Wednesday of Week 32 – Titus 3:17; Ps 22:1-6; Luke 17:1-6
… speak evil of no one, to avoid quarrelling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy towards all people (Titus 3:2).
The catalogue of guidance from Saint Paul’s Letter to Titus would seem today to be “out of step” with the world. The reason? For one must be tough, uncompromising, hiding one’s true face behind various forms of artificial pretence or dressing oneself up in someone else’s feathers. But is it really necessary to pretend to be someone one is not in reality?
Someone once said that all the Christian virtues are summed up in gentleness. It is composed above all of patience and kindness, as well as respect and a friendly disposition towards people and towards everything that exists. A gentle person is gentle both towards things and towards people. “He is gentle who knows how to bear with his neighbours and with himself” (Saint John of the Cross).
Gentleness is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, and cannot be reduced to a mere mannerism of good upbringing. It helps us to master the desire for revenge and is thus a manifestation of love. Meekness and gentleness protect us from both exaltation and despondency. And “today” is our test of how far we are able to submit ourselves to the action of the Spirit of God, creating within ourselves and around us a realm of gentleness, and how far we shall instead yield to the promptings of a world of haste and unrest.
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