8th Sunday in Ordinary Time - C 2025

Words are things of little cost,

Quickly spoken, quickly lost;
We forget them, but they stand
Witnesses at God's right hand,
And their testimony bear
For us, or against us, there.

This short poem from the English poet and hymn writer John George Fleet underscores the power of words.  Words may seem insignificant.  Over time we may forget the words we utter.  But they are not forgotten by God.  As Fleet reminds us, on judgment day they will testify for or against us.  Words have the power to build up or tear down, to heal or wound, to inspire or discourage.  As St. James reminds us, the tongue is like a rudder – it may be small, but it steers the course of our lives and relationships (cf. James 3).  Words matter and ought not to be taken lightly.

Our Lord tells us that “from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.”  In other words, our words will eventually reveal what is hidden in our minds and hearts.  This is reinforced in today’s first reading: “The fruit of a tree shows the care it has had; so too does one’s speech disclose the bent of one’s mind.”  What is in our minds and hearts will eventually spill out in our speech.

All of us know the power of words.  We have been hurt by them and have hurt others with them.  We have been encouraged by them and have lifted others up.  To be proper disciples we need to heed the words of St. Paul and “let no corrupting talk come out of [our] mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:29).

But if we desire good speech, we must pay attention to what we fill our minds and hearts with.  How much bitterness do we absorb from a corrupt media?  How often do we let the hostility of social media rile us up?  How much negativity do we consume and encourage through gossip and idle chatter with our acquaintances?  All of this is going to shape our hearts and minds.  In turn, it shapes our dispositions and attitudes, changing the way that we look at the world.  When we consume negativity, we become negative people.  And when we become negative people, we spread negativity through our words because “from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.”  Spreading negativity is unbecoming of those claiming to follow Jesus.

To be a faithful disciple of Jesus, we need to take great care in guarding our hearts and minds and filling them with good things.  Once again, we should heed the words of St. Paul when he says “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8).

Lent begins in a few days.  It is a season of fasting in imitation of Christ’s time in the desert.  But it is more than temporary deprivation of pleasures – it is a time for deeper repentance and renewal, rooting out of our lives anything that keeps us from being the people God calls us to be.  Lent is a time of heightened intensity in the work of repentance and conversion.  It is a time of attempting to work with the grace of God in renewing our minds and hearts.

If you are wondering what you can possibly do as an extra practice of devotion this Lent, perhaps you might consider depriving yourself of anything that might corrupt your mind and heart with negativity and discouragement.  Guard your heart and your mind from evil and fill them with what is holy and good.  Then these treasures that you store up will spill out in your words, encouraging and building up others.   Because “from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.”