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Slander, in Tagalog is called “paninirang-puri.” The enemies of the Lord were not successful in defeating him using honest means. So instead of honest means, they used slander.
Slander is a very serious crime because it feeds on the insidious tendency among human beings to revel more in negative things rather than in things that uplift. It is much easier to listen to gossip than to good news. Therefore, when the enemies of the Lord started to slander Him, they were successful because they cast doubts on the integrity of the Lord Himself. Let us not be too certain we will be spared of the slander of others. Let us not be too certain we ourselves will not be slandering others.
Let us just take, for example, our topic of conversation over lunch or our topic of conversation at the office while we are idle. When we talk about people, we eventually slander them. When we talk maliciously about them, when we discuss murderous topics about them, that is one way of slander. My dear brothers and sisters, if we are wounded, we can be cured. News has wings and if our names are defiled, and we are dishonored, it would take gargantuan efforts to patch up the disfigurement of our reputation that has been implanted in the minds of people. The walls have ears and we cannot control the spread of slander that we have initiated.
Today at Mass, let us remember the people we have unknowingly destroyed because of our gossip, because of our slander. If we truly want to Christianize our subject matter for conversation, over lunch, over snacks, I suggest dear brothers and sisters, we talk, not about persons, but about issues. This way, we could avoid the temptation to destroy other people, even unconsciously. Let us offer this Mass as our reparation for our slanderous talks.
SLANDER AND MALICE
Ps 101:5
Jesus In My Heart
