Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish

FR MICHAEL BIBLICAL IMAGERY

(Fr Michael Boakye Yeboah: Vice Rector of St Gregory Seminary, Kumasi-Ghana)

SPEAKING

            “Praise no one before he speaks, for it is then that people are tested.” These are the closing words of the author to the first reading. They are really wordings of wisdom. There is a popular adage that goes: “do not judge a book by its cover but by its content.” Many of us have been fooled in the past by graphic designs of some book covers, only for us to buy them to realize that it has been waste of money. I have a couple of them in my library and I have decided not to throw them away so that I will learn from those mistakes and tell a story to others about how I judged foolishly the quality of a book by its cover designs.

            In the same vein, we have met some people in life whose first appearances attracted us to them. Many are the people we have met who look gentlemanly only for them to speak and you cannot reconcile their words with their looks. Shakespeare was right in his book “Macbeth” when he said: “there is no act to find the mind’s construction in the face.” If one uses a person’s looks to define the content of his character he will make a big mistake. You either take it from me or life will teach you a bitter lesson.

            When one re-reads the words in the first reading, he will realize that a real experienced elder was speaking. He makes his points clear when he states: “When a sieve is shaken, the husks appear, so do one’s faults when one speaks…the fruit of a tree shows the care it has had; so too does one’s speech disclose the bent of one’s mind. Praise no one before he speaks, for it is then that people are tested.” The words we conceive and come out of our mouths can make or unmake us.

            If one is to reconcile his speech with his personality, then there is a call for discipline and formation. I will suggest four steps here: the mind; the heart; the nerves; and the tongue. Firstly, before any one speaks, he should be mindful of the conception of his words. As Christians, it is not every word that should come to mind, let alone come out of one’s mouth. We should allow the Holy Spirit a place in our minds so that he will purify our thoughts. There should not be room in a Christian mind for profane, divisive, hatred, and harmful words. To avoid bringing out bad words, one should pass his words through the second stage; where the heart gets time to ponder and meditate on the words the mind has conceived. When we were young our parents always encouraged us to think about the words we want to speak before we utter them. When there are serious issues to be discussed, our elders advised us to sleep over our words for on the pillow, lies pondering and meditation. At times if a person had taken even ten seconds to ponder over some words he may had not brought those words out of his mouth. The third stage is equally important, that is the nerves stage. The whole nervous system helps one checkmate the body’s whole actions. That is why those who process their thoughts well are known to possess the nerves of steel. Self-control and discipline are needed at this stage. After one has utilize all the faculties in the three stages, then one can go to the fourth stage to speak and when he does speak, he is deemed a wise man who have thought deep on what to say. And if after passing through the stages, one deems it fit to remain silent, it is highly recommended because the book of proverbs states that when a fool learns to keep quiet he is considered a wise man (Proverbs 17:28). St Paul advises us ^“Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear” (cf. Eph. 4:29).

            If we speak well and behave accordingly, then we can be guides for others, or else we can be likened to blind guides Jesus speaks about in today’s Gospel. Spoken words give clues to one’s personality and I like to think that it was within a similar context that is why Jesus said: “A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruits. Please be mindful of what you say.