Your Words Reflect Your Heart
Homily for the Eighth Sunday of the Year – 2 March 2025
Apparently, when we are just chatting, we usually speak at a rate of 110 to 130 words per minute. On average, a person speaks up to 20,000 words a day. Given these figures, the average person speaks about 12 years of their life talking. This means our spoken words could fill a 40-page book each day. Over the span of one year, the average person’s words would fill 120 books, each containing at least 400 pages.
Given the amount of speaking we do each day, the words of Sirach and Jesus in the Gospel take on greater significance. We need to ask ourselves: What am I saying each day with my 20,000 words? And perhaps more importantly, what are my words saying about me? Jesus says that our words flow out of what fills our hearts. So, what am I disclosing when I speak? What is revealed about my heart through my words?
We might ask whether our words calm, soothe, heal, and encourage, or do they wound and berate? What does this reveal about our hearts? Do our words encourage, enlarge, and edify others, or do they dampen their hopes, belittle them, and tear them down? What do my words reveal about my heart when I explode in anger at the slightest provocation? Perhaps, as Jesus suggests, we are quick to point out the speck in another’s eye but miss the plank in our own.
One of the greatest misuses of our words is gossip, or even simply being part of gossip by listening. What does gossip reveal about our inner lives? The Jewish Talmud says: “The gossiping tongue kills three: the victim of the gossip, the gossiper, and the one who listens to the gossiper.”
John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, was so convinced about the harmfulness of gossip that he and a group of fellow Methodists signed a covenant against it. Their articles of agreement can serve as a powerful guide for our own lives. The articles are as follows:
We will not listen to or willingly inquire after ill concerning others.
If we do hear any ill, we will not believe it.
We will not communicate what we have heard in any way.
There are no exceptions to these rules.
One of the most common themes in the teaching of Pope Francis, especially when he speaks off the cuff, is the destructiveness of gossip.
This Sunday, we are reminded that our words flow from our hearts and reflect our character. As Jesus says, "No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit." We will be known by our fruit. The kind of tree we are will be expressed in our words and actions. As we listen to these readings, we are meant to consider the quality of our words and actions. What kind of fruit are we producing?
The first reading comes from a collection of proverbs in the book of Sirach, also called the Wisdom of Jesus ben Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus (not to be confused with Ecclesiastes). These proverbs focus on integrity and how our words and actions reveal who we truly are.
The author uses three vivid images to teach us about integrity: a sieve, a kiln, and the fruit of a tree. All three tell us that the sincerity of our faith is disclosed by the way we conduct ourselves in daily life. A sieve is used in baking to remove impurities from flour. Like a sieve, our words and actions sift what is inside us and reveal both the good and the bad.
A kiln is used to fire pottery or melt metals. Our words and actions are like the heat of a kiln, which melts away pretensions and falsity. Most of all, our words and actions are like the fruit of a tree. People will know what kind of person we are on the inside by the fruit they see on the outside. The words of a person are a window through which others can see and know their heart. This is the message of the first reading and the last part of today’s Gospel. Sirach says that the defects of a person appear in their talk, and that the test of a person is their conversation. Jesus, in the Gospel, says that a person’s words flow out of what fills their heart. A good person draws what is good from the store of goodness in their heart; a bad person draws what is bad from the store of badness.
Perhaps the simplest message is: We must remember to think before we speak. Our words not only reveal our inner lives but also have a powerful influence on what our hearts are like. We can form and change our hearts through the careful choice of words.
We can also say that the old saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me,” is wrong. Our words are powerful, for good or for harm. As we read in the Letter to the Ephesians, “Let no evil word cross your lips; let your words be for the improvement of others, and do good to your listeners.”
Our words during prayer are also powerful. Blessings are made of words, and they bring about good.
Our best model for human living is Jesus himself. As we read through the Gospels, we can note how Jesus’ words and actions disclose the heart of God. It is a heart that inspires awe. Jesus calls us, his followers, to make our characters and hearts like his. As disciples, fully taught, we will be like Jesus, our teacher. Using the analogy of good fruit growing on good trees, Jesus teaches that if you want to know what kind of person someone is, look at their conduct. Look at the words they choose. What we say and do is a direct reflection of what is in our hearts. We can pray the traditional prayer: “O Sacred Heart of Jesus, make my heart like yours.”
Pope St. John XXIII, the smiling pope, is famous for saying: “Listen to everything, forget much, correct a little.” He admired St. Bernard, who said: “Do not believe everything you hear; do not judge everything you see; do not do everything you can; do not give everything you have; do not say everything you know. Pray, read, withdraw, be silent, be at peace.”
