Important note on the photo quote. The correct quotation from the Sacred Scriptures is the following: "If anyone thinks he is pious and does not restrain his tongue, but deceives his heart, his piety is vain" ( translation of the seventy)
There is no current topic like the one we enunciate in this article, a topic of meditation and practical solutions that make us win this battle every day because if we neglect ourselves we can lose the very grace that unites us with God in spiritual life and, consequently, eternal life.
Nothing better to start this article than the words of the Apostle Santiago on the subject: “If the horses, to make them obey us, we put brakes on their mouths, we also handle their entire body. Also see how, with a very small rudder, the ships, so large and driven by impetuous winds, are directed at the will of the pilot. So also the tongue is a small member, but it boasts of great things. See how small the fire is that sets fire to such a large forest. The tongue is also fire: it is the world of iniquity. Placed in the midst of our members, the tongue is the one that contaminates the whole body, and inflames the wheel of life, being it in turn inflamed by hell. All kinds of beasts, birds, reptiles and marine animals are tamed and tamed by the human race, but there is no man who can tame the tongue: an unstoppable scourge, it fills it with deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father,and with it we curse men, made in the likeness of God. Blessing and cursing come out of the same mouth. "
Saint Basil commenting on those words: "The world of iniquity" tells us: "The tongue contains all evils, kindles the fire of passions, destroys the good, it is an instrument of hell."
And Saint Augustine tells us: “Man tames beasts and does not tame his tongue in such a way that it would be useless to try to stop it by his own effort. The remedy is to surrender to the motion of the Holy Spirit. Then when love inspires us instead of selfishness, we can speak as much as we want in a timely and importunate way. Then the language itself will be the best instrument of the greatest assets ”.
That is why the Apostle himself adds : "He is a just man who does not make mistakes in his conversations."There are people who cannot get out of the quagmire in which they find themselves and are surprised not to make any progress in virtue after a long time, who would find in these maxims of the Holy Books the explanation of their immobility in the spiritual life. “When an army has been thrown out of its positions,” says Alvarez de Paz, “and retreats from the superiority of the enemy, it immediately tries to rally to the shelter of a stronghold, and from there it sets out to reconquer the lost ground. Well then, the tongue is that stronghold, and if the spiritual man leaves that fortress standing, if he does not dislodge the enemy from it, his previous efforts and cares will be of no use to him; he will never be able to obtain complete victory ”(1).
If I ask each one of my pious readers to what degree their desire for perfection reaches, there will not be a single one who does not manifest his firm will to become perfect, nor one who does not regret always vegetating in simple desires and who does not feel the impression of an obstacle that stands between him and the object to which he aspires. It is therefore necessary to find out if this obstacle will not be the one that the venerable writer mentioned has just pointed out: an immortal language, which is not hindered and which, for the same reason, causes enormous damage in our spiritual life.
Therefore, it will serve as an effective means of acquiring perfection all the science and work that is directed to governing the language. But do not expect to find in the present study deep philosophical speculations about the defects of the language and still less a series of more or less satirical descriptions that serve only to provoke hilarity and laughter. My purpose is higher: I wish at all costs to contribute to the good of souls. Therefore, leaving aside all literary concerns, I propose simply to point out to pious people the various forms that the sins of the tongue can take. I take the resolution not to retreat before the dictates of conscience, and without presuming of being a consummate moralist I will express in each case the qualification that this or that fault deserves that someone acquits, perhaps,too easily or condemn with extreme severity.
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Who ignores that phrase that an ancient fabulist applied to the language, saying of it that "it was the best and the worst of everything"? There are medals whose two faces are nothing alike. Something analogous could be said of the language. Let us first examine its advantageous and laudable part.
How mysterious the power of the word! Shake a thought in the depths of our soul, a thought that we will never know, that will remain buried there eternally, unless the sealed book is opened before our eyes. Suddenly the lips move, they hurt the air, they articulate a sound, and here is the foreign thought that is revealed to us and we make it our own. A single word has produced such a strange, incomprehensible, totally spiritual phenomenon: the revelation of a soul.
And when the word is put at the service of an upright intelligence and a generous heart, it works wonders without a count; His power is then revealed to us exceedingly prodigious. I perceive it illuminating souls with the splendor of truth. And how great and how beautiful the word appears in the mouth of the apostle, missionary or catechist! So it seems to me a divine word, the very Word of God speaking to men.
