When You Do Not Know What to Say
There are mornings when we know exactly what we intend to say.
We rehearse the conversation while making coffee. We prepare the argument in the car. We imagine the question, formulate the answer, improve the answer, and then improve our improvement.
And then there are moments when words fail.
Today the Church remembers a man who eventually stood in just such a place. Saint Ignatius of Antioch was a bishop on his way to martyrdom, carried toward Rome under guard. Yet today’s Gospel contains one of Christ’s strangest instructions for anyone facing an ordeal:
Do not prepare the speech.
The Holy Ghost will teach you what must be said.
That is not an invitation to laziness. It is an invitation to something considerably more difficult.
Trust.
Opening Verse
Lord, open my lips.
And my mouth shall declare thy praise.
Invitatory
Antiphon: The Lord is the King of martyrs: come, let us adore him.
Psalm 94 (95)
Come let us praise the Lord with joy:
let us joyfully sing to God our saviour.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving;
and make a joyful noise to him with psalms.
For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
For in his hand are all the ends of the earth:
and the heights of the mountains are his.
For the sea is his, and he made it:
and his hands formed the dry land.
Come let us adore and fall down:
and weep before the Lord that made us.
For he is the Lord our God:
and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.
Today if you shall hear his voice,
harden not your hearts:
As in the provocation, according to the day of temptation in the wilderness:
where your fathers tempted me, they proved me, and saw my works.
Forty years long was I offended with that generation,
and I said: These always err in heart.
And these men have not known my ways:
so I swore in my wrath that they shall not enter into my rest.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.
Antiphon: The Lord is the King of martyrs: come, let us adore him.
Psalmody
Psalm 91 (92)
Antiphon: It is good to give praise to the Lord, and to show forth his mercy in the morning.
It is good to give praise to the Lord:
and to sing to thy name, O most High.
To shew forth thy mercy in the morning,
and thy truth in the night:
Upon an instrument of ten strings, upon the psaltery:
with a canticle upon the harp.
For thou hast given me, O Lord, a delight in thy doings:
and in the works of thy hands I shall rejoice.
O Lord, how great are thy works!
thy thoughts are exceeding deep.
The senseless man shall not know:
nor will the fool understand these things.
When the wicked shall spring up as grass:
and all the workers of iniquity shall appear:
That they may perish for ever and ever:
but thou, O Lord, art most high for evermore.
For behold thy enemies, O Lord, for behold thy enemies shall perish:
and all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.
But my horn shall be exalted like that of the unicorn:
and my old age in plentiful mercy.
My eye also hath looked down upon my enemies:
and my ear shall hear of the downfall of the malignant that rise up against me.
The just shall flourish like the palm tree:
he shall grow up like the cedar of Libanus.
They that are planted in the house of the Lord
shall flourish in the courts of the house of our God.
They shall still increase in a fruitful old age:
and shall be well treated,
That they may shew, that the Lord our God is righteous,
and there is no iniquity in him.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.
Antiphon: It is good to give praise to the Lord, and to show forth his mercy in the morning.
Canticle — Ezechiel 36:24–28
Antiphon: I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you.
For I will take you from among the Gentiles,
and will gather you together out of all the countries,
and will bring you into your own land.
And I will pour upon you clean water,
and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness,
and I will cleanse you from all your idols.
And I will give you a new heart,
and put a new spirit within you:
And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh,
and will give you a heart of flesh.
And I will put my spirit in the midst of you:
and I will cause you to walk in my commandments,
and to keep my judgments, and do them.
And you shall dwell in the land which I gave to your fathers,
and you shall be my people,
and I will be your God.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.
Antiphon: I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you.
Psalm 8
Antiphon: O Lord our Lord, how admirable is thy name in the whole earth!
O Lord our Lord,
how admirable is thy name in the whole earth!
For thy magnificence is elevated
above the heavens.
Out of the mouth of infants and of sucklings thou hast perfected praise, because of thy enemies,
that thou mayst destroy the enemy and the avenger.
For I will behold thy heavens, the works of thy fingers:
the moon and the stars which thou hast founded.
What is man that thou art mindful of him?
or the son of man that thou visitest him?
Thou hast made him a little less than the angels,
thou hast crowned him with glory and honour:
And hast set him over the works of thy hands.
Thou hast subjected all things under his feet,
all sheep and oxen: moreover the beasts also of the fields.
The birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea,
that pass through the paths of the sea.
O Lord our Lord,
how admirable is thy name in all the earth!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.
Antiphon: O Lord our Lord, how admirable is thy name in the whole earth!
Short Reading
2 Corinthians 1:3–5
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.
Who comforteth us in all our tribulation; that we also may be able to comfort them who are in all distress, by the exhortation wherewith we also are exhorted by God.
For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us: so also by Christ doth our comfort abound.
Short Responsory
The Lord is my strength; I shall praise him.
