preserve a relationship with others. Words can be instructive or destructive, uplifting, forgiving, encouraging, and the list goes on and on. Some of us utter words before we think and perhapslater regret these words. Harmful words hurt people and may cause scars for many years. A good goal for each of us is to think before we speak and consider the effect of our words.
St. John in opening his Gospel, tells us that "the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us..."(Jn.1:14).Jesus is the Word of God uttered in our midst. At the Ascension, Jesus tells us to wait for the gift of the Holy Spirit, who he will send us. The Feast of Pentecost celebrates this gift of the Holy Spirit, who inspired the Gospel writers with the words about our salvation. Do we relish these sacred words and put them into practice in our lives?Sr. Barbara Woeste, OSB
Dear Sister, thank you for reminding me of this truth. How good the Gospel is at cutting away unnecessary words and supplying enough to make the message strong. In these years my understanding of the Bible, looking at original languages, has deepened very much and I now know how wonderfully it is written. A few words can save us. I remember once feeling bitter about a group of people and I met someone who told me something about them I had never thought before and it changed my whole attitude -- it was a chance meeting and I never met her again but the word of truth made a great difference to my life. She told me some good news about them; my head had been filled with bad news. We must not spread bad news! Constructive words of peace and healing: to build the ability to love. God bless OSB amen Happy Pentecost!
ReplyDeleteWords are really powerful as it can hurt or save a person. I agree that harmful words do hurt people and may cause scars for many years. I use to be rude to my mum when I was young and now I would like to reciprocate her. I believe by having some cleaning services such as carpet cleaning, can ease her work on housekeeping. But most importantly is I will spend more time with her during my leisure time.
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