The Power of Words

The Book of Proverbs tells us that the tongue has the power of life and death (Prov. 18:21). In other words, words have tremendous power for good or for evil.

Do you have a childhood memory of someone saying something to you that was powerful for your good? I grew up in a difficult home, not as difficult as many people were raised in, but difficult nonetheless. I remember when I was in the third grade; I had a teacher who I loved. But she became pregnant and in those days when a teacher began to show, she had to leave school. I suppose the thought was that children would ask uncomfortable questions that the school was not prepared to answer. So pregnant teachers were quarantined from being around school children.

I was very sad on the day my teacher was due to leave. She said goodbye to everyone in the class. And then in front of everyone, she called me forward. She picked me up and sat me on her lap. She put her arms around me and whispered in my ear, "Richard, if I ever have a little boy, I hope he grows up to be just like you. I love you." And then she gave me a kiss.

Powerful words for good.

Do you remember someone saying something destructive to you? I was born with a birth defect. My left eye doesn't go left of center. There is something wrong with one of the muscles in my left eye. I remember when I was a child I got into a fight with another boy. He screamed at me and said, "You're nothing but a little cross-eyed monkey." Those words went through me like a spear.

Who hasn't known the power of words for good or evil in their lives? Who hasn't had someone make fun of something about them - your freckles, your hair, your race, your weight, your height, your name, your stutter, your intelligence?

At the turn of the century there was a little boy who lived in a small Croatian village named Josip Broz, who was helping a priest at mass. This little boy, Josip, accidentally dropped a cruet of wine. The cruet smashed to pieces. The village priest berated him screaming, "Leave the altar, you stupid boy, and don't come back." The boy never returned to church. He grew up to be Marshal Tito, the communist dictator of Yugoslavia, a dictator who for 40 years hated the church.

About the same time in St. Mary's Cathedral in Peoria, Illinois, an altar boy named Peter John was helping a priest with the mass. He, too, dropped a glass of wine and later he wrote, "There was no atomic explosion that could equal the intensity in decibels in noise and explosive force than a wine cruet falling on the marble floor in the presence of the Bishop. I was frightened to death." The Celebrant at Mass that morning was a Bishop named John Spalding. With a warm twinkle in his eye, Bishop Spalding whispered, "Son, one day you will be what I am!" The altar boy grew up to be Archbishop Fulton Sheen, who was probably the most beloved Catholic priest of the 20th century.

Words are a key to our relationships. We cannot function well as families or at our jobs without watching what comes out of our mouths. And we cannot develop well as the family of God, the church, without respecting the power of words.