Your language should be restrained, frank, sincere, candid, unaffected, and honest. Be on guard against equivocation, ambiguity, or dissimulation. While it is not always advisable to say everything that is true, it is never permissible to speak against the truth. Therefore, you must become accustomed never to tell a deliberate lie whether to excuse yourself or some other purposes, remembering that God is the ‘God of truth.’ If you happen to tell a lie inadvertently, correct it immediately by an explanation or by making amends. An honest explanation always has more grace and force to excuse us than a lie has…Lying, double-dealing and dissimulation are always signs of a weak, mean mind.
- St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life
How can we tell if our minds are in conformity with the mind of God? How can we tell if we live by the law of the Lord? Look – or rather, listen – no further than the words that we use when we speak to – and about - one another. - Michael S. Murray, OSFS
Good advice indeed.
ReplyDeleteDave
So, so true. Sometime else I've been thinking about lately is that we should never say something that would cause a person to lose respect for another. That has kept my mouth shut several times this week!
ReplyDelete