A Chaplain’s Thoughts: Words and truth
By Rev. James F. Quigley, O.P. ’60, Associate Chaplain, National Alumni Association
Do words matter?
When you give someone your word, do you mean it? When you make a promise or take a vow, do you intend to keep it? When you say something, is it true or not? When you talk about another person, does it build up or tear down?
Human speech is a gift, a way to share love, thought, build community, create peace, escape isolation. Speech is an incredible gift from God that is easily taken for granted, unappreciated, abused. Bishop Daniel Flores from Brownsville, Texas, recently offered this thought: “Rhetorically, if you intentionally walk the crowd to the edge of cruelty, it is not true to say that you are in no way responsible for those who fall into the abyss. Our cultural debasement of words is only surpassed by our cultural disregard to human life.”
Nightly news, social media, and political campaigns have become increasingly characterized by character assassination. Terrible things are said of people that are hurtful, unfair, and often enough untrue. It is almost as though our culture is saturated with verbal abuse. This is even happening in some Catholic circles by those who feel free to malign those who think differently from them, including trashing Pope Francis.
Things are said about other persons that may be true but private, and not for public consumption. That is the sin of detraction. Or lies are shared with the world about an individual or their family, and that is the sin of calumny. Speech is a moral act, and there is responsibility for what is said.
Jesus has told us “I am the truth.” The motto of the Dominican Order is Veritas, or Truth. That is also the motto of Providence College. To be authentic, this College community has, must, and will live and speak the truth, even if it costs. That is a reasonable expectation, isn’t it? After all, the Friar family are women and men of truth, no?
