(ANS – Rome) – Meekness is the seventh characteristic identified as special to the Heart of Jesus in the column dedicated to it by the Salesian Bulletin in 1886. In the August issue Fr. John Bonetti explores precisely this aspect and re-proposes it as a characteristic to be pursued by all those who, following Don Bosco integrally, intend to develop a profound devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The text opens with an evocative evocation of the Mount of the Beatitudes, where Jesus proclaimed a new social status, profoundly different from those of men. While modern revolutions, such as the American and French revolutions, extolled the rights of man, Jesus began his law with the proclamation of duties and the practice of virtues. And he did so with simplicity and love, choosing the solitude of the countryside as the place for his proclamation and clear language, accessible to all. Moreover, his teaching was preceded by healings of the sick, as if to demonstrate that the work precedes the word.
In this context, the central theme of meekness emerges, placed by Jesus immediately after poverty of spirit in the Beatitudes: ‘Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth.’ This virtue is not a sign of weakness, as human pride would have us believe, but a sign of self-mastery and inner strength: ‘Mastering and overcoming oneself is the noblest and greatest act of fortitude’ is clearly stated.
The meek dominate anger, even when it arises from real wrongs or legitimate passions, and rule it wisely. In this way, he symbolically resolves the biblical riddle that “out of the strong came the sweet”, like the honey found in the lion’s mouth by Samson.
Meekness elevates the human being, makes him lord of himself, conquers the most hardened hearts and prepares the advent of the kingdom of charity. Linked to this Gospel promise is the double inheritance reserved for the meek: the land of future life, that is, Heaven, and also the present earth, as co-workers in Christ’s redeeming work. Jesus wants his reign of peace and love to be prefigured already on this earth, and for this reason, together with humility, he repeatedly recommended meekness as an essential path to holiness.
Jesus’ life, the author emphasises, was all an example of meekness. In the face of insults, He responded with silence or calm words; He gently corrected the overzealous disciples, such as James and John; He called Judas “friend” at the moment of betrayal… Only against the hypocritical Pharisees and the profaners of the temple did Jesus take a severe tone, demonstrating that meekness is not passivity, but justice governed by charity.
Finally, the author invites us to unite devotion to the Heart of Jesus with the imitation of its fundamental virtues: humility and meekness. He recalls St Francis de Sales as an example, who won souls with these virtues and contributed to the spread of Christ’s kingdom.
But the appeal becomes more urgent and prophetic: the 19th century is accused of being “heartless”. That is why, with customary Salesian pragmatism, to restore a heart to humanity, he reiterates the need to promote the consecration of the temple to the humble and meek Heart of Jesus.
The full text of the article written for the 1886 Salesian Bulletin is available in the original Italian version of the time, below.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
The Heart of Jesus and Meekness
Long Live the Heart of Jesus
There is a mountain in Palestine, the most renowned region of ancient Syria, which was later called the Mount of the Beatitudes and from which one can see so well both Safet and Hermon, and the wide valleys of Gennesaret. On that mountain, or rather, on a clearing on the slope of that mountain, rising between Szaffad and Tabor, one of the most memorable events in the history of humanity took place 1854 years ago, the promulgation of a new social statute. But the articles of this statute are very different in substance and form from those that constitute the code of human societies. While the American legislators of 1776, while the French reformers of thirteen years later placed the declaration of human rights at the preamble and basis of their social organizations, Jesus instead begins with the declaration of duties. The former brandish before us the holy but sacrilegiously abused names of liberty, fraternity and equality, and they do so with pompous and deceptive words, while the latter teaches first of all the practice of the virtues, on which the exercise of those rights is based. And so that all may understand without distinction, and his word may be a candid revealer of thought, Jesus uses simple and humble words and phrases, breathing a true sweetness and fragrance. What more? When men make their proclamations amid the din of populous cities and the luxury of banquets, Jesus chooses the solitude of the countryside, and he precedes the moral healing of humanity by the physical healing of bodies, since, as St. Luke observes, He first healed all the sick who were brought to him (1); first the works, and then the words, even if it must not be said that those healings were the first word of the Sermon on the Mount.
