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Wednesday, June 6, 2001

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St. Norbert


Tobit 3:1-11, 16
Psalm 25
Mark 12:18-27

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tongue lashing?

"It is better for me to die than to live, because I have heard insulting calumnies, and I am overwhelmed with grief. Lord, command me to be delivered from such anguish; let me go to the everlasting abode; Lord, refuse me not. For it is better for me to die than to endure so much misery in life, and to hear these insults!" —Tobit 3:6

Tobit was a prisoner-of-war, exile, fugitive, and blind man. But he could live with all that. What brought him to despair was an insult from his wife (Tb 3:6).

Sarah saw her seven husbands killed by a demon on the nights of her weddings. But she could live with that. However, when she was verbally attacked by one of her maids, she thought of hanging herself (Tb 3:8-10).

Sometimes the tongue is more deadly and destructive than a gun, knife, or even bomb. The tongue "exists among our members as a whole universe of malice. The tongue defiles the entire body. Its flames encircle our course from birth, and its fire is kindled by hell" (Jas 3:6). The tongue "is a restless evil, full of deadly poison" (Jas 3:8). "If a person is without fault in speech he is a man in the fullest sense, because he can control his entire body" (Jas 3:2).

The Holy Spirit came in fiery tongues at the first Christian Pentecost (Acts 2:3) and gave birth to the Church. May the fire of the Holy Spirit purify our tongues as soon as possible.

Prayer:   Father, when I receive Holy Communion, may the body and blood of Jesus consecrate my tongue.

Promise:  "When people rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage but live like angels in heaven." —Mk 12:25

Praise:  St. Norbert brought many back to faith in Jesus present as the Blessed Sacrament.

Nihil Obstat:  Reverend Robert L. Hagedorn, January 4, 2001


Imprimatur:  †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, January 24, 2001