People like to talk about other people. For some, it seems like their favorite hobby. Others act like it is their vocation! But we all do it to a certain extent. It is part of living in a society with others, in community with others. Human beings are relational creatures, so we need to live with others. But we need to realize that our words have the potential to harm those relationships, and we need to be especially wary of the sin of Gossip.
Gossip is when we relate personal or sensitive facts about another to a person who really has no business knowing them. And even if what we say is quite true, if we gossip we sin against the eighth commandment, not to bear false witness against our neighbor. And we also contribute to sin if we listen to gossip and take it to heart.
Consider the following excerpts from the Catechism.
"Truthfulness keeps to the just mean between what ought to be expressed and what ought to be kept secret: it entails honesty and discretion..." (2469)
"Repect for the reputation of persons forbids every attitude and word likely to cause them unjust injury..." (2477)
"To avoid rash judgment, everyone should be careful to interpret insofar as possible his neighbor's thoughts, words, and deeds in a favorable way..." (2478)
"Detraction and calumny destroy the reputation and honor of one's neighbor. Honor is the social witness given to human dignity, and everyone enjoys a natural right to the honor of his name and reputation and to respect. Thus, detraction and calumny offend against the virtues of justice and charity." (2479)
"Boasting or bragging is an offense against truth. So is irony aimed at disparaging someone by maliciously caricaturing some aspect of his behavior." (2481)
And of course lying is the most fundamental offense against the truth. "It is a profanation of speech, whereas the purpose of speech is to communicate known truth to others. The deliberate intention of leading a neighbor into error by saying things contrary to the truth constitutes a failure in justice and charity." (2485)
Sadly, many good people violate one or more of the above precepts on a daily basis, and brush aside the injustice as "mere gossip." But a "mere" sin is a sin nonetheless, and a violation of justice and charity.
Please think on these words from the Catechism the next time you are tempted to share that "juicy gossip," and ask yourself whether you are using your words to build up or break down your neighbor.
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Astonishing
10 hours ago
1 comments:
Wow, Matt, what a timely reminder for campus ministry! A lot of students seem to thrive on gossip — the juicier, the better. And of course this is just as true in many other kinds of communities — in most communities, in fact!
As Admiral Hyman G. Rickover said in a magazine article, "Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people."* Most of us would not like to be described (in gossip, particularly!) as having small minds. Certainly university is the best opportunity many people will have to discuss ideas on a daily basis and to develop a "great mind" for a life of deep thought and stimulating discussion.
Thank you for exhorting your students and other readers to consider the sin of gossip!
In answering a group of Pharisees who sought to charge his disciples with breaking religious tradition, our Lord said to the assembled crowd, "It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man." (Matthew 15:11).
When St. Peter later asked Jesus to explain the parable, He said, "Are you still lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated? But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man." (Matthew 15:16-20, New American Standard Bible)
Gossip (including evil thoughts, false witness, slanders, etc.) may seem like a minor infraction to many people, but Jesus listed it right there alongside murder and other "big" sins (as we often think of them)! One never knows what the ramifications of just a few words may be. So, think before speaking, and make it a policy not to originate or repeat gossip!
Kind regards,
Cyndi
*RE: Rickover and "Great minds..." — Wikipedia: Though Rickover quoted this, he did not claim to be the author of the statement. Using it in "The World of the Uneducated" in The Saturday Evening Post (28 November 1959), he prefaces it with "As the unknown sage puts it..." — It has sometimes been attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt, but without definite citation.
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