Word to the Wise
Saturday, May 17, 2008 - Saturday in the Sixth Week of Ordinary Time
[James 3:1-10 and Mark 9:2-13]For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.
St. Alphonsus of Ligouri, the founder of the Redemptorist order, was said to have given a penitent who confessed to gossiping the following penance. The penitent was to take a feather pillow to the top of a tower and empty its contents into the air and then go and gather up every one of the feathers. The penitent protested the impossibility of the task and St. Alphonsus replied that such was the character of gossip. Perhaps a milder "penance" would be to have the penitent memorize the first scripture for today's liturgy and come back to recite it by heart to the confessor! However, not all the sins of the tongue are sins of gossip! As James points out, we curse others as well. And who among us has never said something that we instantly wished we had NEVER said it? The tongue can cause terrible harm and it can give tremendous comfort. Any preacher worth his or her salt knows too the power of the spoken word and the capacity of that spoken word from the pulpit to be a power for good or evil! Preachers who get a bit too drunk with power are as dangerous in speech as someone drunk with alchohol. The proverbial expression: "a loose cannon on deck" is not too mild to describe such a person. We know others who are not preachers but who have a reputation for spreading gossip, and we are very careful what we say to such persons. Our love of neighbor should lead us to an appreciation of the power of a word of encouragement at the right moment. That use of the tongue in speech can do lasting good! The words of the Letter of James in regard to the use and misuse of the tongue in speech are worthy of our lasting recall. They may save us from saying words we cannot recall. AMEN