The goal of the spiritual path is not the great ascetic, not the indefatigable faster, not the consistent person, but the meek and gentle one. ... Gentleness is for [The Desert Father] Evagrius the source of knowledge of Christ. Without gentleness, we can read the Bible as much as we like and engage in the harshest ascetical practices, but we will never understand the mystery of Christ. Thus he writes to a disciple: "But above all don't forget gentleness and calm, which purify the soul and bring us closer to the knowledge of Christ" (Anselm Gruen, Heaven Begins Within You: Wisdom from the Desert Fathers, pp. 116-17).______________________________________
Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying heavey burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matt. 11:28-30).
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I just finished reading Chapter 2 of Holy Longing by Rolheiser. He gives the four nonnegotiable essentials for Christian spirituality. One is "mellowness of heart and soul." I am not sure I would have named that as one of the essentials but now but as he says, I can pray, go to church and serve the poor but unless I have that gentless and compassion of heart, I am missing something very important. Sister Phyllis
Sister Phyllis,
You mention one of my favorite books on Christian spirituality, Rolheiser's The Holy Longing. I, too, was surprised by his fourth essential of Christian spirituality, but apparently he is drawing on a long tradition that goes all the way back to Evagrius. Isn't it interesting how "mellowness of heart" has slipped out of our understanding of what it means to be faithful to the Word? I'm still not sure I know what he means by this -- my students, when reading this text, felt the same way -- but Gruen's reflection on gentleness seems to be consistent with what Rolheiser is suggesting in his second chapter. I also find his general definition of "spirituality" (in chapter one) compelling, suggesting that it is a vital energy that we can choose to channel in the direction of destruction or faithful creation (I think the examples he uses are Janis Joplin and Mother Theresa).
Still, "mellowness of heart," or "gentleness," is somethig that I certainly need to work on! The trick, however, is knowing when to be gentle and when to follow your sense of righteous indignation. Is it possible to do both? Perhaps for a saint, but I find it rather difficult.
Dan Deffenbaugh
Check the ego at the door...
Gentleness and meekness is not valued(understood?)much by our culture...even as Christians. I think it is understood that to walk this path we must be mousey and spineless - which is furthest from the truth. To walk in true gentleness and meekness requires quite a bit of courage - we must check our ego at the door and base our gentleness/meekness out of love (not fear). I don't know about anyone else, but just try and pry my ego from my fingers!
If we've checked our egos and base our actions on Love, then I can't imagine there'd be a conflict between gentleness and rightous indignation. It's not an "either-or" situation rather a "both-and".
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