Meek

Oct 27

I recently attended the biannual meeting of religious superiors in the Diocese of Toledo. One of the best parts of these gatherings is the update from each religious congregation.

During her report, Mother Sharon Elizabeth, VHM, of the Visitation Monastery shared that her community has been doing foundational work on the “little virtues.” After the meeting, I asked her about this effort, and she lit up when she spoke of meekness. “Do you know where the word comes from?” she asked.

Truth be told, I did not. Meekness had never made it onto my personal list of virtues, even though St. Francis de Sales wrote about it so often. I have certainly never preached on it. Well, until now.

Mother Sharon Elizabeth explained that the word meek comes from the world of horses. In ancient times, the Romans gathered wild horses and assigned each one work according to its natural attributes: this one for pulling wagons, that one for farming, and so on. Some were set aside as war horses.

These potential war horses underwent rigorous training so that they would respond instantly to the direction of the rider. Left, and the horse went left. Charge, and it charged. Stop, and it stopped. When a horse had perfected its natural strength and spirit into this immediate responsiveness, it was called meek.

This insight makes me want to preach on meekness! It is the virtue of immediately following the promptings of the Holy Spirit and the will of God made manifest right in front of us. Notice that the meek horse is not weak. It is powerful, yet its power is entirely yielded to the rider.

How hard this is! In our high school, we teach students a lesson we call “time and place.”

Different moments call for different responses. In the chapel, it is the time and place to pray. In the cafeteria, it is the time and place to eat and socialize. In the classroom, it is the time and place to study.

Meekness is time and place. It is responding to God immediately, in the present moment.