12/11/2015 - Reflection for Friday of the 2nd week of Advent - Are our words sarcastic weapons or are they instruments of peace?

       I recently read an article someone had posted on Facebook entitled: 56 Ways to Be Merciful During the Jubilee Year of Mercy:  Practicing mercy in our lives actually does take practice.  It was a very practical article that have advice that we can employ on our journey of faith, especially during Advent and especially during the Year of Mercy.  The first piece of advice was to “resist sarcasm; it is the antithesis of mercy.”  How true is that?  You just have to go on Facebook or look at the texts and emails we receive to realize who sarcastic our modern world has become.  People do not realize how much words can damage.  As priest, I have had people attack me on Facebook who live in a different state and have not even met me, attacking me with some third-hand knowledge or complaints that they had heard about me, and then being unwilling to discuss the matter with me directly after they make some sarcastic or mean-spirited comments about me on the internet.  Word can be more damaging than a weapon, that is for sure.  Growing up in the Los Angeles area in junior high and high school after having moved there from the Midwest, believe me I can tell me stories of how I was bullied and had no where to turn for help or comfort. Some of the incidents I can remember like they happened yesterday.   Let us remember how damaging our words can be.   Let us make our words instruments of peace rather than weapons of despair.