"All men are so constituted that they want to be treated with gentleness; man is made that way, we cannot change him." St. Vincent de Paul.
According to the words of St. Francis de Sales, gentleness requires us to know how to repress the movements of anger, but if necessary how to manifest anger. Did not Our Lord one day call St. Peter, Satan. We may not be actuated by anger, however, but only by duty.
We must also know how to be affable and courteous to all.
We ought to excuse those who have caused us displeasure and not brood at all, over the sorrows which weigh us down.
We ought to succeed not only in forgiving injustices and affronts but also in treating kindly those who caused them.
If such is the rule, for every soul having the spirit of Him who wishes us to be meek and humble, how much more should this ideal be faithfully practiced by a religious soul.
"A Sister of Charity who grieves her sister...is no longer a Sister of Charity," said St. Vincent de Paul. "No, she is no longer a Sister of Charity, she only wears the habit of one."
A religious who is not in the literal sense of the word, and in the smallest matters, a sister of charity is not a religious.
One might almost think she follows a master who has said "Learn of me for I am disagreeable, gloomy and of an untractable disposition." She is surely not a follower of Him of whom it was said "Let us go to the Gentle One."
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Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)
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