203rd Meditation
“Lord, mount a guard over my mouth, a guard at the door of my lips” (Ps 141:3).
How different everything would be if every person would say this wise prayer and act according to it! How much suffering would be avoided and how much progress would be made in the spiritual life!
“Thoughtless words can wound like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing” (Prov 12:18).
Unfortunately this is the case, and these words of Scripture exhort us to watch over our speech, because it pleases the Lord when words of wisdom come out of our mouths, words that edify and serve others. The way we speak is also of great importance for our own life.
“For who among you delights in life, longs for time to enjoy prosperity? Guard your tongue from evil, your lips from any breath of deceit” (1 Pet 3:10).
The Apostle James also makes us see insistently that many evils come from our tongue and that we are therefore called to control it:
“We all trip up in many ways. Someone who does not trip up in speech has reached perfection and is able to keep the whole body on a tight rein (…). But nobody can tame the tongue – it is a pest that will not keep still, full of deadly poison (…). The blessing and curse come out of the same mouth. My brothers, this must be wrong – does any water supply give a flow of fresh water and salt water out of the same pipe?” (Jas 3:2,8,10-11).
We have heard the psalmist’s prayer to God to ask Him to guard his lips. Indeed, we need the Lord’s help to be able to bridle our tongue, so that it does not flare up with a wrong fire, so that it does not offend; but that it addresses people in God’s way.
How, then, can we place the guard at the door of our lips? It will be our Father who will grant it to us through His Holy Spirit, if we ask Him sincerely. Then it will be He who will examine our words (and even thoughts) in the light of love and truth. The more finely we perceive His presence, the more we will notice when we have not followed His instructions. At first, we will probably only notice when unpurified words have already come out of our mouths and caused harm. But then, over time, we will notice them as they begin to well up in our hearts. By invoking the Holy Spirit we will be able to restrain them, and eventually God will purify our heart so that the poison of improper words will no longer come out of it.