Roman Catholic Spiritual Direction

Evils of my tongue

Posted Thursday, January 21st, 2010 at 4:00 am under Theophilus
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Why do such vile and useless words pour so easily from my mouth? The infinite beauty of Your works among man and Your creation and redemption should fill me in such a way as to drive me to speak of them always. Why would I think and speak about so much of what is broken when so much has been healed, restored, and made beautiful by You? Why would I spend time talking about the ills of others, of the Church, and of the world when I could spend time participating with You in the cure? Why would I give my tongue to the devil so that he can dip it in the excrement of criticism, negativity, intrigue, and pettiness when I could instead give it to building up the Church, reinforcing the good, to loving others, and to giving You Your just praise? Forgive me – heal me. May my tongue never utter a word unless it is to honor some good thing from You, to build the Kingdom, and to worship You my perfect King.

For we all make many mistakes, and if any one makes no mistakes in what he says he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also. If we put bits into the mouths of horses that they may obey us, we guide their whole bodies. Look at the ships also; though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So the tongue is a little member and boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is an unrighteous world among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the cycle of nature, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by humankind, but no human being can tame the tongue – 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. My brethren, this ought not to be so.

St. James Chapter 3

Theophilus

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  • Mary

    Dear Lord, This is where I offend you every day of my life. No sooner am I among one of more people, than my tongue acquires a life of its own. I am self-opinionated, critical of others, I get upset if I am contradicted or corrected. Especially at this time our country is going through a very difficuIt time politically, it is hard not to be condemnatory to the Politicians whom I believe were the planners, financiers and instigators of the most horredous murders of thousands, rapes, maiming, destruction of homes and properties and evictions which were directed at members of one tribe after the 2007 General Elections and who are still living in tattered tens and dying daily due to hunger, neglect and exposure to the vagaries of nature. They are now a forgotten lot and even our Government not longer mentions their plight. I therefore, stay alone every day as much as it is possible in order not to talk to anyone . I stay avoid my neighbours just to ensure I do not offend You with my tongue. I was a loner worshipper until, mercifully my Loving Jesus, You led me to the Eucharistic Divine Mercy Apostolate. And even here, I have to keep on reminding myself to keep quiet.

    My Loving Jesus, could you please answer my daily prayers and send Your Holy Spirit to guard my unrully tongue. I cannot win this battle alone. I need Your Grace, the intercessions and prayers of your Holy Mother Mary, Saint Faustina and all the Angels and Saints in Heaven if I am to succeed in controlling my headstrong tongue. This is my daily cross. My Jesus, do not abandon me to lose all the Graces You are ready to give me but they are blocked by my uncontrollable heart and tongue. Have mercy on me.

    I plead with all the Priests and God-loving Christians on this Website to pray for me.

    • Jackie

      I could have written your letter…It sounded so much like me…..I will pray for both of us to win the “battle of the tongue……

  • joycegruschow

    Thank You so much for this creation of Spiritual Direction. I had been looking for something and had even asked someone to be my Director but life is so busy. This has been very helpful for beginning my day I find I meditate on the scripture and thoughts ALL day. Hopefully it is helping me to be a better christian person.

    • danburke

      You are welcome Joyce – God's presence be with you.

  • Irma

    Thank you so much for the beautiful messages you sent us daily. I like starting my day by meditating on your message of the day and I have found it has helped me tremendously; not that I am where I need to be but I am becoming more aware of what I need to be doing daily.

    God Bless you,

  • Rachelle

    One of the best sources I have found on the sins of speech come from Jewish sources, particularly the writings of the Chavitz Chaim. Jewish rabbis tend to put fences around sin, and the Jewish ones are very pedagogical, and quite inspired IMHO. In my personal life, I always found it remarkable that the Jews I worked with would scrupulously avoid saying anything bad about anybody. Then I found out that this was a learned attitude, and there was a plethora of teachings and practices about how to avoid “lashon hara” I would recommend anyone having problems with this to study the Jewish documents on Ethics of Speech posted on Torah.org

    • danburke

      Dear Rachelle – fascinating, thank you. Are you Catholic? How did you find out about the site?

      • Rachelle

        Yes, I am Catholic, and I have been following your site off and on almost since the beginning. I had the priviledge of working with Jews, and in an attempt to better understand them, I began searching the web for good information on Judaism. That is how I found torah.org, which a good Jewish friend confirmed was a good site that represented “everybody”. I belong to a movement that stresses charity in speech (probably the same as yours), and found that the readings on lashon hara were very practical, demonstrating a good knowledge of human nature. I then searched out the book A Lesson A Day by the Chofetz Chaim, which is full of short parables and stories on charity in speech that is read on a daily basis so as to instruct behaviour. I would recommend anyone trying to develop that virtue to seek out this motivational book. It is too good to be limited to a Jewish audience.