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“Guide my tongue, O Lord, and set a watch upon my lips, that my speech may neither wound nor deceive. Purify my heart, that my words may proceed in charity and truth. Grant that I may speak wisely, restraining every impulse that leads to idle or harmful talk. Let my mouth be an instrument of Your praise, my counsel a …

“To speak the truth is a good act, for it is a declaration of that which is in one’s mind.” —Thomas Aquinas, (1225 – 1274) Source: Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II–II, q.109, a.3. Reflection: Where might my speech today need to more faithfully reflect what is true both in my mind and before God?

  “Lord, give me prudence in dealing with my neighbor; keep me from unguarded speech. Let me not be moved by every word spoken, but grant that I may know how to hold my peace and speak only what is profitable. Make me faithful and sincere in all my words, and let my tongue be free from deceit. Strengthen me …

“He who speaks truth is free, and he who lies is a slave.” —Girolamo Savonarola (1452–1498) Source: Girolamo Savonarola, Prediche sopra Amos e Zaccaria (Florence, 1496), 112. Reflection: Where does untruth subtly bind my speech, and what would freedom look like in those places?

“O Lord, govern my tongue, that I speak not but that which is good, godly, and wholesome. Let no filthy communication proceed out of my mouth, but such as may edify my neighbor in all godliness. Make my words profitable, seasoned with grace, and acceptable unto all men, that I may stop the mouths of the ungodly and glorify thy …

“Let your words be few, but well placed.” — Hugh Latimer (c. 1487 – 1555), Sermons on the Card (1529), English Reformation preacher, known for his plain, piercing sermons on integrity and Christian witness Source: Latimer, Hugh. Sermons on the Card and Other Discourses. Edited by Edward Arber. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1869, p. 25. Reflection: Where might I need …

“O Lord, take from me the spirit of pride and vain speech; give me instead the spirit of humility and truth, that I may speak what is right before Thee. Set a watch upon my lips, that no word may escape me that wounds my brother or leads my own heart astray. Grant that my tongue may be an instrument …

“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 …

“A truthful tongue is the mind’s clearest mirror.” –John Wycliffe (c. 1330–1384) Source: John Wycliffe, Of the Seven Deadly Sins, in Select English Works of John Wyclif, ed. Thomas Arnold (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1869), 1:52. Reflection: How does my speech today serve or obscure the inner truthfulness that Wycliffe calls “the mind’s clearest mirror”?