Choose to speak the good...

The wishes we make to one another for the new year speak of our desire to make the other happy. When we say kind words, we make the good come out of us and this is a strength for continuing to move forwards! God speaks too, and he only speaks the good, words that give encouragement to our lives. This is what we call a “blessing,” speaking the good. This is a huge responsibility as, if we don’t speak the good often enough, it doesn’t appear.

When we say bad things, that’s called ‘slander’ or ‘cursing’. Presenting things in a false or bad way, defamation and slander are crimes because they take away someone’s happiness at existing, their drive to exist. Each human being, no matter what they have done, needs us to restore their honour, in other words, their goodness within, the place where they find the strength to express themselves, to build and encourage. We are responsible for this encouragement.

When I hear all the belittling and accusations on the radio or television, all the doubts and mistrust, it causes a climate of discouragement to emerge. Negative words often escape from our lips, words which make people ill. Sometimes we tend to see something wrong and we state it or highlight it exaggeratedly. Of course, we must denounce evil....but only to make good appear. Those who denounce injustices are doing good, yet where we are concerned we should consider choosing to speak the good...

Speaking the good is about making a smile appear, showing gratefulness, it really is an encouragement to keep existing. Throughout history, God has only blessed. My wish for you is that you decide to do this too, choose to speak the good. The more I advance in my life, the more I see the importance of this decision we can take within ourselves.

We know that our God wins and that he will continue to win because he always speaks the good, he speaks the good before everything else. During the Apocalypse, Saint John has an image: he shows us four horses who decide the events of history and the one who leads is the white horse. The one carrying the white knight, who has a bow without arrows. He is the One who carries the blessing, of “speaking the good.” He is followed by the red horse, war; by the black horse, economic injustice; by the pale yellow horse, the plague. The question asked is: “Do we believe that Good will win?” In certain situations in our lives, there is, deep within us a sort of anxiety and we wonder, “Will evil, illness and misery take the lead?” We ask ourselves who is going to win. In his vision, Saint John says: “It’s the white knight.” The other horses won’t be able to catch up because God goes to war by blessing.

Can we, in our lives, choose to speak only the good, to invest ourselves, to coat ourselves to see everything with a benevolence so that everyone is encouraged to move forwards, by making all things good and beautiful emerge as often as possible? It’s about seeing the good, seeing clearly and wanting to. When people are in desperate situations, where it seems we do not have to means to react or act, there is a blessing which can also become an apology. Instead of wanting to lock someone up for the evil they have done, we have - because of what God does within in us, it would be impossible without it - the capacity to give within ourselves, all the expanse of a welcome: “Your future is open within me.” When some situations or people seem unreachable, we can reach them from the inside with God who always speaks the good about everyone.

Starting already from within us, may this space exist where it is said: “The future is open.” This is what Christain de Chergé wrote when speaking of the person who might kill him one day: “I'll see you again my brother.”

Roger Robert
31st December 2010

French to English translation by Debbie Garrick and Cécile Simon