Summary of the Morrow's Meditation
We will continue to study Christian amiability in Our Lord, and we shall see how amiable He was: 1st, in family life; 2nd, towards inferiors and the afflicted; 3rd, towards those who had faults; 4th, towards His enemies. We will then make the resolution: 1st, always to be amiable, attentive, and kind in the family circle; 2nd, always cordially to receive little children, the poor, and the afflicted; 3rd, to treat the faults and the wrongs done to us by others with nothing but kindness and charity. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the words of the Apostle: "I in all things please all men, not seeking that which is profitable to myself" (I. Cor. x. 33). "Be ye followers of me as I also am of Christ" (Ibid. xi. 1).
Meditation for the Morning
Let us adore Our Lord, so amiable towards all men. He may well say like the Apostle: I strive to be amiable to the little as well as to the great, to the poor as well as to the rich, to those who are afflicted as well as to those who rejoice, to persons who have innumerable faults as well as to the most perfect, to my enemies as well as to my friends (I. Cor. x. 33). Let us thank Him for such universal amiability, and let us render Him all our homage.
FIRST POINT
Jesus Christ is Amiable in Family Life.
Jesus lived a family life as an inferior during thirty years, and as a master during three. As an inferior, He always honored God His Father in those whom He obeyed; as a master, He always spoke with gentleness, reproved without ill-temper, commanded by entreating. Whether as inferior or as master, He neglected nothing whereby to render all around Him happy. It is thus that He teaches us the family life which is the safeguard of morals, the protector of virtues, and that He teaches all the members of a family to embellish each other's existence by a reciprocity of affection and delicate attentions. He teaches fathers and mothers to make their homes happy; children to show gratitude, respect, and love to the authors of their being, to console and gladden their old age by their amiable words and manners; servants to cherish and faithfully serve their masters, and masters to see in those who serve them brethren and sisters in Jesus Christ. Is it thus that we conduct ourselves?
SECOND POINT
Jesus Christ is Amiable towards Inferiors and the Afflicted.
He is amiable towards little children; He calls them to Him, caresses them, presses them to His breast, places His hands on them and blesses them. He is amiable towards the poor; He is born, He lives and dies in their condition; to render it honorable and more endurable, He mixes with them as though He were one of them. He evangelizes them before other men, and declares that He looks upon as done to Himself all the good that is done to them, and as refused to Himself all that is refused to them; He takes from amongst them the chiefs of His Church to govern kings and nations here on earth, and to judge them at the last day as His assessors. He is amiable towards the afflicted; "Come to Me, all you that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you" (Matt. xi. 28), He says to them; He feels the woes of others as though He suffered them Himself (Mark viii. 2), and He weeps at Bethania with the relatives and friends of Lazarus (John xi. 35). Let us examine our conscience; are we, like Jesus Christ, amiable towards childhood? It is being perverse to despise or grieve it unjustly, and it is being absurd to try to form it to virtue through anger or blows. Are we amiable towards the poor? They are already sufficiently unhappy, without being made more so by a reproachful tone, by ill-tempered or contemptuous words; these kind of speeches embitter them; they feel that it is cruelty to make them pay for alms by humiliation. Nothing, on the contrary, consoles them more than to be treated with consideration. A kind word, says the Holy Spirit, is worth more to them than the gift they receive (Ecclus. xviii. 15, 16). Are we amiable towards the afflicted? Misfortune is a sacred thing. There is no baseness more odious than that of being wanting in consideration towards an afflicted brother, as there is no delight greater for a kind heart than to alleviate the pain of those who suffer.
THIRD POINT
Jesus Christ is Amiable towards those who have Faults.
He lived three years with twelve fishermen, people of no education, without refinement or good breeding, and their want of manners did not anger Him; He never treats them with mortifying words or an act calculated to give pain. He suffers everything from them without making them suffer anything, without allowing to escape Him, with regard to even those whom He knew would deny Him, betray, or abandon Him, one word or one glance which would wound them. He lives in the midst of them, less as their master than their servant, to teach us to be amiable even towards those who displease us by their character, by their wrong-headedness, or the vices of their heart. And we, who spite of all our faults expect that others should be amiable towards us, by what right do we require that others should be without defects in order that we should be amiable towards them?
FOURTH POINT
Jesus Christ is Amiable to His Enemies.
They overwhelm Him with insults, call Him a Samaritan and a man possessed by the devil, and He calmly answers them, "Which of you shall convince Me of sin?" (John viii. 46.) They want to stone Him, and He contents Himself with saying to them, "Many good works I have shown you; for which of those works do you stone Me?" (John x. 32.) Judas betrays Him with a kiss, and He calls him His friend (Matt. xxvi. 50). Herod delivers Him up to public derision; the soldiers scourge Him and crown Him with thorns; the people declare Him to be worse than the robber and the homicide Barabbas; His executioners crucify Him, and in the midst of all His enemies, who are so unjust and so barbarous, He does not allow a look, a word, a gesture, expressive of displeasure to escape Him. Alas! is it thus we treat our enemies? The least offence excites in us coldness, antipathies, desires of vengeance, rancors, an odious mixture of pride and baseness. Let us examine our conscience upon so important a point of Christian morals.
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.