CHOICES AND CONSEQUENCES

CHOICES AND CONSEQUENCES

 There is an old story about a person coming to a priest to confess telling a lie.  The priest tells him to gather up a basket of feathers, go to the center of the town, throw them up in the air, and then come back.  Having done this, the priest then tells him to go back and gather up all the feathers.  “That’s impossible,” the person responded; “They’re everywhere, and I can’t possibly recover them all.”  “And that is the way it is with the lie you told; you can never undo it.”

          The Letter of St James (some excerpts of which have been our 2^nd readings at weekend Masses lately) makes the same point: “…the tongue is a small member but has great pretensions.  Consider how small a fire can set a huge forest ablaze.   The tongue is also a fire.  It exists among our members as a world of malice…For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed by the human species, but no human being can tame the tongue.  It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison” (James 3:5b-6a, 7-8).

          Rumors can destroy people’s lives, most especially when they are unfounded (or worse, maliciously invented).  They can be spoken or written.  We have words to describe them:  libel, slander, defamation of character.  And they are virtually impossible to quelch.  

          What happens when a person or a family is the victim of malicious gossip?  The end result is typically suffering for the victims and the cover of “anonymity” for those spreading the rumors.  If we think that the “dark web” is a danger to our online security, we can describe rumor-mongering as another kind of “dark web,” and it can destroy a person (even if “accidentally”).

          We have (have had) a family from Our Savior victimized by gossip.  They are devastated by word circulating that the mother in the family was the person who accused me and had me charged.  I authoritatively and absolutely declare that this person was NOT who the rumor-mongers say, but the fact of the wagging of tongues has made it impossible for the family to remain in our parish, not knowing who (or how many other) folks have heard and believe (and perhaps are spreading) this lie.

          This is heart-breaking to me as I hold this family in great esteem.  In fact, we chatted after Mass this past weekend; would that have been probable or even possible if she had been my accuser?  I think not.

          For those of you who engaged in this rumor (whether by active spreading or by passive and perhaps eager listening), I suggest you examine your consciences to see what consequences your choices have imposed on this family.  I want to suggest that repentance would be a good place to begin.  “Loose lips sink ships,” the saying goes.  They also can destroy lives.  Please, please, please:  if you hear this kind of talk, step in and with my authority call a falsehood a falsehood.