Today’s Reading: Mark 7:21-23 Version=CEV
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+7%3A21-23&version=CEV

Calumnies! Calumnies!
We think that what we say about other people do not cause any harm. However, sometimes we speak falsehoods. There are very few people who do not cultivate the art of speaking false things. We remember small details here and there, but these do not represent the whole truth, and we end up speaking ill to the point of slandering our neighbor.

Someone once said that what comes out of man defiles man and listed a number of impurities: adultery, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, and slander. Slander ranks among the worst crimes, as it kills and destroys the credibility and the character of an individual.

I once read a short story in which a child said to another to stop speaking bad things about his own brother. The young one that acted that way replied: “What is this all about, badmouthing never hurt anyone!” To which the first child replied: “Yes it does hurt!” “Malicious words enter and settle in the stomach, where they become ulcers!”

Let your speech always be with grace is our recommendation, remove falsehood and ask God to fill your heart of love, so that you only use mercy when you speak of others.

Ildefonso Torres