Graphically, a contemporary writer has said of the words, that they are in the manner of painters or artists of thought. It is true, but it must be noted that the images created by incomparable artists, in their productions, have nothing of the rigidity, immobility and lack of expression of which ordinary painters reproduce on canvas, but are full of activity and movement, with enough power to calm as well as to disturb souls.
We pass a person who feels weighed down by the weight of enormous misfortune: we shake his hand and address a word of comfort that we have searched deep in our hearts. At once a ray of hope springs up in this poor soul, of consoling breath; He feels the weight of the misfortune shared by us even lighter.
Let us stop before another soul that is about to be shipwrecked before the onslaught of the hurricane of despair: it has already lost the helm and closes its eyes so as not to see the precipice that can be seen at its feet. A strong man, with an upright will, happens to pass by, gives him the cry of alarm, tells him about God, about judgment, about eternity; the poor discouraged soul reacts on the spot, overcoming itself; It seems that he feels and that something of that energetic will is communicated to his being, and opening his heart to hope he resumes the fight with new ardor and determination. Only one word has worked that prodigy called the salvation of a soul. It is when the language works great goods.
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The reverse of the medal is totally different: the damage that the word is capable of producing when it is put at the service of error or a bad cause. Can there be anything more detestable than the word of an Arius, a Luther, a Calvin? How many disturbances and catastrophes would not have been avoided for humanity if those men had not misused the gift of speech! By what name should also be qualified the word that in public meetings and in modern areopagi ridicules and despises the most respectable and sacred, boasting the most abominable impiety? And how the practically impious professor abuses the word who, speaking ironically about everything related to Religion and its ministers, slowly and piece by piece rips the Christian faith out of the hearts and minds of his young disciples!
Very laudable is, without a doubt, our bitter indignation against the ravages caused by the malicious word; but don't we also encourage them in some way? When making the examination of conscience at night, collected in the solitude of the bedroom in front of the crucifix, each one thinks, and weighs the good that during the day he has done with the tongue and the damage caused by it, and the result will probably be very unfavorable. Repeat this test for a week, two, a month, etc., placing failures on one side and successes on the other: it would be highly admirable if the two sides of the scale were balanced. This simple arithmetic operation will certainly not be a source of vanity for anyone; more, on the other hand, it will give light and show us that the tongue, as has been said,it is the greatest enemy of our progress in Christian perfection.
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To end this chapter I will present to the pious reader the last words of the Apostle James on this subject:
"By chance a source, through the same pipe, made sweet and bitter water? Can the fig tree produce grapes or the vine produce figs? Similarly, the salty spring cannot make the water fresh. Who among you is wise and learned? Show by good conversation your works in meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and contentions reign in your hearts, do not boast, nor be false against the truth; because this wisdom is not that which descends from above, but earthly, animal, diabolical ... "
The personal experience of the pious readers will surely be in perfect agreement with the preceding description, which I will try to develop in the present study.
GENERAL TIPS
I do not propose in this work to make only a description or an analysis of the defects of the language, but also the correction and the remedy; And as there are certain general tips that are appropriate for each of these defects of the language, it is also convenient to apply the respective application to each one. Repeating the same tips and prescriptions on almost every page of the book would be annoying to readers. To overcome these inconveniences, I will advance some general considerations that I believe will be helpful.
For example: in a room two people are chatting animatedly. One of them lets her tongue slide, without thinking at all that God is present. The other, on the contrary, feels in the presence of a God who sees and hears her. It is very to be feared that the conversation of the first constitutes in its entirety a succession of faults, while the second will have known how to control its language in such a way that no perceived fault has slipped past. All this that I have just affirmed is proven by daily experience. Just the thought: "God sees me and hears me" is enough to stop a slander, a lie, a joke in bad taste on our lips. As soon as we forget the presence of God, we are victims of passion, which makes our language capable of the worst follies, as well as the most dangerous ravings.
There is no exaggeration in affirming that the saints are the men of the world, whose conversation is the most reasonable, the most sensible, and, at the same time, the most pleasant, which is easy to understand: knowing that God is looking at them, they do not want to see things but from the aspect in which God himself appreciates them; Every passionate thought that agitates them passes through the filter, and if they find that it is not pleasing to God, they drown it in their hearts before it can flow to their lips. That is why we will never find in their conversation a word that constitutes an echo of a reprehensible passion, that hurts decorum, truth or charity.
to be continue...
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