Sir 27:4-7
Ps 92
1 Cor 15:53-58
Lk 6:39-45
The readings from Sirach and Luke pose the same question, arrive at the same answer, and offer the same warning. Sirach advises: "Praise no one before he speaks, for it is then that people are tested." Luke observes: " . . . from the heart the mouth speaks."
Throughout the book of Sirach the author uses images from daily life and experience as a means of instruction in how to live. Here we are reminded that the results give the measure of the person. Publicity, an air of bravado, and good looks count for little except in the worlds of celebrity and politics. Instant communication and social media have created treacherous minefields that did not exist in the past. Today Sirach might write, "Praise no one before he Instagrams" and Luke might observe that the heart reveals itself in the sound bite. Many remember the advertising campaign, "Friends don't let friends drive drunk." Excellent advice at all times. It was no surprise when the riff on this theme appeared as: Friends don't let friends text drunk. Excellent advice.
It is always amusing to watch a celebrity spout off an opinion and then have to retract, grovel, and apologize. Indeed, the offender oftentimes quotes the gist of Sirach when whining: "But that's not who I am." Perhaps it is. It is difficult to retract an ill-advised comment in the current cancellation culture dominating the U.S, especially if that comment is misattributed, misquoted, taken out of context, or manipulated to fit an accuser's agenda.
The power of speech is unique to humans. No lower animal possesses anything approaching speech. True, each species has a repertory of squeaks, squawks, shrieks, growls and other primitive sounds that allow for a type of communication. But only humans have the gift of words that can be combined into sentences and paragraphs, poetry and prayer, that can foster peace or precipitate war. Words that can explain complex scientific principles or ease a grieving heart. In scripture speech is frequently symbolized by the tongue, the extraordinary organ that gives humans the ability to form words consistently and intelligibly. Both Sirach and Jesus advise control of the tongue, control of what one says and how one says it.
Babette's Feast, the 1988 movie that won the Best Foreign Film Oscar, is a perfectly made film. It is not, as one critic described it, a semi-comedic food movie. It is a profound meditation on the Eucharist and the importance of the Eucharistic banquet in creating a community, maintaining that community, and, most critically, healing the rifts that inevitably develop in any community or family. In one scene during the titular feast a woman tells the splintering community: "The tongue, that strange little muscle, it has accomplished great and glorious deeds for man. But it's also an unruly evil, full of deadly poison."
There is nothing one can add to describe the power of human speech, the effect of what we say, how we say it, and to whom we say it. That strange little muscle, can caress the words of the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the uncountable number of prayers that we utter in times of distress and sorrow as well as in times of celebration and joy. That strange little muscle can also destroy another's happiness or ruin a reputation in moments. We are, and will truly be, known by our words.
The psalm assures us: "The just one shall flourish like the palm tree, like a cedar of Lebanon shall he grow. . . They shall bear fruit even in old age; vigorous and sturdy shall they be . . ." Yes, even in old age.
We are two days away from Ash Wednesday. Lent gives us an opportunity to examine our lives, to evaluate our deeds, and to reconsider our words, those things that tell the world what we are, who we are, and how we are. Those things that reveal the stores of goodness in our hearts or allow the evils we harbor there spill forth.
The gospel antiphon gives us all the instruction we need: "Shine like lights in the world as you hold on to the word of life."
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One of the most surprising places I've visited was Saigon. I was permitted to stop in Vietnam on the way home from tertianship in Australia. I'd planned ten days in Saigon before heading off to Taipei. Had I known I would have stayed longer in Saigon and less in Taipei as I'd been there several times and was more interested in spending time with my buddy Ignatius than in touring.
The photos are of the Cathedral Basilica in Saigon. All of the building materials, including the bricks, were brought over from France. Because the bricks were not glazed they have remained brightly colored, which explains the nickname "The Red Cathedral."
In much of Asia there is no secrecy surrounding the bride's gown or big reveal at the processional. Bride and groom are photographed well before the wedding with the photos oftentimes on display at the reception a few weeks later. No one could pay me enough to be a wedding photographer.
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| There is a barrier at the back of the church preventing tourists with cameras from wandering about. |
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| Sculpture of the Blessed Mother in front of the Cathedral. |
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