The Sin of the Tongue

 This Lectio Divina comes from today's homily from the Prologue of Ohrid.

 

I said, I will guard my ways, lest I sin with my tongue (Psalm 39:1).

The sin of the tongue is the most common and most frequent sin. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, says the Apostle James (James 3:2). When a penitent sets out on God's path-when he begins to live according to God's commandments-he should first strive to avoid sin with the tongue. That was the rule that the penitent David laid down for himself. He vowed especially to remain silent before his adversaries: I will restrain my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked are before me (Psalm 39:1). Behold a most wonderful rule for one who is being healed of sin. When he is accused, he does not reply; when he is slandered, he remains silent. In truth, what does it help to speak with an enraged, unrighteous man who does not love God more than himself? If you speak to him of evil, you will enrage him even more. If you speak to him of good, you will make him a mocker of holy things. Before Pilate Christ remained silent. Pilate said: Answerest Thou nothing? (Mark 15:4). What can He reply to you, when you do not have ears to hear or a mind to understand? Behold, the silence of the righteous one before the unrighteous one can still have the best influence on the unrighteous one. Left to interpret the silence of the righteous one by himself, the unrighteous one can interpret it for the benefit of his soul; while any other answer, good or bad, will be interpreted for evil, to the condemnation of others and to the justification of himself. Blessed is he who learns to govern his tongue.

O Lord Jesus Christ our God, Thou Who hast shown us by example how and when to speak, Thou hast shown us by example how and when we should be silent. Help us, by Thy Holy Spirit, that we not sin with the tongue.

To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen. (The Prologue from Ohrid - October 18th)

How often do I let my mouth run off before I think? How often do I speak vulgar and profane things? How often do I use my words to cut down others instead of building them up?

In St. Mark chapter 7 we read,

"14And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand: 15There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man. 16If any man have ears to hear, let him hear." (St. Mark 7:14-16 KJV)

Tertullian, in about AD220 says this about these verses,

"Let us, then, his servants, follow our Lord and patiently submit to denunciations that we may be blessed! If, with slight forbearance, I hear some bitter or evil remark directed against me, I may return it, and then I shall inevitably become bitter myself. Either that, or I shall be tormented by unexpressed resentment. If I retaliate when cursed, how shall I be found to have followed the teaching of our Lord? For his saying has been handed down that one is defiled not by unclean dishes but by the words which proceed from his mouth." (Catena)

And,

"When, then, on being cursed, I smite (with my tongue, ) how shall I be found to have followed the doctrine of the Lord, in which it has been delivered that "a man is defiled. And that the Lord Himself in the Gospel has given a compendious answer to every kind of scrupulousness in regard to food; "that not by such things as are introduced into the mouth is a man defiled, but by such as are produced out of the mouth; " (Catena)

I definitely have trouble holding my tongue - especially when someone speaks against me. For some reason, I have always had an issue with being falsely accused, and I will speak out vehemently in my defense - which usually leads people to believe I doth protest too much, and am therefore likely guilty of whatever I am being accused of.

Yet we see in the example of Christ before Pilate that He answered nothing to the false accusations hurled against Him.

Often times, when we speak in anger - when we smite others with our tongues - we do not do the other person or ourselves any good. We embitter the other and we become bitter ourselves. Instead, we should hold our tongue, turn the other cheek, and let what other people say just roll off of us like water off a duck's back.

Last night during our Oblate conference call, our presenter Br. Ignatius said, "What you think of me is none of my business." This was not in response to something that someone said, but rather it pertained to our lesson last night on the degrees of humility. I took this to mean that what other people think of us does not matter. Truly, only the opinion of God matters - others will think what they will, and we really cannot change that. I do not need to concern myself with what others think of me, I need to focus on humility and holding my tongue.

As we read in Psalm 50, "15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise." (Psalm 51 in the KJV). Instead of retorts, instead of replying to evil remarks made to us, we should instead let our words be praise to God.

I, especially, need to learn to keep my mouth shut unless I have something edifying to add.

Please, pray for me, a sinner.