In trial he does not abandon his servants.
The Lord is my strength; I shall praise him.
His Spirit remains with those who bear witness to his name.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
The Lord is my strength; I shall praise him.
Gospel of the Day
Luke 12:8–12
And I say to you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God.
But he that shall deny me before men, shall be denied before the angels of God.
And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but to him that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven.
And when they shall bring you into the synagogues, and to magistrates and powers, be not solicitous how or what you shall answer, or what you shall say;
For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what you must say.
Benedictus
Antiphon: Blessed are they who confess Christ before men; the Son of Man shall confess them before the angels of God.
The Canticle of Zachary — Luke 1:68–79
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel;
because he hath visited and wrought the redemption of his people:
And hath raised up an horn of salvation to us,
in the house of David his servant:
As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets,
who are from the beginning:
Salvation from our enemies,
and from the hand of all that hate us:
To perform mercy to our fathers,
and to remember his holy testament,
The oath, which he swore to Abraham our father,
that he would grant to us,
That being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
we may serve him without fear,
In holiness and justice before him,
all our days.
And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest:
for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways:
To give knowledge of salvation to his people,
unto the remission of their sins:
Through the bowels of the mercy of our God,
in which the Orient from on high hath visited us:
To enlighten them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death:
to direct our feet into the way of peace.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.
Antiphon: Blessed are they who confess Christ before men; the Son of Man shall confess them before the angels of God.
Intercessions
Christ promised his Spirit to those called to bear witness. Trusting not in our eloquence but in his grace, let us pray:
Lord, give us courage through thy Spirit.
For the Church throughout the world: that her bishops, priests, deacons, religious, and faithful may confess Christ with charity, clarity, and courage.
Lord, give us courage through thy Spirit.
For Christians who suffer persecution, imprisonment, ridicule, exile, or violence because of the faith: that Christ may strengthen them and the Holy Ghost give them the words they need.
Lord, give us courage through thy Spirit.
For those entrusted with authority in our nations and communities: that power may be governed by truth, justice, humility, and concern for the weak.
Lord, give us courage through thy Spirit.
For our work today: that we may do ordinary duties faithfully, speak truth without cruelty, admit our errors without pride, and resist the temptation to remain silent merely because speaking is uncomfortable.
Lord, give us courage through thy Spirit.
For our homes and families: that our words may heal rather than wound, and that we may have courage to say what ought to be said and wisdom to leave unsaid what ought not.
Lord, give us courage through thy Spirit.
For those facing illness, grief, loneliness, fear, or decisions for which they feel unprepared: that they may discover that God’s grace reaches the place where preparation ends.
Lord, give us courage through thy Spirit.
For the faithful departed, especially those who died bearing witness to Christ: that they may rejoice forever in the company of the saints.
Lord, give us courage through thy Spirit.
For ourselves: that when the hour comes in which we do not know what to say or what to do, we may remember that we were never promised mastery of every circumstance, but the presence of God within it.
Lord, give us courage through thy Spirit.
Our Father
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen.
Concluding Prayer
Almighty and eternal God,
who didst strengthen Saint Ignatius to confess Christ even unto death, kindle within us that same faithful love.
Give us courage without pride, conviction without bitterness, and confidence without presumption.
When we know what is right, strengthen us to do it; when we know what is true, strengthen us to speak it; and when we do not know what to say, teach us to trust the Holy Ghost whom thy Son promised would not abandon his servants in their hour of need.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Blessing
May the Lord bless us,
and keep us from all evil,
and bring us unto everlasting life.
Amen.
The Paradox of the Day
Christian courage does not mean knowing what to say; sometimes it means trusting God enough to open your mouth without knowing.
Chesterton for the Morning
“Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die.”
— G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, “The Paradoxes of Christianity”
A Chestertonian Meditation
When You Do Not Know What to Say
There is a peculiar kind of courage required by the telephone.
Not the telephone itself, of course. The instrument is innocent. It sits on the desk with the bland expression of an object that knows perfectly well it can ruin the next half-hour.
We have all known the call that must be made.
Perhaps we must tell someone bad news. Perhaps we must apologize. Perhaps we must ask a difficult question. Perhaps we must say no. Perhaps we must say yes. Perhaps we must finally say the thing we have spent three days finding increasingly ingenious ways not to say.
And so we rehearse.
Human beings are extraordinary playwrights when nobody is watching. We write both halves of the conversation. We supply the other person’s objections and then demolish them magnificently. By the time we pick up the telephone we have won six arguments that have never occurred.
Then the other person answers.
And says something entirely unexpected.
Our magnificent script becomes useless.
This small domestic comedy points toward something much larger in today’s Gospel.
Christ tells his disciples that they will be brought before synagogues, magistrates, and powers. This is not metaphorical inconvenience. He is warning them about genuine danger.
And then he gives astonishing advice.
