Dad tried to
convince me to become a Presbyterian minister. Presbyterians had embraced
women’s ordination. My father could think of nothing that would make him
prouder than for one of his children to follow in his footsteps and become a Protestant
preacher. My sister was more interested in science and math than theology and
philosophy, so Dad targeted me.
I laughed, and
said, “No way. I see what you go through. Every parishioner is a critic. You
have as many bosses as you have members on the parish roster. And many of them
criticize you behind your back!”
It was sad, but
true.
I still don’t like
gossip, and as a Catholic convert, I am particularly uneasy when I hear someone
talking about a priest.
Old Testament
David would not be amused.
I remember sitting
on my grandma’s lap as she read the story of young David and King Saul from a
children’s Bible. When David stumbles upon King Saul in a cave, he knows this
is his one chance to end the deadly cat-and-mouse game that King Saul started.
But David merely cuts a square from Saul’s garment and walks away – to prove to
Saul that David is his trusted servant.
“I will not raise
my hand to God’s anointed one.” It was David’s motto, and it should be ours as
well.
Most of us would
walk away from revenge. But how often do we use our tongues as a weapon? A
weapon against a family member. A colleague. And even one’s own priest.
Words are
powerful. They kill friendships and wound marriages. They turn neighbors into
enemies. They can make a person resign or stop going home for the holidays.
But I think the
greatest damage the tongue can do is in a parish.
When I was about
five years old, I learned a song in Bible school. “Oh be careful little mouth
what you say. For the Father up above is looking down in love. So be careful
little mouth what you say.”
It is a lesson I
need to learn.
As much as I hate
gossip, I find it difficult to walk away when others dabble in it. All too
often, I have remained silent or even participated in the conversation when I
should have come to the defense of another. When two people gossip, the “weak
and defenseless one” is the one who is not even present to refute the
accusations. He is the one that I am charged with defending!
Father, forgive
me.
Sins such as these
affect the Body of Christ. Each one of us is made in the likeness of Christ.
Our fellow Catholics have been anointed
with Holy Chrism. And so, we are called to remember David’s motto. “I will not
raise my hand to God’s anointed one.”
Sometimes, that
means coming to the defense of the one who isn’t even present to make a
defense.
And sometimes, the
hand we must not raise is actually a mouth that should not speak.
In his homily at a
morning Mass on April 9, 2013, Pope Francis exhorted the faithful to remain
meek and refuse to speak ill of others. Meekness has “many enemies,” he said,
explaining that gossip is the first enemy of meekness. The Holy Father wants us
to put aside a gossiping tongue and a critical spirit. "When one prefers
gossiping, gossiping about another, it's like clobbering another . . . it is a
temptation of the Evil One," said Pope Francis.
If we are to be
one body in Christ, we must place a guard on our tongues. Father, silence our wayward tongues and make us truly one.
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