You lived in obedience to your Father in working out our salvation in silence of heart. Let us then guard our hearts, let us guard our mouths.
May we receive from the Father a pure heart like David
“to build a temple for My name.” (I Kings 8:18)
Give us the fortitude of Soloman to,
“Keep our hearts in all diligence.” (Proverbs 4:23)
We cry out to You as Isaiah did,
“Woe is me, for I am undone, for I am a man of unclean lips.” (Isaiah 6:5)
In Your Divine Mercy, “Hedge thy possession about with thorns,
(Hosea 2:6) and bind up thy silver and gold, (Exodus 20:23) and make a door and a bar for thy mouth, (Nehemiah 7:3) and a yoke and a balance for thy words.” “The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me,
and His word was on my tongue.” (2 Samuel 23:2)
Amen
Francis Ambrose of Divine Mercy T
Yea, the Lord Himself in the Gospel worked out in silence the salvation of
men.45 David rightly therefore enjoined on himself not constant silence, but watchfulness.
10. Let us then guard our hearts, let us guard our mouths. Both have been written about. In this
place we are bidden to take heed to our mouth; in another place thou art told: “Keep thy heart with
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all diligence.”46 If David took heed, wilt thou not take heed? If Isaiah had unclean lips—who said:
“Woe is me, for I am undone, for I am a man, and have unclean lips”47
“Hedge thy possession about
with thorns, and bind up thy silver and gold, and make a door and a bar for thy mouth, and a yoke
and a balance for thy words”?48 Thy possession is thy mind, thy gold thy heart, thy silver thy speech:
“The words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in the fire.”
A good mind is also a good
possession. And, further, a pure inner life is a valuable possession. Hedge in, then, this possession
of thine, enclose it with thought, guard it with thorns, that is, with pious care, lest the fierce passions
of the flesh should rush upon it and lead it captive, lest strong emotions should assault it, and,
overstepping their bounds, carry off its vintage. Guard thy inner self. Do not neglect or contemn it
as though it were worthless, for it is a valuable possession; truly valuable indeed, for its fruit is not
perishable and only for a time, but is lasting and of use for eternal salvation. Cultivate, therefore,
thy possession, and let it be thy tilling ground.
