| Actions speak louder than words |
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| Saint Anthony of Padua |
The
man who is filled with the Holy Spirit speaks in different languages.
These different languages are different ways of witnessing to Christ,
such as humility, poverty, patience and obedience; we speak in those
languages when we reveal in ourselves these virtues to others. Actions
speak louder than words; let your words teach and your actions speak. We
are full of words but empty of actions, and therefore are cursed by the
Lord, since he himself cursed the fig tree when he found no fruit but
only leaves. Gregory says: “A law is laid upon the preacher to practice
what he preaches.” It is useless for a man to flaunt his knowledge of
the law if he undermines its teaching by his actions.
But the apostles spoke as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech.
Happy the man whose words issue from the Holy Spirit and not from
himself! For some men speak as their own character dictates, but steal
the words of others and present them as their own and claim the credit
for them. The Lord refers to such men and others like them in Jeremiah: So,
then, I have a quarrel with the prophets that steal my words from each
other. I have a quarrel with the prophets, says the Lord, who have only
to move their tongues to utter oracles. I have a quarrel with the
prophets who make prophecies out of lying dreams, who recount them and
lead my people astray with their lies and their pretensions. I certainly
never sent them or commissioned them, and they serve no good purpose
for this people, says the Lord.
We should speak, then, as the Holy Spirit gives us the
gift of speech. Our humble and sincere request to the Spirit for
ourselves should be that we may bring the day of Pentecost to fulfillment, insofar as he infuses us with his grace, by using our bodily
senses in a perfect manner and by keeping the commandments. Likewise we
shall request that we may be filled with a keen sense of sorrow and
with fiery tongues for confessing the faith, so that our deserved reward
may be to stand in the blazing splendour of the saints and to look upon
the triune God.
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