“Lord, give me grace to order my speech to Thy will, that no word fall from my lips without truth, discretion, and charity. Keep my tongue from all idle noise, from harshness and from guile, and let my mouth be a well of comfort to those that hear me. Make my heart clean, that my speech may be clean; for the tongue is servant to the heart. And as Thou hast taught me inwardly, so let my words show outwardly Thy light and Thy love, to the praise of Thy holy name.”
—Walter Hilton (c. 1340–1396), The Scale of Perfection, I.38
Source: Walter Hilton, The Scale of Perfection, ed. Evelyn Underhill (London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1923), 1:38.
Reflection: Where might my speech today become more aligned with the “truth, discretion, and charity” Hilton asks God to form within him?