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It is a joy for mothers and fathers to watch their young children begin to mouth their first syllables and words. In fact, parents not only watch and listen eagerly, they actively participate in helping their children learn and begin to speak. “Say Momma! Say Dada!”
They invite them to imitate them and give them the words to say. Beautifully, often the first words parents teach their children are profoundly relational and full of affection: mom, dad, momma, dada. And once they do speak them, parents smother their children with affection and words of praise, and invite them to do it again!
This is so instructive in light of what Jesus says in the Gospel today. He says, “from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.” Or, another translation says, “out of the abundance of the heart” (Lk 6:45b).
Parents speak words of relationship to their children and invite them to speak those same words of relationship back because they have an overflowing heart. They love their children, and they love being in relationship with them. “Momma!” And the mother’s heart cries, “That’s me! And I love that that’s me! I want you to know who I am in relation to you!”
This is often how we begin speaking, but it is not always how we continue speaking as we develop. As we grow and mature, we learn and speak many different words. If we are honest, sometimes what comes out of our mouths is anything but words of communion and relationship, anything but good. Perhaps we are a mixed bag: We say some good things and some bad things, some words that build up and others that tear down, some that heal and some that harm and hurt, some that are humble and others that are vain and proud, and so on.
All of us speak thousands of words a day. We speak to ourselves, we speak with others, and, if we pray, we speak with God. In light of what Jesus says in the Gospel, this week is an opportunity for us to examine our words and our hearts.
What kinds of words are you speaking to and about yourself? Are you harsh toward yourself? Are you mean and disrespectful toward yourself? Are you loving toward yourself in your speech?
What kind of words are you speaking to or about others, especially those closest to you — your spouse, your children, your parents and siblings, your co-workers and supervisors, your neighbors, those on social media?
And what kind of words are you speaking to God? Are you speaking with God?
Jesus invites us to not live on the surface, but to go deeper and ask, “What are my words revealing about my heart, where my heart is, and what is in my heart?” We very likely began life receiving our first words and speaking our first words full of love, full of relationship, but we don’t always continue that way. What if you and I this week, in the light of God, looked at our hearts and our words and asked, “What do they reveal?” And no matter what they reveal, what if like a little child, we cried out to God, “Father! Dad!” Would God not delight you speaking such a word? Would he not say, “That’s Me! And I love that that’s Me! Say it again!”
Father Wittnebel is parochial vicar of St. Ambrose in Woodbury.
Sunday, Feb. 27
Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
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