Saturday, 6th Week of Ordinary Time (II)

February 21,2004

by Rev. Herbert Nichols

Saturday of Week 6(II)(Sat.before Ash Wed.) --February 21, 2004

St. James is one of the more eminently practical writers in the New Testament. He strikes at the heart of a basic problem, one that is brought to confession more than any other sin, but much too often without the awareness of seriousness and need of repentance.

He begins with the marvelous comparison in which he likens the tongue to a rudder, which despites its smallness controls the course of a mighty ship. Mighty indeed is the tongue and the gift of speech, mightier than the face which launched a thousand ships. When a voice from Houston declares: All systems are go, man reaches out to the stars.

We begin to appreciate the meaning of speech that it is a sharing in the power of God. When Jesus says, using the tongue and voice of the priest: This is my Body, this is my Blood; bread and wine are wondrously transformed. Our human words are but a faint reflection of the magnificence of God’s words. The power of speech sets humans apart from the animals and gives us a share in divine dignity.

But words, which roll off the tongue like snow off a mountain, have a capacity to do huge destruction. The huge preponderance of our interactions with other peoples and the impact which we leave on their lives, is through words.

There are healing words, encouraging words, comforting words, challenging words, discriminating words, teaching words, congratulatory words, informative words, inspirational words, peacemaking words, cautionary words, all kinds of words that have an almost mystical and medicinal power to bring real change in people’s lives.

Words are like ambassadors or agents of our personality that we sent out into the world. Our words can be instruments of true transfiguration, or they can be awesome engines of power that do enormous evil.

Before the next few days, when we present ourselves for ashes as a sign of our repentance, we might do well to reflect and truly repent if we have our tongue as a match stick to light a conflagration of hatred, rather than love, of evil, rather than, good.

If our tongue has been the instrument of destruction of another person’s life or reputation, then we truly stand under the ashes, but to seek those ashes as a blessing without repentance would be utter hypocrisy. Recognizing the awesomeness of speech, we must become conscientious in its use, making it like a transfiguration, making us like God Himself.