Fifth Thursday after Pentecost. On meekness and anger

Meditation.

ON MEEKNESS AND ANGER.

1ST POINT. A meek and quiet spirit renders a person happy. An angry and turbulent spirit renders one miserable. Meekness is a sign of wisdom; anger, of folly. Every one shuns a passionate man. Every one loves and respects one who is charitable and mild. To become holy, it is necessary, first, to become meek.

To be mild and peaceable, with every passion under subjection, is to be a man, a king, a conqueror, a Christian. To be passionate, and easily moved to anger, is to be a brute, a slave, and a pagan. The first carry with them marks of predestination; the latter, marks of reprobation. Do wolves enter into heaven? The Shepherd will only receive sheep into his fold, because they are the most mild and gentle of all creatures.

2D POINT. A man who is governed by mildness and peace resembles God, who is always tranquil; he resembles Jesus, who was the meekest and most gentle of all men; he is the master of his passions; he lives in a state of impassibility and innocence; he enjoys a profound peace; He is always even and serene, and equal to all that may happen; the Holy Ghost rests and reigns in his heart; grace establishes her empire therein; God contemplates in him his own image as in a mirror; He speaks often to him, because his passions are silenced; He treats him with favor, and deals gently with him, because he is mild and gracious towards others; He pardons him his sins. because he does not feel or cherish resentment; He bears with his infirmities, because he bears sweetly with the faults and shortcomings of his neighbor; He loads him with graces, because He finds in him nothing to resist them.

3D POINT. The angry and passionate man is like unto a devil, always turbulent and grievous to those who deal with him; he is the slave of his passions, and insupportable to all; he is feared and avoided, like a ferocious beast: he is never at rest, nor does he allow others to be so; he drives the Holy Ghost out of his heart, disturbs and overthrows the kingdom of his grace, and gives entrance to devils therein, who love confusion and disorder; he spares none, God will not spare him; he gives rest to none, God will not impart it to him. On the contrary, He will treat him with rigor, make him feel the effects of his anger, reprove him with severity, and, should he ever repent, pardon him with diffi culty.

Oh Jesus! the most patient and meek of all men, have compassion on my angry and turbulent heart. Oh mild Lamb of God! Thou who wast led to the slaughter without a word of complaint, make me patient and sweet like Thee. Oh Good Shepherd! who dost separate the wolves from thy flock, how canst Thou let me remain with thy sheep? Oh! change my nature that I may become truly one of thy fold—one of thy predestined. Make me mild and gentle, meek and humble of heart, that thy spirit may abide in me.

WORDS OF SCRIPTURE.

"Be not quickly angry; for anger resteth in the bosom of fools." Eccles. vii.

"He will guide the mild in judgment; He will teach the meek in his ways." Psalm xxiv.

"An evil man always seeketh quarrels: but a cruel angel shall be sent against him." Proverbs, xvii.

"The meek shall inherit the land, and shall delight in abundance of peace." Psalm xxxvi.

"Whosoever is angry with his brother, shall be guilty of the judgment." St. Matt. v.

"Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land." Ibid.

FIFTH FRIDAY AFTER PENTECOST.

Meditation.

REMEDIES AGAINST ANGER.

1st POINT. To be meek it is necessary to be humble; anger arises from pride. To be meek it is necessary to hate one's self; anger arises from self-love. To be meek it is necessary to detach yourself from creatures; anger arises from some such attachment. Those who are lenient towards themselves, are commonly severe towards others. Those who are meek and gentle towards others, are generally austere towards themselves. Those who pardon all in themselves forgive nothing in others.

2D POINT. What do you gain by putting yourself into a passion? You injure the health of your body, inflict deadly wounds on your soul, drive from it the Holy Ghost, and abandon it to the power of devils. You afflict and pain your family, make your house a hell, advance not your affairs, but rather ruin them, and instead of remedying the evil you have done, increase it. Is your course productive of peace, or any other good? Can one evil cure another?

3D POINT. Contemplate your image in a mirror, when your soul is tossed by fury and your countenance distorted by evil passions, and you will behold a human being transformed into a beast; you will see this creature, who was bought with the blood of Jesus Christ, forgetful of all holy things, roar like a wolf, foam like a horse, bark like a dog, tear and toss like a wild hog, hiss like a serpent, and gnash his teeth like one of the damned. You will see one who is as furious as the lion, cruel as the tiger, and as restless and agitated as one possessed. Is this the image of a Christian? Are these marks of the predestined?