“Lord, grant me the grace to speak as I ought, and to understand what I speak. May my tongue be guided by Your wisdom, and my mind illumined by Your light, so that I may not err in what I say, nor be deceived in what I hear. Let every word be a step toward truth, and every silence a reverence for mystery.”
— Johannes Scotus Eriugena (c. 815 – c. 877)
Source: Johannes Scotus Eriugena, Periphyseon (The Division of Nature), trans. I.P. Sheldon-Williams and John J. O’Meara (Montreal: Bellarmin; Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1987), 1:12.
Question for reflection: In what ways do I rely on my own understanding when I speak, and how might I invite God’s wisdom to shape both my words and my listening?