man so mild and compassionate, so friendly and meek, as Jesus Christ the Son of man, that is, of Mary. The holy precursor St. John cried out as soon as he saw Him: “Behold the Lamb of God.”[1] What is meeker or milder than a lamb, in which there is no guile? When the prophets describe the future Messias, they all give that as the first mark by which He is to be known: His mildness. “He shall not cry,” says Isaias, “neither shall His voice be heard abroad.”[2] He will not even open His mouth to speak in a loud voice. He will be a Man, says the Prophet David, “that hath no reproofs in His mouth.”[3] “He shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer,” says Isaias again, “and He shall not open His mouth.”[4]
His life was a constant example of meekness even towards sinners. Of His own virtues, Christ proposes for our special imitation His meekness and patience: “Learn of Me, because I am meek and humble of heart.”[5] What else has His whole life been but the constant practice of meekness? When did He ever show the least anger or indignation, except in the case of the Scribes and Pharisees, when there was question of His Father’s honor? What patience did He not show in His daily intercourse with His disciples, who were still very ignorant and full of imperfections? How friendly and lovingly did He not deal even with the worst sinners, without ever upbraiding them with their wickedness? How often did He not prove the sensibility of His heart for the woes of others, when He met with people who were afflicted and in trouble; when He actually mingled His tears with theirs? Not a single word of complaint did He utter even in His cruel passion against His torturers, but rather prayed for them while He was hanging on the cross, and begged of His heavenly Father to forgive them. And to prove still clearer that He has the greatest love and affection for us, He calls Himself our Friend, our Father, our Brother, our Spouse. To give hope and courage to sinners, He says that He is their Pledge, their Advocate, their Mediator with His angry Father; that He is the Intercessor between God and man to repair all that is broken. “There is one God,” says St. Paul, “and one Mediator of God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a redemption for all.”[6]
- ↑ Ecce Agnus Dei.—John i. 29.
- ↑ Non clamabit, nec audietur vox ejus foris.—Is. xlii. 2.
- ↑ Non habens in ore suo redargutiones.—Ps. xxxvii. 15.
- ↑ Quasi agnus coram tondente se obmutescet, et non aperiet os suum.—Is. liii. 7.
- ↑ Discite a me, quia mitis sum et humilis corde.—Matt. xi. 29.
- ↑ Unus enim Deus, unus et mediator Dei et hominum, homo Christus Jesus, qui dedit redemptionem semetipsum pro omnibus.—I. Tim. ii. 5, 6.
