Summary of the Morrow's Meditation
We will meditate tomorrow upon a ninth characteristic of charity, which is Christian amiability; and in order to form a just idea of it we will study it in Jesus Christ Himself, our adorable model, and we shall see how amiable He was: 1st, in His character; 2nd, in His manners; 3rd, in His language. We will then make the resolution: 1st, to treat every one with perfect urbanity, without ever allowing ourselves to give way to a word or to conduct which shall not be in accordance with the most exquisite politeness; 2nd, in particular to exercise a strict surveillance over our temper, in order to repress outbursts and hastiness. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the words of Solomon: "A man wise in words shall make himself beloved" (Ecclus. xx. 13).
Meditation for the Morning
Let us adore Our Lord Jesus Christ showing Himself amiable in everything: in His character, His manners, His language. He does not content Himself with not giving pain in any way, but He desires to give pleasure and be amiable in every respect. For if St. Paul says, "I in all things please all men" (I. Cor. x. 33), he immediately adds: It is from Jesus Christ that I have learnt this science: "Be ye followers of me, as I also am of Christ" (Ibid. xi. 1). Let us thank our divine Saviour for so useful a lesson.
FIRST POINT
Jesus Christ is Amiable in His Disposition.
In this adorable Saviour there was no ill-humor, none of those fits of bad temper which cause it to be said of some persons, that in order to be well received we must choose the proper moment. In Him there was a serenity of disposition that nothing could trouble; He is the same when He is blamed as when He is praised, when He is insulted as when He is honored, when the people wish to stone Him as when they wish to make Him king, when the crowd presses upon and hustles Him (Luke viii. 45) as when He is alone in the desert or on the mountain. What a beautiful example for us, above all for persons subject to bad temper, who are the dishonor of devotion, angels in church and disagreeable at home! Are we not of this number?
SECOND POINT
Jesus Christ is Amiable in His Manner.
Jesus Christ, even if He had not been God, would still have been the most upright, the most amiable, the most courteous man that ever lived. A heavenly modesty shone in all His person; there was nothing sombre or melancholy in His features, nothing hasty or turbulent, nothing flighty or frivolous in His manners (Is. xlii. 4). He was characterized by a serenity full of ease and grace, a kindness in the expression of His eyes, an amenity in His deportment, a frankness in the expression of His face, a genial and amiable manner, which always gave pleasure. During the first thirty years of His life He carried His courtesy towards Mary and Joseph to the point of deferring to all their wishes and condescending to all their desires (Luke ii. 51). At the epoch when He made His appearance in the temple in the midst of the doctors, He did not speak in the tone of a master, as He certainly had the right to do; but He listened, He questioned, He who had nothing to learn; and if He spoke it was only after having been invited to do so. During the three years of His mission He was faithful to the rules of courtesy and good breeding; visiting the mother-in-law of St. Peter, who was sick; Martha and Mary, who were in affliction; making Himself little with the little, and knowing how to show His grandeur at the table of the Pharisee; lastly, His conduct was such, in every circumstance, that from nothing more than His example and His maxims there might be drawn up a set of perfect rules of Christian civility. Whence we may conclude that not to be always amiable in our manners, always pleasant and polite, is a great defect even in the eyes of faith, since it is to depart from the model which is obligatory upon all Christians.
THIRD POINT
Jesus Christ is Amiable in His Conversation.
The prophet beheld Him in the coming ages so full of grace in all His words that His lips seemed to distil amenity and sweetness (Ps. xliv. 3); and the gospel, confirming the prophecy, relates that the words which flowed from His mouth were so kind, so amiable, so gracious, that the people marvelled at it (Luke iv. 22). Never a contentious word, never any dispute (Matt. xii. 19), never a harsh or wounding speech, never a quick or angry word except against the profaners of the temple, against hypocrites and great men who abused the authority they possessed. He was, of all men, the wise man who makes himself amiable in all that he says (Ecclus. xx. 13), the good man who has on his tongue a superabundance of sweetness and of grace (Ibid. vi. 5). Is it thus that we speak? Do we measure our words in such a manner as never to give pain to our neighbor, and to render him, on the contrary, happy in his relations with us? Is our conversation equally removed from the affected elegance which is unpleasant, and from the frivolous language ill-suited to an educated man, and still less to a good Christian? Is it composed only of good and suitable language which tends to infuse into the souls of our hearers a sweet joy and the love of virtue?
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.