to prepare for this reflection, it is very helpful to first read James 3: 1-12
"The subject of this Letter of James is the grandeur and power of words. Words have force. They can whip a crowd into a frenzy or turn a mob into a congregation. They can win elections and destroy careers. Words can comfort, heal, disturb, incite and wound. Words can be seeds of discontent, suspicion and ill-will. Words, or the "tongue" as James describes it, are the seed we scatter in our world. Inevitably, they bring forward a harvest. A person can do more financial harm and personal injury to another by words strategically placed than by any physical assault. No idle piece of gossip is really harmless; no lie is completely white; kind words are not totally forgotten. Once uttered, words cannot be retrieved. Our language and conversation are ways we express what we are and what we love to others. Words can crucify Christ or transport His love to others."
Take some time to pray over how responsible, how careful you are with the words that you use in life! Do they bring life to others, build up another, edify people or individuals; or do they cause ill-will or unrest or harm?
(The reflection above is by Fr. S. Joseph Krempa, in Daily Homilies for Ordinary Time, Year II, p. 46)
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