Is it time to check your heart? Jordan Jones, SJ, reflects on how our speech reflects what is in our heart. Based on the readings from the Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
How’s your heart?
Hi, I’m Jordan Jones, and this is my one-minute reflection.
The readings today offer clues to identify how we’re doing on the inside. In the first reading we hear that the work of the potter is tested in the furnace. In the Gospel we get the image of the good tree bearing good fruit while the rotten tree does not. Jesus tells us that one of the best indicators of how we’re doing on the inside is our spoken word. “From the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.”
What do we spend most of our time talking about? What’s our motive? How do we convey it? Being attentive to what we say and how we say it gives us a strong sign of what’s in our hearts.
Jesus concludes with a warning to take the wooden block out of our own eyes before trying to remove the speck from another’s. Getting our own hearts right, by listening to our speech, is enough work for each of us.