PARADOXICAL

The book of Ecclesiastes says there’s a time for everything. There’s a time when speaking up is a witty thing to do. There’s a time when it’s brazen. There’s a time when it’s best to keep one’s mouth shut. There’s a time when silence means cowardice. There’s a time when wrathful words are so right.

I was zealously citing to someone a Biblical passage exhorting the faithful to use their mouths only in praise of God and all good things, never to curse or gossip or destroy reputations when that person gave this knee-jerk reaction: ““To hell with it!”

I felt royally offended. It’s a blasphemy because it’s the Lord Himself whom she has assaulted, speaking through St. Paul in the Bible (through his letter to the Philippians). I merely quoted the Bible, but the commandment is issued from on high.

The blasphemy reverberates, resonates. Sins committed by the tongue are hard or even impossible to correct, making them hardly forgivable. It’s because one can never take back the words the wind has carried to all the four directions. One can only recant or retract but the damage has been done irreversibly. This kind of sin, therefore, can only expect divine retribution. People who love to gossip, especially, are doomed to suffer a seemingly unending series of punishments for their irresponsible tongues, until they get the point and repent accordingly.

In prayer, I took it upon myself to do a little reparation. I am sinful myself but I felt how much the Lord was hurt. It was my chance to please my God and I was not going to let it pass. So I uttered praises to God in place of the blasphemy I just heard. My only regret is I wasn’t bold enough to tell my enemy terrible transgression. I just kept quiet. Maybe he got the message, maybe not.

Most of us take it for granted that we hurt the Lord when we utter or even think of negative things against others. It should be the second golden rule: If you can’t say anything good, shut up. If you don’t, you’d be investing a lot on your bad-karma list. In no time, you’d be reaping the exact same ills you have heaped upon other people. Be nice. You owe it to yourself to shut up. When it’s necessary to take a stand and speak up, that’s the time to put the gift of gab to good use. That’s the time not to clam up.

8.2001

posted by Resty Odon  # 7:14 PM