Friday, January 13, 2023

Words are a two-edge sword

The word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart. No creature is concealed from him, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account. [Hebrews, 4:12-13]

Words matter. What we say matters.

If you’re like me, you can remember words and phrases from your past, even from your earliest moments of awareness. They came to be in our awareness and now live on forever in our memory.

I remember words that made me smile and words that made me cry. I remember encouraging words and humiliating ones. I remember words that made me angry, that offended me, words that left me confused and speechless. I remember words that invited me to go beyond my personal best and prodded me to go beyond my comfort zone. I remember words of love and how these words made me feel. Yes, words are a two-edge sword.

Early on in our lives, we learn to use words to protect ourselves. We learn to use facile words, careless words. We may have even become accustomed to speaking falsehoods, thinking that our misstatements and lies can save us from the exposure of our true selves and innermost being. Falsehoods only lead to false security. Many of us have learned this lesson painfully.

How does the Word of God touch my life? How does God’s Word challenge me and call me to conversion? At what point will I become truly convinced that God’s Word is Truth, the kind of truth that will set me free? [John 8:31-32] God’s Word is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Most of us will agree that being true to our word can come at an awful price. To live a virtuous life will demand integrity, honesty and courage. We need courage to live trustworthy lives, for our yes to be yes and our no to be no [Matthew 5:33-37]. When we give our word, we give our very selves, a child of God.

And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us! [John 1:14] Today, at this moment, we are the Word of God in our world.

My dear Lord, thank You for calling us all to follow You without hesitation. Thank You for the joy of being Your disciple. Give me the grace to always know Your will for my life and help me to respond to You with total abandonment and trust. Jesus, I trust in You.

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"I demand from you deeds of mercy, which are to arise out of love for Me. You are to show mercy to your neighbors always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse or absolve yourself from it.

I am giving you three ways of exercising mercy toward your neighbor:
the first — by deed, the second — by word, the third — by prayer. In these three degrees is contained the fullness of mercy, and it is an unquestionable proof of love for Me. By this means a soul glorifies and pays reverence to My mercy.

Many souls ... are often worried because they do not have the material means with which to carry out an act of mercy. Yet spiritual mercy, which requires neither permissions nor storehouses, is much more meritorious and is within the grasp of every soul.

If a soul does not exercise mercy somehow or other, it will not obtain My mercy on the day of judgment. Oh, if only souls knew how to gather eternal treasure for themselves, they would not be judged, for they would forestall My judgment with their mercy".