July 30, 2025

Fr. John Riccardo

Brothers and sisters: If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.

Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry. Stop lying to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed, for knowledge, in the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all and in all (Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11).

Missing verses, God’s anger, and how we talk. These are the three things that strike me as I pray with Paul’s words to us this week.

First, missing verses. As you can see from the citation above, there are three verses that have been deleted by the people who compiled the Lectionary we hear at Mass. Of course, unless you’re following along with some sort of missal, like The Magnificat, you wouldn’t know this and so would be oblivious to the fact that Paul’s words to us have been edited. Think about that for a moment: God’s Word has been edited.

Here are the missing verses: “On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.”

For the life of me, I can’t understand why the editors of the Lectionary have chosen to omit these. Paul wrote them for a reason, and from even a cursory glance at the news, not to mention an honest examination of our consciences, his exhortation is still very much needed today. Paul is telling us, no, the Holy Spirit is telling us through Paul, that though these behaviors used to make up our way of life, as disciples of Jesus we are to live this way no longer.

Furthermore, the Spirit reveals that these things stir up God’s anger or wrath. God’s anger can be confusing for many of us; it hardly seems compatible with His revealing Himself to be a loving Father. We need to ask the question, then, “Why does God get angry?” Is He like us, every once in a while flying off the handle when we don’t do what He says? Hardly. A lightbulb went on for me long ago when someone explained that God hates sin for one reason, and one reason only: because it’s harmful, either to me, to others, or to both. In other words, God’s teaching on morality is not something arbitrary. He doesn’t just come up with laws and tell us to obey them to restrict our freedom, as if He’s some sort of celestial killjoy. To the contrary, God created us for freedom, for happiness, and for abundant life. Morality has to do with careful thinking, and if we use our minds we should be able to understand the reasons why certain choices are either healthy or harmful. Unfortunately, though, we live in a time when there doesn’t seem to be a lot of careful thinking going on.

Finally, this reading urges us to reflect in particular on how we speak (or tweet, text, or post). Anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk have to do with how we communicate. Paul’s words call to mind a story about St. Philip Neri. A woman came to him in confession one day and confessed various sins of speech against others like the ones Paul mentions. As a penance, Philip asked her to go to one of the markets in Rome, buy a live chicken, and walk from the market to one of the city gates about a mile away, plucking the feathers off the chicken as she walked. Once she reached the gate she was to retrace her steps and pick up all the feathers she had plucked. “Father,” the woman objected, “that’s impossible. I’ll never be able to pick them all up.” “Exactly,” he said. “And you’ll never be able to undo the words you have spoken.” Ouch.

Our speech can be immensely damaging to others, and in our modern society we are exposed almost constantly to harsh, slanderous, malicious, and obscene speech. As disciples of Jesus, the way we talk and write is supposed to stand out, to be different, to be noticed by not sounding like the world at large. In doing so, we can help the world become more genuinely human..

Paul’s friend and contemporary, James, writes perhaps the strongest words in Scripture with regards to how we speak. “Every kind of beast and bird, reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so” (James 3:7-10).

Jesus tells us we will have to answer for every careless word we speak (cf. Matthew 12:36). Let us, then, ask the Holy Spirit this week to put a governor on our speaking, texting and however else we communicate. Let us ask Him to help us leave behind that old way of living. And let us ask Him to use us to elevate the discourse in the lives of those around us.

Taming Our Tongues

Sitting Down To a Feast