The Third Beatitude: Meekness and Inheritance

After mourning comes meekness. For when the soul has been humbled and purified by sorrow, it is no longer harsh or contentious, nor does it resist the truth when it is corrected. Meekness is that disposition by which a man does not oppose God, nor resist those things which are appointed for his correction, but receives them with patience.

The meek are not those who lack strength, but those who have learned to govern their strength. They do not strive to assert themselves, nor do they seek to overcome others by force or contention. Having mourned their sins, they are no longer eager to defend themselves, but are ready to be shaped by the will of God.

This meekness follows mourning in proper order. For sorrow softens the heart, and a softened heart does not rise up in anger or rebellion. Pride resists; meekness yields. And yet this yielding is not weakness, but the calm strength of one who trusts not in himself but in God.

The inheritance promised to the meek is the land. This is not to be understood as earthly possession, but as the stability of a soul that rests in God. For the meek possess the land in that they are not driven about by disordered passions, nor shaken by the tumults of this world. They possess themselves, and in possessing themselves, they possess what God gives.

Thus the same person who was first humbled, then purified by mourning, is now made gentle and teachable. The soul that has learned to submit no longer strives anxiously for domination, but receives its inheritance quietly. And this prepares the way for the hunger and thirst for righteousness that follows, for only a meek soul can desire justice without contention or pride.

Source: St. Augustine, On the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Book I, Chapters 3–4.