Do not worry beforehand about the defense.
“The Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what you must say.”
It sounds almost irresponsible.
We are accustomed to admiring preparation. Usually we are right to admire it. The carpenter measures before cutting. The engineer calculates before building. The student studies before the examination. Prudence is a virtue, and Christianity has never required us to replace prudence with muddle.
But there comes a frontier beyond which preparation cannot travel.
There are things we cannot rehearse because we do not yet know the question.
There are crosses we cannot practice carrying because we have not yet seen them.
There are conversations whose decisive sentence will not come from our cleverness because cleverness is not what the moment requires.
Saint Ignatius of Antioch crossed that frontier.
He was not a man who despised life. That is precisely what makes the martyr interesting.
A martyr is not someone who discovers that life is worthless.
He is someone who discovers that life is so valuable that it cannot be separated from the truth that gives it value.
Chesterton saw this with unusual clarity. “Courage is almost a contradiction in terms,” he wrote. It is the desire to live somehow becoming a willingness to die.
The coward clings to life at any price.
The nihilist throws life away because he thinks it has no price.
The Christian martyr does neither.
He loves life because God made it, and therefore refuses to purchase a few additional years of it by denying the God who made it.
This is why martyrdom is not a cult of death.
It is an extravagance of life.
Ignatius went toward death speaking almost feverishly of Christ, of unity, of the Church, of charity. The striking thing is not that he wanted to die. The striking thing is that he had found something he would not surrender merely in order to avoid dying.
Most of us will not be marched toward Rome under guard.
But almost all of us will eventually arrive at smaller versions of the same crossroads.
There will be a moment when honesty costs something.
There will be a moment when loyalty is inconvenient.
There will be a moment when keeping the peace means keeping silent about something that ought not remain silent.
There will also be moments when our great temptation is the opposite: to speak quickly, angrily, brilliantly, and disastrously.
And here today’s Gospel contains another surprise.
Christ does not merely promise courage.
He promises words.
“The Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what you must say.”
That means Christian witness is not simply a matter of becoming brave enough to say whatever happens to be in our heads.
Sometimes the first act of courage is shutting our mouths long enough for God to improve the contents.
We imagine courage as a trumpet blast. It may occasionally be a pause.
It may be the five seconds before answering.
It may be refusing the satisfying insult.
It may be saying, “I was wrong.”
It may be saying, “I forgive you.”
It may be saying, “No.”
It may be saying the name of Christ when we would much prefer to hide behind a cloud of respectable abstractions.
The world is full of words. We carry devices containing billions of them in our pockets. Everyone can publish an opinion before breakfast. Never has mankind possessed so many means of saying something.
It is less obvious that we have become better at knowing what should be said.
Perhaps this is why Christ’s promise seems so wonderfully contemporary.
He does not tell the disciples that they will always possess the perfect argument.
He promises the Spirit.
That is a much greater thing.
Arguments can be defeated. Cleverness can be outmaneuvered. Preparation can be overtaken by events. The speech carefully composed on Thursday may be useless by Saturday morning.
But God is already present on Saturday morning.
This is the hidden freedom of the Christian.
We need not possess tomorrow’s grace today.
That sounds obvious until we notice how much of our anxiety consists precisely in demanding it.
We want the courage for the illness before the diagnosis.
We want the words for the confrontation before it occurs.
We want the strength for the loss before anything has been taken from us.
We want to know how we shall carry a cross that has not yet arrived.
And God gives us instead today’s bread.
This day’s courage.
This hour’s grace.
The next faithful word.
Perhaps that is why the Church gives us Morning Prayer.
We do not begin the morning by asking God to explain the entire day.
We begin by praising him.
The sun has scarcely risen. The telephone has not rung. The difficult conversation may still be hours away. The news we fear may never arrive.
And before any of it happens, we say:
“O Lord our Lord, how admirable is thy name in the whole earth!”
That is not escapism.
It is orientation.
Before we know what the world will say to us today, we remember who God is.
Before we prepare our defense, we remember our Defender.
Before we manufacture tomorrow’s courage, we receive today’s grace.
Ignatius discovered that a man may be carried toward chains and nevertheless be free.
Chesterton discovered that courage itself is a paradox: life loved so fiercely that one becomes willing to lose it rather than betray what makes it worth loving.
And Christ tells us the secret beneath both.
When the hour comes, God will already be there.
So perhaps there is one conversation today that need not be rehearsed for the twentieth time.
Make the call.
Knock on the door.
Tell the truth.
Or, if wisdom requires it, remain quiet for another moment.
You do not need every word for the road ahead.
You need the grace for the next one.
And when that word is required, ask the Holy Ghost for it.
Then speak.
May the Holy Ghost give us today the courage to speak when we should speak, the wisdom to be silent when we should be silent, and the faith to trust that God will be waiting in every hour before we arrive there.
Chesterton Radio