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Silence Is Golden |
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| Recommended readings: Path Through Scripture by Fr. Mark Link (Paperback 1995--$14.50), Understanding the Bible: A Basic Introduction to Biblical Interpretation, Fr. George T. Montague, S.M.,(Paperback 1997 $15.96) An Introduction to New Testament Christology by Fr. Raymond E. Brown. Time magazine hailed Raymond Brown as "the leading U.S. Catholic authority on the Bible." In this accessible work written for all Bible students, Brown presents an intelligible introduction to the way Jesus was understood in His lifetime and in the lifetimes of His original followers. | ||
| With
the return of evangelical Christianity to the public arena, we hear all sorts of people,
from presidential candidates to talk show hosts, blessing others in the name of God.
Sometimes the whole phrase is used: "God bless you." At other times it is shortened to
"God bless!" But everyone from rock singers to professional athletes, from
politicians to beauty pageant contestants, lately seem to be passing out God's blessings
as casually as saying "goodbye." And that is the problem with this outburst of
religious benedictions. They insinuate a veneer of piety into social discourse that
carries none of the meaning or power of what such blessings are intended to convey.
The words "bless you" have become as empty and formal as the words
"I love you." When blessings are passed out indiscriminately and
habitually they are nothing more than empty social gestures. The author of the letter of James dealt with this same problem a long time ago. He wrote: "If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and no food for the day, and you say to them, ‘good bye and good luck, keep warm and be well fed,’ but do not meet their bodily needs, what good is that?" (Jas 2:14-24) The Bible does not discourage blessing others in the name of God. But those blessings are only meaningful if we are prepared to be the agents of those blessings. We can bless in the name of God if we are prepared to do what is necessary or to spend the money that is required to make that blessing come true. Otherwise our pious pronouncements of such blessings are a way of evading responsibility by leaving that other person's life in the hands of God to solve. It's time we tried blessing people through our actions rather than through our words. We should hold our tongue if our heart isn't in it. There was a time when you were about to say something rude or harsh, your mother might warn you to "hold your tongue." That injunction seems to have passed away like the horse and buggy or "running boards" on a car. We are the poorer for its loss. Not many of us give thought to holding our tongue. We take candor as a badge of honor these days. "Say what's on your mind!" "Speak your piece!" "Let it all hang out!" These are the mottoes of our day where freedom of speech has been lifted to a divine right and a human need. So we "blow off' people when we get angry because bottling up feelings is thought to be unhealthy.
Perhaps the worst example of this
unfettered candor is found in the afternoon talk shows where the world's sorriest and
seediest people unburden themselves of attitudes and actions that would make a sailor
blush. But the person who cannot control their tongue is always on the edge of being
out of control. That's what the author of the letter of James teaches. The tongue is
like the bit in a horse's mouth or the rudder on a ship. The whole body is steered by
something that small and whoever holds the reins or mans the tiller is in control.
If we can't control our tongue, then we have no real self-control.
The tongue works just like a horse's bit or a ship's rudder. Get
control of our tongue and we have control of our feelings and our actions. Marriages can
be saved and friendships restored if we just know when to shut up! Make this Jubilee Year
a time to introduce some restraint in our public discourse and some reserve in our private
conversation. There are times when silence is golden. |
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clicking on the blue type, you can read other articles in the March 1999 issue of The San Francisco Charismatics or return to the Main Menu of
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