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Have you ever considered how a single careless word can spread beyond your control, wreaking havoc you never intended? The first Saturday of Lent invites us to examine one of our most common yet destructive spiritual ailments—sins of the tongue.

Drawing from Mark's Gospel, we reflect on how Jesus healed the sick with just the touch of his garment, prompting us to recognize our own spiritual infirmities. The meditation focuses particularly on our tendency toward gossip, detraction, and calumny—sins that might seem minor but cause irreparable damage. St. Philip Neri's brilliant illustration of this truth comes alive as we hear about the penitent told to pluck a chicken and then gather all the scattered feathers, an impossible task mirroring the irretrievable harm of our careless words.

What makes this reflection particularly powerful is its unexpected relevance to our digital lives. As I reflect on my own social media habits, I realize how platforms like Twitter have supercharged our ability to commit these sins, allowing us to instantly broadcast potentially harmful statements to thousands. The meditation's warning that "in every society, none are more to be feared than those who speak ill of their neighbor" takes on new urgency when we consider how digital gossip erodes the very trust our communities need to survive.

The five practical resolutions offered—from not involving ourselves in what doesn't concern us to avoiding all insulting words—provide a challenging Lenten practice for anyone seeking spiritual growth. Whether you're struggling with everyday gossip or finding yourself caught in cycles of online criticism, this meditation offers both the uncomfortable mirror of self-recognition and the hopeful path toward healing our speech.

Subscribe to join our Lenten journey as we continue tomorrow with reflections on prayer for the First Sunday of Lent, and share your own experiences of taming the tongue in our increasingly digital world.

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