Cultivating the Virtue of Meekness
“O Jesus, meekest Lamb, who being cursed did not curse, who suffering injuries did not threaten, who receiving the greatest contempt, answered with divine meekness or preserved an admirable silence, help me to follow Your example, to repress my anger, to embrace meekness, and armed with patience, to suffer willingly any labor so that I may come to enjoy eternal repose with you.” Ven. Leo Du Pont
This Advent, we are reflecting on the Beatitudes. The third Beatitude is, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.” (Matthew 5:5) Meekness is the ability to moderate anger according to right reason. What land is the land we will inherit? Heaven. If we cultivate this virtue in our souls, we can start to experience heaven, here and now, in our daily lives and in our interactions with others. Without this important virtue, our daily experiences may feel closer to hell than to heaven.
Throughout my twenties, I worked on Capitol Hill as a congressional staffer, as well as in other organizations in DC. I got to know many talented and successful professionals. Some were people who built others up, gently mentoring younger professionals and handling big challenges with great grace. But some people I dealt with were very difficult individuals who, despite being very professionally successful, were quick to lose their temper or tear others down with harsh words.
A big part of what set these two types of people apart was the virtue of meekness.
An example of an individual showing meekness in the workplace is former Attorney General Ed Meese, who used to serve as Director of the Legal Center at the Heritage Foundation. During my internship there, Mr. Meese was never caustic or condescending, but always made the interns and other staff feel respected, even when offering legitimate criticism of our work.
My former boss at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE), Mr. Patrick Trueman, similarly exemplified this virtue. He had a storied and incredibly impactful career at the Department of Justice and several other organizations. He tirelessly fought the grave injustices of pornography, sex trafficking, child sexual abuse, and prostitution.
As you can imagine, combating these diabolical evils can be grueling and overwhelming. NCOSE took on, and still takes on, the most powerful entities in society, including major corporations and big tech giants like Google and Meta, which have been guilty of facilitating and covering up the evils of sex trafficking and child abuse. Yet, even under the stress that comes with taking on these Goliaths, Mr. Trueman always treated all of the staff with kindness and respect.
The meekness both these men demonstrated made a lasting impression on me. They were truly Christlike. They showed me that no matter how much success you have in your career, or how high you climb up the ladder, there’s never any excuse for abandoning the virtues of meekness and humility. (Those who do actually disgrace themselves, despite their worldly accomplishments.)
What Meekness Is
In his book, Divine Intimacy, (which I cannot more highly recommend to busy women who need a concise but powerful guide to daily meditation!) Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen writes, “meekness makes [man] master of himself by controlling the impulses of anger. The great value of this virtue lies in the fact that it assures the soul of that inner peace which is so necessary in order to fulfill serenely all its duties toward God and toward neighbor.”
Isn’t that true? Can we really accomplish God’s will, witness to the peace of Christ, or charitably will our neighbor’s good, if our wills are slaves to our passions, especially anger?
Without meekness, Fr. Gabriel explains, “a person's manner becomes brusque, unrestrained, and often unjust, provoking displeasure in others; charity is cooled and harmonious relationships are disturbed…It is the task of meekness to moderate and calm all such movements of passion by giving the soul mastery of itself, enabling it to remain tranquil, even in difficult or irritating circumstances.”
And What It Isn’t
Meekness, however, is not weakness or blind tolerance of injustice toward God or neighbor. There is room in a meek soul for righteous anger, namely anger that arises from a desire to defend truth, combat injustice, or protect the vulnerable.
Our Lord Jesus flipped tables over in the temple to express his disapproval of men turning his Father’s house into a place of commerce and financial gain. This is the same Christ who explicitly stated we must imitate him in his meekness: “learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart.” (Matthew 11:29)
Like Jesus, the incredible saint we celebrate today, St. Nicholas of Myra, had righteous anger. He once punched (or perhaps slapped) the heretic Arias in the face for denying the divinity of Christ at the Council of Nicea in the year AD 325.
I doubt St. Nicholas was personally aggrieved by the debate with Arias. He wasn’t slapping him for selfish, egotistical reasons. Instead, I believe St. Nicholas burned with ardent charity and a zealous love for souls! He knew how many souls would be lost to eternal damnation if the truth about who Christ is was not accurately proclaimed by the Church.
Thanks to Saint Nicholas’s passionate defense of truth and rejection of heresy, and that of many of his fellow bishops, we still profess today in the Nicene Creed:
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
As a young man, St. Nicholas came to the aid of three maids who were going to be sold into slavery, likely prostitution. Their father had lost all he had and could no longer afford their dowries, which were required for young women to marry at that time. Under the veil of darkness and night, St. Nicholas anonymously tossed bags of gold into their windows three nights in a row, saving them from the unjust and terrible fate of prostitution.
As women, mothers, or leaders in our communities and businesses, we suffer various trials every day which are opportunities to cultivate meekness. When we practice this virtue, people will take notice. They will long for the inner peace we possess. And witnessing this precious fruit of our meditation on Christ, they will conclude that Christ’s influence in our lives is worth it.
St. Nicholas, pray for us! And may the Holy Spirit fill our hearts with meekness so we can conform to the image of our meek and humble Savior, Jesus Christ.
Katherine is a mother of four and lives in Virginia with her family. She contributed a chapter about Our Lady Undoer of Knots to Crowned with Grace: A Collection of Marian Titles and Devotions. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in politics from Ave Maria University. Prior to her current role as homemaker and home educator, she served as communications director for the National Center on Sexual Exploitation and for former Congressman Keith Rothfus. She also worked in communications at Heritage Action for America. She is passionate about living out her Catholic faith and fostering a culture that protects children’s innocence and joy.