Here and Now with Francis: 2/20/20 (beatitude, meekness, inheritance)
From the audience
Meekness is manifested in moments of conflict, seen is how one reacts to a hostile situation. Anyone can sow meekness when all is calm, but how does one react “under pressure,” if attacked, offended, assaulted?
In Scripture the word “meek” also indicates one who does not have earthly property; therefore, we are struck by the fact that the third Beatitude says, in fact, that the meek “shall inherit the earth.”
So, the meek is he who “inherits” the most sublime of territories. He isn’t a coward, a “weak” person who finds an expedient morality to remain outside of problems. Quite the contrary!
Here we must make reference to the sin of anger, a violent motion, whose impulse we all know. Who hasn’t been angry sometime? All. We must reverse the Beatitude and ask ourselves a question: how many things have we destroyed with anger? How many things have we lost? A moment of anger can destroy so many things; one loses control and one doesn’t value what is really important, and one can ruin the relationship with a brother, sometimes without a remedy. So many brothers don’t talk to one another any longer because of anger; they distance themselves from each other. It’s the opposite of meekness. Meekness, gathers, anger, separates.
Meekness is the conquest of so many things. Meekness is capable of winning the heart, of saving friendships, and so many other things, because people get angry but then they calm down, they think again and retrace their steps, and so one can reconstruct with meekness. [full text]
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5)
There is no land more beautiful than the heart of others; there is not territory more beautiful to gain than peace found again with a brother.
Meekness is manifested in moments of conflict, seen is how one reacts to a hostile situation. Anyone can sow meekness when all is calm, but how does one react “under pressure,” if attacked, offended, assaulted?
In Scripture the word “meek” also indicates one who does not have earthly property; therefore, we are struck by the fact that the third Beatitude says, in fact, that the meek “shall inherit the earth.”
So, the meek is he who “inherits” the most sublime of territories. He isn’t a coward, a “weak” person who finds an expedient morality to remain outside of problems. Quite the contrary!
Here we must make reference to the sin of anger, a violent motion, whose impulse we all know. Who hasn’t been angry sometime? All. We must reverse the Beatitude and ask ourselves a question: how many things have we destroyed with anger? How many things have we lost? A moment of anger can destroy so many things; one loses control and one doesn’t value what is really important, and one can ruin the relationship with a brother, sometimes without a remedy. So many brothers don’t talk to one another any longer because of anger; they distance themselves from each other. It’s the opposite of meekness. Meekness, gathers, anger, separates.
Meekness is the conquest of so many things. Meekness is capable of winning the heart, of saving friendships, and so many other things, because people get angry but then they calm down, they think again and retrace their steps, and so one can reconstruct with meekness. [full text]
