Blessed Are the Meek and Peaceful

Insults and violence — Kindness and gentleness — Patience — Obedience and conscious acceptance — Anger.

Insults and violence

1. Jesus said: “Blessed are the gentle, for they will inherit the Earth.” (Matthew 5:5)

2. “Blessed are those who promote peace, for they will be called children of God.” (Matthew 5:9)

3. Jesus broadens the commandment “do not kill” and also calls attention to anger, contempt, and insults directed at others. The teaching shows that violence begins before the physical act, in feelings and in the way we treat other people. (Matthew 5:21-22)

4. Jesus values gentleness, moderation, kindness, and patience. The ancient word “raca” was an insult expressing contempt. The central point is that verbal aggression and humiliation also hurt and feed conflicts.

Intention matters. An offensive word becomes more serious when it expresses a desire to humiliate, hate, or provoke. Aggressive language weakens respect, coexistence, and fraternity and can turn small conflicts into lasting hostility.

After humility before God, charity toward one's neighbor is presented as an essential principle of Christian life.

5. When Jesus says that the gentle will “inherit the Earth,” he is not teaching contempt for material needs. We need food, housing, work, and resources. The guidance is not to make these possessions the most important purpose of existence.

Kardec understands that, historically, violent people often take more than they need while peaceful people lack what is necessary. The Gospel announces a justice in which force and abuse cease to be paths to advantage.

When love and charity guide society more deeply, the most vulnerable will not be exploited by the strongest. The work connects this transformation with Earth's moral progress.

Instructions from the Spirits

Kindness and gentleness

Lazarus - Paris, 1861

6. True kindness is born from respect for others. Courtesy and good manners can help people live together, but they can also become mere appearance when they do not correspond to what a person truly feels and does.

Some people smile and are pleasant while everything happens as they wish, but become aggressive at the slightest frustration or speak badly of others when they are not present. This is the appearance of kindness, not inner transformation.

The message especially criticizes those who seem polite in public but act with authoritarianism and violence at home or toward people who depend on them. Character appears most clearly precisely where a person believes they have power over others.

Real kindness needs to exist both in public and in private. Appearances may deceive people, but from the religious perspective of the message they do not hide true intention from God.

Patience

A friendly Spirit - Le Havre, 1862

7. The old message presents pain as a spiritual opportunity. In current language, we do not need to call suffering a blessing or seek it. The useful teaching is that unavoidable difficulty can be faced with patience, hope, and an effort to grow, without preventing us from seeking help or solutions.

Patience is also a form of charity. Beyond offering material help, there is the challenge of dealing with difficult people, forgiving when possible, and not automatically responding to every aggression with another aggression.

Life brings many small frustrations that, when added together, tire and irritate us. The message advises remembering the good things, responsibilities, and support that also exist. Patience is not remaining still: it is continuing to do what needs to be done without allowing every difficulty to destroy our balance.

Obedience and serene acceptance

Lazarus - Paris, 1863

8. The message uses “obedience” and “serene acceptance” in a spiritual sense, not as blind submission to any person. Obedience would mean consciously accepting principles that reason recognizes as right; serene acceptance would mean facing what we cannot change without abandoning our ability to act on what can be improved.

Jesus is presented as an example of firmness without violence and renunciation of selfishness. The message observes that a society can advance greatly intellectually while remaining behind in moral responsibility.

Progress does not depend only on extraordinary people. It also results from the collective effort of many. For this reason, the message invites everyone to learn, work, and keep pace with the moral and intellectual development of their time.

The original language uses severe images to speak of those who resist progress. The meaning we preserve is this: necessary changes can be delayed but not avoided forever. People willing to learn go through this process with less inner conflict.

Anger

A Protective Spirit - Bordeaux, 1863

9. Many outbursts of anger begin when pride is hurt. A person considers themselves above others and reacts disproportionately when contradicted, compared, or questioned.

Look for the origin of these moments of temporary madness that make you lose calm and reason, and you will often find wounded pride at their base. Is it not wounded pride that makes a person reject fair observations and angrily turn away from wise advice? Impatience over usually minor frustrations often comes from giving excessive importance to oneself and expecting everyone else to yield.

In a fit of anger, a person may turn against everything, even objects that do not obey them, breaking them in frustration. If they could see themselves calmly in those moments, they might be embarrassed or find their own behavior ridiculous. They should also consider the impression this creates in others and work to overcome a tendency that harms their own dignity.

If the person realized that anger solves nothing, affects health, and can endanger their own life, they would see that they are their first victim. There is also another reason to stop: anger makes those around them unhappy. If they have affection, they may later feel remorse for causing pain to the people they love, especially if an impulsive act has consequences they regret for a long time.

Finally, anger does not erase every good quality of the heart, but it can prevent good from being done and can lead to harm. This is enough reason to make an effort to master it. For the Spiritist, there is an additional reason: anger is contrary to Christian charity and humility.

Hahnemann - Paris, 1863

10. Saying “this is just how I am and I cannot change” can become a way of avoiding responsibility. Temperament influences our reactions, but it does not eliminate the possibility of developing self-control, new habits, and healthier ways of responding to anger.

The message recognizes that some people react more intensely than others, but rejects the idea that this inevitably determines violence. In current language, biological, psychological, and environmental factors can influence behavior without removing our responsibility to seek help and learn better strategies.

Anger can appear in different forms: outbursts, silent aggression, resentment, or hostility. The form changes, but inner work remains necessary. Virtues and faults should not be treated as unchangeable destinies.

Not every physical characteristic can be changed by will, but attitudes and behavior patterns can change. Experience shows that people can deeply transform the way they deal with impulses, conflicts, and frustrations.

The conclusion is an invitation to responsibility: no one needs to remain forever dominated by the same faults. Change may require time, support, and persistence, but moral progress assumes precisely this possibility of transformation.