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Morning Devotion for the Season after Pentecost

October 24, 2022

Invitatory

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be alway acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

The mercy of the Lord is everlasting: O come, let us adore him.

Reading - Sirach 19:4-17

One who trusts others too quickly has a shallow mind,

and one who sins does wrong to himself.

One who rejoices in wickedness* will be condemned,*

but one who hates gossip has less evil.

Never repeat a conversation,

and you will lose nothing at all.

With friend or foe do not report it,

and unless it would be a sin for you, do not reveal it;

for someone may have heard you and watched you,

and in time will hate you.

Have you heard something? Let it die with you.

Be brave, it will not make you burst!

Having heard something, the fool suffers birth-pangs

like a woman in labour with a child.

Like an arrow stuck in a person’s thigh,

so is gossip inside a fool.

Question a friend; perhaps he did not do it;

or if he did, so that he may not do it again.

Question a neighbour; perhaps he did not say it;

or if he said it, so that he may not repeat it.

Question a friend, for often it is slander;

so do not believe everything you hear.

A person may make a slip without intending it.

Who has not sinned with his tongue?

Question your neighbour before you threaten him;

and let the law of the Most High take its course.*

Meditation - Winnie Smith

Preparing this meditation sent me down a rabbit hole. I was captivated by the concept of gossip. Sure, we all know what gossip is - it’s the whispering, the stories that begin, “you can’t tell anyone but,” the secrets that too often become rumors. But a few articles later, I am wondering why gossip must always have a bad connotation. In the New York Times Magazine, Kristen Radtke explains that gossip - while not necessarily moral or fair, sometimes not even true - can still serve a purpose. For Radtke, it helps her connect to people: “gossip persists as a way that I formulate my understanding of the world and my place in it” (“Letter of Recommendation: Gossip”). A TIME article went further, defending the merits of gossip and even pointing to its potential historical role in human survival: “Gossiping…gives humans the ability to spread valuable information to large social networks…‘Gossip in this broad sense plays a number of different roles in the maintenance of socially functional groups through time’” (The Science Behind Why People Gossip). Okay, that may have been the case centuries and millennia ago, but I’m less convinced that our hushed conversations today are furthering humanity’s existence. But still interesting food for thought.

Sirach, also known as Ecclesiasticus or the Wisdom of Jesus, has harsh words on the topic of gossip. We are told that those who trust quickly and listen to everything they hear are fools. That if we never repeat anything we hear, we won’t lose anything. Rather than share them, we are to die with secrets, because that is better than repeating them. And finally we are to confirm everything we are told - do not trust just the word, but verify it to ensure that you are being told the truth. This all makes sense, but in practice it is so difficult. When we hear something particularly salacious, we want to share it widely. We want to be the ones to deliver the big news, the interesting headline. Why is that? I think it is because we love to feel as though we are in control, as though we have the power. If we can be the ones to expose a secret, we somehow have the upper hand. That desire for power, for being the secret spiller, is the evil side of gossip.

Instead, if we look at gossip - not an inherently bad word - as just a form of information, disseminated when helpful and only when confirmed as true, then I don’t think there is much harm. When we can be sure that we are not sharing information for our own benefit or popularity, but to serve or help someone else, it can even be a good thing. But the words from Sirach are vital because they remind us that typically when we gossip, we are putting ourselves first and sharing information we hear merely for the sake of fun. That is wickedness, and we must combat it in ourselves and others.

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy Name,

thy kingdom come,

thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those

who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory

for ever and ever. Amen.