Episode 40 -- Spiritual Combat c24 -- Governing One's Speech

How should I govern my speech?

St Benedict-Joseph Labre, who died on April 16, 1783, is the patron saint of mental illness and unmarried men. As we face a growing number of cases of anxiety and depression and confusion, he is a saint we must grow close to. He never joined a religious order (though he tried); he never got married; he even lived many years on the streets; but he became a saint.

We are all on a pilgrimage, a pilgrimage to heaven. Our Lady is with us, Fr Scupoli assures us. Last episode in the Spiritual Combat, we read about a devotion we can practice in memory of her sorrows at the foot of the Cross. We finished reading about how to govern our senses. We talked about the main focus of the spiritual life:

1. Focus on what is the will of God,
2. Recollection of and attention to God’s presence.
3. Struggle against our main inclinations to sin and practicing the contrary virtues.

Having talked about the training and regulating of our powers of understanding, will, the passions, and the senses, we turn in chapter 24 to governing the power of speech!

• How much should one talk?
• What tone?
• What topics?
• With whom?
• When to be silent?
• What advantages are there to governing one’s speech?