Lectio
“For he seeks not that a wall should be set on his lips, but a door: that is, what is opened and shut.”
— St. Gregory the Great, Pastoral Rule
Meditatio
The Lord shows us in His teaching that what comes out of our mouths, not what goes into them, is what defiles us, because our words come from the heart. This does not mean that what we take in, whether by our eyes, ears, or mouths, is unimportant — lust often begins with the eyes, gluttony with the appetite — but it does mean that our speech reveals the state of our hearts and either cooperates with or resists the grace that is sanctifying us.
And yet Jesus does not command us to keep our mouths shut. He does not tell us that the solution to sinful speech — rash judgment, detraction, or calumny — is to say nothing, ever. We are commanded, after all, to spread the Gospel. We are commanded to tell others the good news of the Incarnation, Crucifixion, and Resurrection, and to invite them into relationship with Jesus, the Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life, and through whom we are brought to the Father. Rather, as the Psalmist prays for a door at his lips, we are invited to treat our lips as a door, opened to truth and shut to sin, instead of a wall through which nothing may pass, including our evangelization.
Our lips, therefore, are rightly opened and closed only by the Spirit’s gift: by His grace we are given the discernment to let the truth of God’s love pass through them, and to close them when the sweetness of love is tainted by the bitterness of sin. Without the Spirit, we may utter words of truth stripped of love, and we will always slip back into our old ways. By His grace, however, our mouths become instruments and our words the notes of God’s beautiful Gospel song, tempered by His aperture of mercy to never express too much or too little, for all with ears to hear.
Oratio
Whispers Of Truth
Lord
let my words
be Yours
echoes of the Word
my lips a doorway
shut off to sin
through which love
may enter into the world
whispering truth and light
amid the noise
by Your grace
let it be so
amen
Contemplatio
Before any word forms, there is a silence it rises out of, and that silence is already full. You do not need to fill it or guard it. Let your lips fall quiet, and give your silent yes to the One who is already here.
Related Scripture
“Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.”
— Ephesians 4:29 (NRSVCE)
For Further Reading
If you enjoyed this post, you may also like No Eyes to See: Pseudo-Dionysius and the Silence Beyond Understanding (Lectio Divina), which follows the same movement from words into the silence beneath them, where speech gives way to rest in God.
Robert Van Valkenburgh
Grappling With Divinity.
Wrestling With God.
Returning To Love.
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