WORDS, THE MIRROR OF THE HEART.
February 27, 2022
Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time – C.
“From the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks.” (Lk
6:45)
A Chinese proverb says: “Words are sounds of the heart.” And
a German proverb adds: “Words are like bees, they have honey and a sting.”
No one knows what hides in man's mind and heart. Science and
technology can try all the possibilities, even the psychologists through
hypnosis, but hardly can man's mind be read, not speaking even about the heart.
What lies inside us is made known only through our words. Rightly, we can say
that words are the mirror of the heart, the gateway to the mind. What we think,
what we feel, what we go through are only expressed through the words that flow
from our mouths. Without sign language and writings, it will always be hard to
know what a mute and deaf man thinks or feels. Words are very important. They
can say all about us. They also can betray us.
Today's readings come to reveal the power of our words and
language. In the first reading, Ben Sirach the wise man, tells us that words
are a means of a test. He ends by saying, “Praise no one before he speaks, for
it is then that people are tested.” For man's word reveal what he has in stock
in the deep of his mind and heart. The analogies used by the wise man are all
very expressive. “When a sieve is shaken, the husks appear; so do one’s faults
when one speaks.” When you shake a tree, it loses its dead leaves, a pot is put
in the furnace to show how strong it is, so too do the words say how one is
inside. Judge people not from what you think of them, but from what they say of
themselves and on their actions.
The Lord Jesus, in the Gospel, will say something similar.
"From the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks." Through a series
of short but pertinent pieces of advice, the Lord instructs us on the
consistency of life. He starts telling us that we must not be like blind
guiding another blind. As his disciples, we should take good care of learning
from him if we dream to one day become like him. Not eager to judge or condemn
others on our apprehensions and thoughts of them. We should not be eager to
notice others' faults, but rather, take care avoiding faults by ourselves.
Thus, his famous saying: “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye
but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own?”
Our judgments on others are oftentimes biased, and even
corrupted by our observations and hearsay about them. As Christians, in all we
do, we should aim at the good. See the good in others, not the negative. Judge
their words and actions, not your apprehensions...
In that sense, the Catechism comes right to exhort us. It
says, “To avoid rash judgment, everyone should be careful to interpret insofar
as possible his neighbor's thoughts, words, and deeds in a favorable way: Every
good Christian ought to be more ready to give a favorable interpretation to
another's statement than to condemn it. But if he cannot do so, let him ask how
the other understands it. and if the latter understands it badly, let the
former correct him with love. If that does not suffice, let the Christian try
all suitable ways to bring the other to a correct interpretation so that he may
be saved.” CCC 2478.
This Sunday's liturgy is a stern warning to you and me. If
we dream to be victorious of sin with Jesus, if we dream of the day of
Resurrection, we should behave like the Lord. We ought to avoid the corruption
of sin, be vested with incorruptible clothes of sound judgment and love and
compassion in everything. For, as says St. Paul, flesh and blood that are
destined to corruption cannot share the kingdom of God; nothing of us that is
to decay can reach imperishable life. Our words, if not rooted in Christ lead
to our destruction. As Christ-followers, every one of us should “be firm,
steadfast, always fully devoted to the work of the Lord, knowing that in the
Lord your labor is not in vain.”
Beyond and besides all, our words… For, if a negative or
wrong, judgmental, critical attitude and word can be destructive of one’s own
self, this is even more destructive of others. With our judgmental words, instead
of encouraging others, we discourage them and take away from them any hope.
What most people need today are not criticism and pessimistic or downgrading
words, but rather an encouragement. Our world and our societies will be more
positive and productive, and happier ones, if we realize that what most people
need are positivity and words of compassion. So, let’s give everyone, what we
have the most important from our hearts, our love, rather than our negativism
and criticism. What you say of others is what you are deep inside yourself or
even more. If you see the splinter in others, it is because you have the log in
yourself. Your words are the mirror, the reflection of your heart. So, someone
rightly said: “The heart is a reservoir and the mouth a faucet. When the faucet
is turned on, whatever is in the reservoir comes out.”
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