After my regular lectio divina on the lectionary readings
for the coming Sunday and my Psalm prayers, I have been reading through the
Apocrypha for my general education. I am up to Sirach 23. Sirach generally
seems like an overblown, moralistic, pietistic expansion on Proverbs. A lot of
“common sense” from someone who wants to live an upright life before God who is
urging others to do the same. Rather frequently I cringe at a kind of
disparaging of the weak and poor and marginalized that I think would have
raised the hackles of the Hebrew Prophets, and certainly Jesus. Recognizing
this, today I was encountered a juxtaposition that speaks to me and our
present time.
Psalm 141:2 “Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch
over the door of my lips.”
Sirach 22:27 “Who will set a guard over my mouth, and an
effective seal upon my life, so that I may not fall because of them, and my
tongue may not destroy me?”
This returned me yet again to a conversation I had with
Henri Nouwen in 1992 about losing my temper with our then 7 year old son Erik
(who will be 34 on Friday). Jesus said, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”
(Matthew 12:34; Luke 6:45) Henri told me, “If you want to know what is in your
heart, listen to what you say when you speak before you think.” I have amended
that to include what I manage to stop myself from saying with even a bit of
thinking. Henri went on to say, “You cannot fix this by being more vigilant
about what you speak. You can only fix it by what you put into your heart and
store there. If you want to stop some of what you speak, you have to fill your
heart with other things that will crowd them out so when you speak before you
think, it will be the overflow of your intimacy with Jesus.”
I really do want to keep the focus on God’s reminder to me
about my own heart and words today. With all that is associated with the
internet and social media, I would suggest that what we post and tweet are also
windows into the contents of our hearts. So much of what I see from my friends
and from people in positions of power seems to suggest a lot of hearts
overflowing with anger and disrespect. Enough said.
