be kind and amiable to every one, and to be cordial and affable in our behavior. We will retain as our spiritual nosegay the words of the Apostle: "The servant of God must be mild towards all men" (II. Tim. ii. 24).
Meditation for the Morning
Let us adore Our Lord under the amiable title of "Lamb of God" which St. John gives Him (John i. 36), and by which the prophets had designated Him in the early ages. I will show Myself to the world, He says in Jeremias, with the gentleness of the lamb (Jer. xi. 19). Let us thank Him for this beautiful example, and let us ask Him to enable us to imitate Him.
FIRST POINT
We Owe it to God always to Maintain within us a Spirit of Benignity.
The first lesson that I have come to give you upon earth, said Jesus Christ, is that you must be meek (Matt. xi. 29). Be gentle as lambs (Luke x. 3), He said to His apostles. If your heart is not disposed to be benignant towards the least of your brethren, do not approach My altar until you have reconciled yourself to him (Matt. v. 24). If you are struck on one cheek, offer the other; if your tunic is taken from you, give up your mantle, rather than enter into disputes in which benignity will be compromised. To this language of precept Our Lord adds the language of example, to which every Christian must be subjugated under pain of losing his salvation. The whole life of Jesus Christ presents us with nothing but an example of benignity. He is gentle in His infancy in the crib; He is gentle in His adolescence in the midst of the doctors of the law; He is gentle during the thirty years He passed with Mary and Joseph; He is gentle during the three years of His mission, even in the midst of His apostles, who have no education and no manners; He is gentle towards sinners, and His relations with them are full of kindness and mercy. Let the Pharisees be scandalized and call Him the friend of sinners, He does not diminish on that account His kindness towards them; and this gentleness converts the Samaritan, touches Zacheus, brings back Magdalene, and pronounces words of forgiveness over the adulterous woman. He is meek in His Passion, gentle towards Judas who betrays Him, towards His enemies who accuse Him, towards His executioners who crucify Him. What a magnificent example, and, consequently, what a magnificent precept!
SECOND POINT
We Owe it to our Neighbor always to Maintain within us a Spirit of Benignity.
All men, said St. Vincent de Paul, have this in common, that they desire to be treated with kindness; they do not like any one to display ill-temper towards them, or to speak to them harshly. There is no affection possible if our conversation be not seasoned with tenderness, benignity, and gentleness; if the tone of voice, instead of being fraternal, is rough, dry, and austere; if the manners, instead of being kind, amiable, and gracious, are brusque and accompanied by ill-temper; if, when a reproach has to be addressed to any one, it is made with bitterness and passion, and the words are forgotten of St. Francis de Sales, who said that reprimands are bitter fruits which cannot be digested unless they are enveloped in gentleness. Oh, how much evil in families and in the relations of society springs from impetuous outbursts, fits of bad humor, impatience which cannot endure contradiction. Everything in life can be done by gentleness, says St. Francis de Sales, nothing by force; rudeness spoils all, closes the heart, engenders hatred and obstinacy. We may, says Bossuet, constrain and force creatures inanimate and devoid of reason, but the human heart is not ruled so much by power as it is managed by art; it is led by skill, and gained by kindness; there is nothing therein which can be subjected to force, power has nothing to govern; there is no other resource but to study men and the manner in which to gain them over, by asking ourselves: How should I wish to be treated if I were in their place? And the answer would certainly be: I should like to be spoken to kindly, and to be treated in the same way, and to have esteem and affection always shown me. I should like to see in others the cordiality and serenity of expression which touches and consoles, the agreeable and smiling manner which gives pleasure, the grace, the openness, the charming simplicity which seems to offer its heart and to ask for ours in return. Is it thus that we have treated our neighbor?
THIRD POINT
We Owe it to Ourselves always to Maintain a Spirit of Benignity.
As soon as we lose the spirit of gentleness we lose the calmness and self-control of reason; we speak no longer the language of duty, but the language of ill-temper and of passion; the soul is disquieted, it possesses itself no longer, it does not measure either what it says or what it does; and in this state it always says things which are to be regretted. The soul which quits the paths of gentleness has neither wisdom to enable it to conduct itself aright, nor vigilance to watch over its words, nor attention to itself to regulate the motions of its heart. The man who is gentle, on the other hand, invariably exercises self-control, and can say, like the holy king: "My soul is continually in my hands" (Ps. cxviii. 109). His interior is like a beautiful sky which no cloud obscures, which no wind troubles, and where all is done by the light of reason and of faith.
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.