Part 3, Chapter 29
The cat got my tongue. Wouldn’t that just be great!!! So often in my life I have started a conversation very innocently and all of a sudden it is into gossip, slander, detraction. It is so easy for us to fall into this problem. Than we say things that we shouldn’t and we get into some not at all Christian things. It happens, but it shouldn’t!!! And no the devil never made us to slander or to fall into any sin; we can only blame ourselves when we do wrong.
Slander is a part of society; people talk about people a good chunk of the time. Still in living the devout life, we can’t be involved in slandering people! St. Francis De Sales says it so well, “I entreat you never speak evil of any, either directly or indirectly” (Introduction to the Devout Life, 132). We should be like those monkeys who see no evil, hear no evil, nor speak no evil. So often we get involved in detraction of someone who is doing evil things and we place them into a category. “Do not pronounce a man to be a drunkard although you may have seen him drunk, or an adulterer, because you know he has sinned” (Introduction to the Devout Life, 133). It may be true, but does the person we are talking with need to know this bit of information, or are we trying to paint the person we are talking about in a bad light? These are good questions to ask ourselves.
There can be a thought that we can never talk about any evil someone is doing because we would be slandering the person. This is just not true, but there are some ways to go about it, and we should figure out if we are the ones to be involved in dealing with this. “If you would be justified in condemning a neighbor’s sin, you must be sure that it is necessary either for his good or that of others to do so” (Introduction to the Devout Life, 134). St. Francis De Sales is right on in saying it needs to be necessary. This is where discernment is needed. We should pray for God’s light into our hearts about what we should do. For example, a man who in the past has been convicted of grave crimes against children moves into the area, it would be healthy to let neighbors know, but we have to be aware that this situation could easily lead to slander. “Public, notorious sinners may be spoken of freely, provided always even then that a spirit of charity and compassion prevail, and that you do not speak of them with arrogance or presumption, or as though you took pleasure in the fall of others… it is true charity to point out the wolf wherever he creeps in among the flock” (Introduction to the Devout Life, 135). Thus there are times when talking about someone is okay, but it is a very easy path to slander, gossip and detraction from here. In order to avoid this, we must be praying when talking about someone who is is involved in evils things and then when done we should pray for all involved.
Truly if we are gossiping, detracting and slandering, we are wolves in sheep’s clothing!
