The Gentle and Quiet Spirit
On the occasion of our celebration of the Feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, we would like to speak a little about the Holy Spirit. I would like to begin with the phrase: “the gentle and quiet Spirit.”
If the Lord asks this quality of us, it is because it is, first of all, one of His own attributes, and we ought to be in His image and likeness, and have within us:
the gentle and quiet Spirit.
We ask the Lord for the Holy Spirit who works in us with gentleness and calmness.
The person who is filled with the Spirit of God is also filled with gentleness and quietness. The Holy Spirit sometimes appeared in the form of a dove, because the dove is characterized by gentleness, simplicity, and calmness…
When Elijah was fleeing from Jezebel, God did not speak to him in the storm, nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire… and then, in “a still small voice,” He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” And it was the voice of God.
The Lord Christ had this gentle and quiet Spirit. It was said of Him:
“He will not quarrel nor cry out, nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench.”
He Himself said to His disciples: “Learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart… and you will find rest for your souls.”
At the beginning of the Beatitudes, the Lord cared for humility and gentleness…
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” This earth, and also the land of the living…
The gentle and quiet person gains the love of people here on this earth, and also gains the land of the living in the other world. Concerning gentleness and calmness, the Lord distinguishes between rivers and seas.
The violent seas, filled with waves, storms, and noise, symbolize the world in its clamor—the troubled world devoid of calmness.
Therefore it was said to the Lord: “You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, You still them” (Ps. 89:9).
As for the rivers, they represent calmness and sweetness, and therefore He likened them to the Holy Spirit.
For this reason the Lord Christ said: “He who believes in Me, out of his belly will flow rivers of living water.” “But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive” (John 7:38–39). He also likened the disciples filled with the Holy Spirit to rivers. It was said in the Psalm: “The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, than the mighty waves of the sea” (Ps. 93:3–4).
Christ, in His gentleness and quietness, was also likened to the gentle and quiet Lamb.
It was said of Him in His sufferings: “As a sheep led to the slaughter, and as a lamb silent before its shearers, so He opened not His mouth…” (Isa. 52:7).
God exists from eternity, in quietness and stillness, working…
“My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.” A gentle and quiet work, far from display and noise… Thus Christ came to the earth in quietness; none of its inhabitants perceived Him, nor were the chariots of the cherubim sent before Him.
The two disciples of John, who were called Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder… those who said to Christ, “Do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume the city?” But the Lord rebuked them…
From these two Sons of Thunder came John the Beloved, whose nature was changed to the opposite when he became a disciple of the gentle and quiet Christ…
He learned love, and he learned calmness, and he said: “God is love. He who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.”
For all this, God has called us to solve our problems “in a spirit of gentleness.” And His Apostle James said: “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom” (James 3:13).
In the Holy Bible we find many examples of the quality of gentleness and quietness in the children of God:
Abel was gentle and quiet, unlike his brother Cain.
Jacob the righteous and gentle was different from Esau the wicked and violent. David in all his gentleness was unlike Saul the mighty man from whom the Spirit of the Lord departed…
The children of God have the gentle and quiet Spirit. The spiritual person is slow to anger, because “the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:20). It is a kind of noise and revolt within and without.
The children of God are always calm, distinguished by quietness, peace, goodness, and lack of disturbance. They solve every problem in calmness, and perhaps in silence. A person among them passes like a gentle breeze, not like a destructive storm.
From the beginning of creation, we see the Spirit of God like a dove “hovering over the face of the waters”… Thus He formed creation in quietness and tended it in quietness.
As for noise: every person can make noise, become angry, and rebel. But few can control themselves and become calm.
Calmness is harder; therefore the calm are the strong, who can control their nerves, their tongues, and their expressions…
One of the writers said: when God cast me as a pebble upon the lake of life, it created bubbles on its surface and countless circles, but once I reached the bottom, I became calm.
Those who have reached the depths always become calm. But the small ones delight in the bubbles they create on the surface of life—the superficial, who are full of noise.
The calm person has peace in his heart from within, and peace bears the fruit of quietness. But he who has no inner peace consequently has no calmness. And peace is one of the fruits of the Spirit.
In the depths of the wilderness, the Fathers lived in quietness and peace… Saint Athanasius said: “Who among people was troubled or bitter in soul, and saw the face of Abba Anthony, without being filled with peace?”
He absorbs the peace that is in his heart, in his features, and in his actions…
The calm person, no matter what events collide with him, remains calm…
It is the calmness of steadfastness and peace, not the calmness of passivity…
But there are those who are disturbed, annoyed, rebellious, and never at rest in one place. The disturbance of the external world robs them of their inner calm.
Therefore the father of confession was the quiet oasis at which every troubled and wandering person in the desert of life would find rest.
The calm are able to fill the world with calmness. But the disturbed and rebellious transmit the contagion of disturbance to others and rob them of their peace. If one of these comes to you, do not be swept away in his current…
The calm person is calm in everything, not only in his feelings and actions, but also in his voice and in his prayer.
Hannah, the mother of Samuel, prayed a strong and deep prayer, yet the Scripture says of her: “She spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard”…
Hannah’s prayer was of the utmost depth, faith, contrition, and response. Yet it was in quietness, without clamor.
The gentle and quiet Spirit also performs His miracles in quietness.
In every sacrament of the Church, the Holy Spirit performs a deep and tremendous work, in silence, in calmness, and in gentleness…
But if miracles are turned into noise, they lose the character of the gentle and quiet Spirit.
Those in whom the gentle and quiet Spirit has dwelt, their spirits also become gentle and quiet, which is very precious in the sight of God (1 Pet. 3:4).
Article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – Al-Keraza Magazine – Seventh Year (Issue Twenty-Five) – 18-6-1976.
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