Then Our Lord gets closer to the bone when he claims that one regular touchstone for our heart is the quality of our conversation. So we will run through a little checklist. After all, we are only telling the truth. The test of a man and a woman, according to the Old Testament book of Ecclesiasticus, is our conversation. There can be another mixed category too, where we cannot be sure that what we are retailing to others is true or false.
Malicious gossip can poison a society.
It is a pity that many times we do not feel as guilty about our calumnies and scandal spreading as we do about sexual weaknesses. It is a clerical weakness. Let me conclude with the old story of the person who often gossiped, but was honest enough to confess it. On one occasion the priest gave a strange penance. Despite the unusual nature of the penance, the penitent did as asked.