Divine Appeal Reflection - 202
Today, consider in Divine Appeal 202: "In convents, I receive terrible whips from the tongues and lips. Always your lips are still bloody after receiving Me in the Sacrament of My Love."
The most unsettling dimension of this Appeal is the possibility that a soul may receive Christ sacramentally yet, almost immediately, refuse to honour His presence in another human being. The lips have approached the altar and received the sacred species, while the heart has been entrusted with the mystery of divine self-giving; yet those same lips may soon become instruments of humiliation, slander, or contempt. The image of lips still bloodied after receiving the Sacrament of Love must be understood as a severe mystical image of this spiritual contradiction, not as a literal description of the Eucharist. It unveils a wound deeper than careless speech: the painful division between the Christ adored in the Blessed Sacrament and the neighbour whose dignity we refuse to respect (cf. Mt 5:21–24; Jas 3:9–10). The lips become a threshold between sacramental reception and lived conversion, for the mystery welcomed at the altar must gradually shape the words that emerge from our hearts and the relationships entrusted to our care (cf. Lk 6:45; Eph 4:29). Judas offers a sobering biblical parallel: although he lived close to Jesus and shared the company of the Twelve,(cf. Jn 12:4–6; 13:21–30) outward proximity did not prevent the corruption of his interior allegiance . His tragedy warns us that familiarity with sacred things is not the same as surrender to divine love . A religious sister may recite every liturgical response yet use private conversations to erode another sister’s reputation; a priest may preach human dignity while humiliating a seminarian; a parent may receive Holy Communion and later speak to a child as though failure had extinguished the child’s worth. Such contradictions reveal how easily religious practice can coexist with an interior life still resistant to grace . The mystery is not that divine grace lacks power, but that God does not compel the human heart to cooperate with it. The Eucharist draws us into communion with Christ and summons us to deeper unity with His Body, the Church, yet this gift must be received with a willingness to undergo continual conversion . The decisive question, therefore, is whether the Christ received upon our tongues is permitted to transform the hidden dispositions from which our words arise, until our speech becomes an instrument of truth, healing, reverence, and charity rather than a wound inflicted upon those He loves .
A second, more hidden wound emerges when speech becomes a refuge from the demanding labour of interior conversion. The soul may scrutinise another person’s weaknesses with extraordinary precision precisely because acknowledging its own resentment, vanity, or fear would require a more painful surrender before God (cf. Mt 7:3–5; Ps 139:23–24). The failings of a religious sister, a professional colleague, a spouse, or a fellow parishioner can become a convenient screen behind which the soul evades the painful examination of its own interior disorder, concealing the pride, resentment, and lack of charity that divine grace longs to expose and heal . In The Ladder of Divine Ascent, St John Climacus presents vigilance over speech as an essential discipline of the spiritual life, for the undisciplined tongue can scatter the recollection necessary for prayer, strengthen the illusion of personal superiority, and gradually estrange the heart from the silence in which God makes His voice discernible . This corruption may assume a particularly deceptive form within religious communities, where conversations that begin with an apparent concern for correction, discernment, or communal growth slowly become channels for circulating personal grievances, dissecting reputations, and insinuating accusations that are never courageously brought into the light of truth . Thus, even language clothed in spiritual concern can become an instrument of division when it ceases to seek genuine conversion and instead invites others to participate in the quiet condemnation of an absent person . A person may know every disagreement within a convent while remaining unfamiliar with the envy quietly governing their own heart; another may repeatedly expose the failures of clergy yet neglect both prayer for their sanctification and constructive efforts towards genuine reform . Gehazi(cf. 2 Kgs 5:20–27) provides a sobering biblical example of someone serving close to a prophetic mission while allowing greed and deceit to corrupt his conduct . His proximity to Elisha did not preserve him from abusing the trust entrusted to him, just as familiarity with sacred persons and duties cannot, by itself, purify our intentions . The deeper mystical discipline is therefore to invite the Holy Spirit to examine the hidden motive beneath each sentence before it crosses our lips . Are we speaking to protect someone from harm, restore the truth, and correct wrongdoing with charity, or are we seeking the secret satisfaction of appearing righteous beside another person’s failure ? A workable solution is provided by St. Dorotheos of Gaza's teachings on humility and refraining from passing judgement on others: keep in mind our own reliance on divine compassion while still having the obligation to deal with damaging behaviour in an honest, patient, and truthful manner.
The Appeal further exposes a deeply painful possibility: a community may preserve an outward appearance of peace while its interior atmosphere becomes one of silent exclusion and spiritual oppression. Open disputes may be absent, yet certain members are quietly marginalised; no formal accusation is made, yet repeated insinuations gradually destroy another person’s credibility and sense of belonging . A sister may enter the recreation room only to discover that conversation abruptly ceases; a seminarian may find that a past mistake continues to define him despite sincere repentance and demonstrable growth; an employee in a Catholic institution may become the object of whispered suspicion without receiving a fair opportunity to explain the facts. Such conduct goes beyond discourtesy: when silence, insinuation, and exclusion are deliberately employed to diminish another person, they can become instruments of injustice that wound dignity and corrode communal charity . The account of Mephibosheth offers a revealing biblical parallel. Ziba presents David with a one-sided account of Mephibosheth’s conduct during Absalom’s rebellion, prompting a judgment before the full circumstances have been heard;(cf. 2 Sam 16:1–4; 19:24–30) when Mephibosheth later speaks, the situation proves considerably more complex than David’s initial understanding suggested . When someone is judged in their absence, incomplete information may become a false narrative, while essential facts remain unheard and the accused is deprived of a fair opportunity to respond . In religious communities, whispered suspicions can gradually harden into accepted judgments, wounding reputations before truth has been established . Christian charity therefore demands impartial listening, careful verification, prudent confidentiality, and a clear distinction between suspicion and proven wrongdoing . A community reflects Christ when it protects the absent, hears the accused fairly, and addresses genuine concerns without prejudice or retaliation . True peace is not the concealment of injustice beneath religious appearances, but the fruit of truth, justice, mercy, and genuine conversion .