Now who does not see in all this not only the superhuman wisdom, but the ineffable goodness of the Heart of Jesus! And since His nature is all sweetness and meekness, as the new law preached by Him is sweetness and love, we see therefore, immediately after poverty of spirit, meekness placed: blessed are the meek, for these will possess the earth (2). These words were not only a repetition, but the fulfillment and perfection of those which so many centuries before He had said through the mouth of David: the meek will inherit the earth and will enjoy the abundance of peace, (3) that is to say of all goods. And since Jesus did not give teaching that was not preceded and as it were enlightened by example, we see how His life was a continuous series of actions and words marked by the sweetest meekness. Meek is he who knows how to repress the anger that boils in his breast, aroused in him sometimes by the wickedness of men, sometimes by his own weaknesses, more often by the very nature of things, and when this anger becomes a necessity, he knows how to regulate and govern it so that it does not go beyond measure. And pride is the excessive love of ourselves that would make us recognize in meekness a pusillanimity, a weakness, a cowardice; governing and conquering oneself is instead the noblest and greatest act of fortitude. The meek solves with his own efforts the ingenious enigma, proposed one day by Samson to the company of friends, when he said that from the strong came the sweet, referring to the honeycomb that he had found in the mouth of the lion he had killed shortly before. It is therefore not surprising that meekness, by making man lord and master of himself, ennobles him and raises him above all things, if it conquers and wins over the most rebellious hearts, if it will finally be given to it by the infallible promise of Jesus, to put an end one day to the reign of force to replace it with that of charity and gentleness. And it is precisely in this sense that the words of the Gospel must also be taken. Certainly Jesus wanted to teach us with them first of all that the meek are promised as an inheritance the land of the life to come, that is, heaven, a land that is conquered through long-suffering and patience. But this conquest which forms the primary, essential reward of the meek, does not exclude the second thing, that is, that also the present earth will be theirs, as those who are truly the cooperators of Jesus Christ and continuators of his work in reuniting the human species, cruelly torn and dismembered by the violent. Indeed, it is He Himself who commands us to strive to preform here below an image of His kingdom, in order to deserve to possess it in the future.
And this is why, together with humility, He wanted meekness to be particularly and repeatedly inculcated, and He practiced both in the most eminent way throughout the course of His mortal life. And Jesus, in fact, who commands us to learn from Him humility and meekness of heart, is He who declares that mercy is better loved than sacrifice; He who proposes His Father as our model, who makes the sun rise and sends rain on the good and the bad, and to Peter, who questions Him, He answers that not only seven times must one forgive, but up to seventy times seven, that is to say without limits and without measure; always.
And how wonderfully do His words correspond to His deeds! To the blasphemy of the Jews who cry out that He is possessed by the devil, the most meek Jesus either remains silent or simply replies that He is not possessed by the devil, continuing in the meantime with His usual loving kindness to instruct them, as if they had spoken a praise to Him. He reproaches with a severe face James and John who in the heat of their anger ask for fire and brimstone on the hard Samaritans, adding that his spirit is meekness, sweetness and love. What more? Does not the Heart of Jesus respond to the kiss of the traitor Judas by calling him friend? If he was sometimes seen to take a severe tone and even descend to bitter punishments, it was only against the scandals of the Pharisees and the sacrileges of the desecrators of the temple, as if to teach us that meekness does not mean remaining inert, impassive, when the wolves ravage the flock and when the scandalous drag the simple to eternal ruin.
And this is what we too must do, if we want to be truly devoted to the Heart of Jesus, that is, imitate His meekness in words and actions. This is what that model of meekness and humility, our Saint Francis de Sales, did, who owed his high sanctity, the conquest of so many souls and the marvelous propagation of the kingdom of Jesus Christ to the eminent practice of these two principal virtues of the Heart of Jesus.
But practicing these two virtues ourselves and recommending them to others is not enough for the spiritual needs of our times. It has been said, and it is unfortunately too true, that the greatest sin of the 19th century is that of being heartless. Now do we want this great sinner to return to his God, and for new days of charity and love to reappear on earth? Let us hasten with prayers and alms the happy day of the consecration of that temple, where the humble and meek Heart of Jesus will have its home: that day will also mark the beginning of a new era of sweetness and peace.
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