“The tongue is a small member, but it does big things….I tremble to think that I have to give an account of my tongue. There is life, but there is also death in the tongue. Sometimes we kill with the tongue: we commit real murders. And we are still to regard that as a small thing? I truly do not understand such consciences. I have known a person who, when she learned from someone that a certain thing was being said about her, fell seriously ill. She lost a good deal of blood and shed many tears, and the outcome was very sad. It was not the sword that did all this, but the tongue. O my silent Jesus, have mercy on us!” Divine Mercy in my soul # 118-119
“So also, the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species,but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison” James 3:5-8
“death and life are in the power of the tongue” Proverbs 18:21
The power of voice (the tongue) is incredible. The tongue can curse and destroy, the tongue can breakdown and cause fear. The tongue has caused wars, see how Hitler used the power of his tongue – resulting in millions of deaths. We see the power of the tongue used in these manners today. You don’t have to go any further than the news media – Fox reports on a story, CNN skips the story and MSNBC speaks about the same story 180 degrees different. All the same truth but all in their own spin. The tongue in our politics is showing its power to destroy our Constitution and everything that has made America great. So many today use the tongue as a weapon of mass destruction.
But, that isn’t all the tongue can do. The power of the tongue can save and redeem a soul. The power of the tongue can call the dead to life. I’ve seen a woman who has a history of the tongue being used against her to break her down and demean. A father that spoke words the de-valued, boyfriends who spoke empty words of love to trick to his desires, a husband who demeaned and abused with his words. Make no mistake, this was a dead soul, locked in her own tomb. How words of God’s love and mercy called her from the tomb of despair and self-hatred to shed a light of His Divine Love upon her soul. A soul like this is like the prodigal, living in squalor because everyone around it says it has no value. The soul trudges in the pit with the pigs, nothing to feed it but garbage. But, let just one person speaks words of God’s affirming love and of His Divine Mercy – and the heart can feel itself beat again, the soul can see a glimmer of hope and light and from the darkness and oppression, hear the Shepherd’s voice. From death into life – that is the power God gave us for the use of our tongues as Christians.
I have felt this same transition in my life through Divine Mercy. I’ve never thought highly of myself, I know the things I’ve done, the sins I’ve committed, in my shyness I was locked in a cell. The devil used all these things to whisper into my ear that God could never really forgive me. Despite feeing refreshed through the Sacrament of Confession, I would always have a lingering doubt of the extent of God’s love and mercy, I ‘knew’ He wouldn’t truly forgive everything, I was due punishment. Then, that night came in February 2011, God stood before me and asked me to trust Him with my daughter’s life – in essence this was my Abraham/Isaac moment of truth. He asked Abraham to trust God with his son of promise – Abraham said yes. God asked me to trust my daughter to Him and in fear, I said no. From this bubbled up all the whispers of Satan’s lies to me. I tumbled headlong into a night of despair and darkness. Like Peter, I cried out, ‘what have I done!?!’ and the tongue of the enemy filled my soul with despair. But, Jesus called me from the tomb in November of that same year. In the Sacrament of Mercy, a holy priest opened himself, surrendering his tongue to allow Jesus to speak His words of love and mercy. And, in these words of absolution, I was called from the tomb. But, Jesus knew that wouldn’t be enough to draw me out, He had to insure that HIS voice was louder than all others, that HIS voice would be heard and I would find comfort through HIS voice in the promises of Divine Mercy. He did this by the priest telling me a story of his life and a tragedy he dealt with. He gave me his weapon against the voice of the enemy – the same weapon Jesus gives to us through the image of Divine Mercy. Trust – the priest gave me as penance to lie at night with the crucifix resting on my chest, repeating (with my tongue) these words of affirmation in Jesus’ love, “Jesus, I trust in You”
Jesus had painted on the image “Jesus, I trust in You” so that we could paint that signature upon our hearts. Take up this brush of Divine Mercy and use the tongue that the Father gave to you to paint this signature indelibly across your heart and soul. JESUS, I TRUST IN YOU