Justin Appel

Dear Friends,

In the writings of the desert fathers and mothers, one story involves a hermit who frequently heard the local shepherds using foul language.

When asked why the hermit did not speak out against this, he claimed that the language was a small thing, and that if he could not endure it, he would not be able to deal with a “serious temptation.”

The hermit felt that his duty was to learn endurance by keeping silence.

In this vein, a modern priest who served as a prison chaplain would similarly remain silent when the inmates would use foul language around him. Eventually, some of the men would ask him how to stop using foul language.

In return, this priest would instruct the inmates, when the temptation arose, to make the sign of the Cross over their mouths and to “ask Jesus to be the Lord of your mouth.”

I find these stories deeply encouraging, because it begins to show how through prayer, intention, and God’s grace, one can begin to learn to control one’s tongue—that part of the body that James speaks so grimly about: “And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity.”

This priest went on to suggest that the prayer would need to be repeated often. Change does not always come quickly, it seems, or without much concerted effort in prayer and reflection—and much signing of the holy Cross over our bodies.

And if the tongue can be tamed, what else can silence, prayer, and the Cross accomplish in our lives?

Yours in Christ,

—Justin