Question: What is the difference between Humility and Meekness?
My answer: Humility is that virtue by which we consider our lowliness, our defects and submit to God and others for God´s sake, as St. Thomas says it consists in keeping oneself within one's own bounds, not reaching out to things above one, but submitting to one's superior
Meekness is twofold. In one way it is a part of temperance, for just as humility moderates hope (keeping us from being presumptuous) so does meekness moderate anger, keeping us from violence and rage.
In another way meekness can be a special calling to gentleness. In the old canon law a man who had fought in a just war, served on a jury that imposed the death penalty, even did surgery, or in general shed blood was disbarred from ever being ordained a priest. The reason was not that those were immoral, but rather that the priest is called to be like Christ, and meek, and even legitimate violence was considered undue.
Obviously some men have to commit those acts, but others are called to a gift of living meekness in a special way.
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