Eucharistic charity should nurture communities where truth can be spoken without intimidation and the wounded can seek justice without fear of retaliation . When gossip or unjust exclusion has damaged someone’s reputation, conversion requires correcting falsehoods, acknowledging personal fault, and rebuilding trust through sustained integrity . Yet guarding the tongue must never become an excuse for concealing abuse or preserving a religious community’s image while vulnerable people continue to suffer . True Eucharistic reverence unites purity of speech with courageous protection of human dignity . One of the gravest distortions of this Appeal would be to instruct a victim of abuse to remain silent lest disclosure tarnish the reputation of a priest, religious sister, or Catholic institution. Christ does not demand the preservation of an outward image of holiness through the abandonment of the vulnerable; rather, He calls His followers to bring wrongdoing into the light and defend those exposed to harm . Nathan confronted King David with the truth of his grave sin, leading the king to acknowledge his guilt before God . Saint Óscar Romero embodied a similar courage, defending the oppressed and denouncing injustice despite the personal dangers accompanying his pastoral mission . Both witnesses remind us that authentic fidelity is not measured by silence before wrongdoing, but by the willingness to uphold God’s truth with courage, prudence, and love . His ministry reminds us that the Church’s concern for the wounded must extend beyond private compassion into the defence of those whose suffering is ignored or concealed . This witness challenges the assumption that protecting an institution’s reputation is more important than protecting the people entrusted to its care. His example illuminates the distinction between destructive accusation and responsible disclosure: an employee raising concerns about financial misconduct, or a child seeking protection after abuse is not betraying charity by speaking truthfully to those capable of intervening. Such speech must be prudent and proportionate, yet confidentiality must never become a sanctuary for wrongdoing . Christian correction seeks neither revenge nor public humiliation, but the protection of those at risk, the restoration of justice, and the conversion of the wrongdoer wherever possible . In the presence of Our Adorable Jesus, truly present in the Most Holy Eucharist, reverence must penetrate beyond gestures of worship into the moral integrity of our relationships . Therefore, Eucharistic souls must cultivate both the discretion that refuses needless exposure and the courage that refuses complicity, allowing truth to be spoken with justice, compassion, and fidelity to Christ .
The deepest reparation called for by this Appeal is the sanctification of the tongue, so that the instrument once used to diminish another’s dignity may become a vessel through which the mercy of Christ is made audible . Reparation goes beyond remorse for cruel speech; it requires repentance to bear fruit in the courageous restoration, wherever possible, of the dignity and reputation our words have injured . When we have circulated falsehood, we must correct it before those who received it; when mockery has become habitual, we must abandon the practice rather than hide behind an apology that leaves the underlying cruelty intact;(cf. Mt 5:23–24; Jas 5:16; Gal 6:1) and when our words have wounded a younger person’s discernment of a vocation, we may need to acknowledge the harm and restore the freedom to discern without manipulation or pressure . Here Eucharistic devotion becomes a spirituality of concrete conversion. After receiving Holy Communion, we can offer thanksgiving by refusing to participate in conversations that degrade the absent; before discussing another’s failings, we can examine whether our words are necessary, truthful, and directed towards a just and charitable purpose . Correction becomes truly Christian when it exposes wrongdoing without condemning the wrongdoer to a permanent identity shaped by failure, preserving the possibility that sincere repentance may lead to interior renewal, restored relationships, and deeper fidelity to God . Saint Maria Goretti’s witness reveals that human dignity, bestowed by God, cannot be erased by the cruelty of others . Her martyrdom must never be used to silence victims or demand unsafe reconciliation; authentic mercy upholds truth, protects the vulnerable, and respects the journey towards healing . Our Adorable Jesus, present in the Most Holy Eucharist, invites us to allow His light to expose hidden pride, purify our conscience, and lead us towards genuine conversion . Eucharistic reverence must therefore shape our daily relationships: a teacher must correct without humiliating, a supervisor must exercise authority without exploitation, and a family member must never weaponise another’s painful past . Our words can either deepen the wounds of injustice or become instruments of truth, protection, and restored dignity . As His grace purifies our hearts, our tongues must become instruments of truthful charity, merciful correction, and reconciliation that honours justice and human dignity, so that the One we adore beneath the Eucharistic species may also be recognised in the neighbour whose wounds require compassion and whose dignity demands respect .
Prayer
Our Adorable Jesus, purify our lips, humble our hearts, and heal those wounded by our words . Grant us courage to expose wrongdoing truthfully, wisdom to reject gossip, and humility to repair the harm we cause . May every Holy Communion deepen our reverence for Your Eucharistic Presence and awaken us to recognise Your image in every human person . Amen.
Sr. Anna Ali of the Most Holy Eucharist, intercede for us.