WATCH WHAT YOU SAY

"Whosoever privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off; him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer." (Psalm 101:5) 

Beware of a blabbing tongue and itching ears. Don't gossip about others or listen to gossips. "Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother, thou slanderest thine own mother's son", says the psalmist. 

Keep your tongue from frivolously expressing disapproval and watch over your words. Know this: when you judge others, you are sentencing yourself. For you are also yourself guilty of the things you accuse them of. An arrow never lodges itself in a stone; instead it often recoils on its shooter. 

Solomon says: "meddle not with them that are given to gossip for their calamity shall rise suddenly and who knoweth the destruction of them both?", that is, the person who knows the destruction of the gossip and of the person who listens to gossip. 

St. Jerome

(05-16-02)