ROME — Pope Francis urged his hearers to cultivate the virtue of meekness Wednesday, underscoring the destructive power of anger.
The sin of anger is “a violent emotion whose impulse we all know,” the pope told the thousands gathered in the Vatican for his weekly General Audience. “Who hasn’t gotten angry at times? We all have.”
And yet “how many things have we destroyed with anger? How many things have we lost?” Francis asked during an extended reflection on the gospel beatitude “Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth.”
“A moment of anger can destroy many things,” he continued. “You lose control and forget what is really important, and you can ruin the relationship with a brother or sister, sometimes beyond remedy.”
“Out of anger, many siblings no longer speak to each other, they distance themselves from each other. It is the opposite of meekness. Gentleness draws together, anger separates,” he said.
During his reflection, the pope insisted that meekness is not weakness, and that the self-control needed for gentleness requires courage.
“The term ‘meek’ used here literally means sweet, gentle, kindly, free of violence,” Francis said. “Meekness manifests itself in moments of conflict, by how a person reacts to a hostile situation. Anyone can seem meek when everything is calm, but how does a person react ‘under pressure,’ when attacked, offended, assailed?”
“The meek person is not a coward or a ‘wimp’ who invents a morality to stay out of trouble. Far from it!” the pope insisted. “He is a person who has received an inheritance and does not want to throw it away.”
The meek person “defends his peace, defends his relationship with God, defends his gifts, the gifts of God, preserving mercy, brotherhood, trust, and hope,” he continued. “Because meek people are merciful, fraternal, confident people and people with hope.”
“Gentleness conquers many things,” he said. “Meekness is capable of winning over hearts, saving friendships and much more, because people get angry but then calm down, rethink and retrace their steps, and in this way meekness rebuilds.”
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