People of faith know the power of words. Speak the truth, compassion and blessings

The Epistle of James in the New Testament compares the human tongue to a flame that can set whole forests ablaze with its immense, wild power. Animals can be tamed, but the tongue cannot.

The Epistle of James continues: “ ... but no one can tame the tongue — a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water?” (James 3:8-11).

The Epistle of James makes clear that our tongues can unleash great harm if we do not watch what we say. Words have immense power to heal and to hurt, and we are responsible either way. We can speak the truth, we can speak lies or we can remain silent. We are responsible for that choice, too.

The consequences for our speech are bigger than we might intend; hence why James compares the tongue to a fire that can set a forest on fire! Careless words can wound others even if we didn’t mean it, and baseless accusations build up and erode at truth and community.

The words may not start the inferno immediately, but they create enough fuel for the spark to ignite. Repeating a lie over and over creates an illusion in our heads that the lie is somehow true, and we close our hearts to any evidence to the contrary. With our language we can demonize and dehumanize our fellow human beings. With words we can fantasize vengeance and plot violence that is restrained only by lack of opportunity. That is the destructive power of language, even before words have been translated to action.

How much fire and poison can come from our human capacity for language! What, then, is the antidote to the poison? What can cool that fire?

We must use our words for truth, for compassion and for blessing.

First, we must strive to speak truth, not the lie masquerading as the truth because we wish it were so. And if we are to speak truth, we must listen for truth by being wise readers and listeners. If our hearts are eager for truth, not conspiracy and lies, then our words will reflect truth.

Second, we must strive to speak with compassion. In a world of incredible inequalities in wealth and power, of violence and lies, of such sadness, loneliness and pain, why would we choose to make it worse? Why would we not choose compassion to lift up someone else? Why would we not open our hearts to someone else’s pain to show them love? Even if we cannot speak compassionate words, we can at least cultivate a silence of compassion in our hearts.

Third, we must strive to use our language for blessing. Each person we meet is a sacred mystery, a child of God, someone who is beloved by God, no matter who they are or what they have done. As C.S. Lewis writes in “The Weight of Glory,” “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal … Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.”

We may not be able to say anything good about them, we might consider them our most bitter enemy, but we can bless them and ask God to bring them along pathways of truth and love.