The word of the Gospels sometimes seems complicated. But, on other occasions, as happens this Sunday, it has a clear message.
Jesus was a pious Jew who loved the Law but took it to the ultimate consequences. That’s why he comes to say in the passage of this Sunday something that seems exaggerated to us: speaking badly of a brother is as serious as killing him: EVERYONE WHO ALLOWS HIMSELF TO BE LED BY ANGER AGAINST HIS BROTHER WILL BE PROCESSED. For Jesus, slander is a plant of the same garden as murder and falls under the same commandment: “you shall not kill.”
We know how to distinguish gravity between one thing and another. But the truth is, as we popularly say, words kill. Both realities have similar effects. With words, you can destroy a person, annul them, crucify them. Their weakness, their fault, is spread, and that stigma will always accompany them. Sometimes a rumor is invented about them that the networks take care to spread, and even if they later prove it was an error, the damage is done. That’s why we must be very careful about our way of speaking.
How can we keep railing against the destructive nature of slander from our Christian life?
· Never speak without respect: If respect is lost when speaking, respect is lost in life. Question, discern, criticize even, but always with respect.
· Don’t speak cruelly: Especially about those who are most defenseless, who are more fragile, who have no one to defend them.
· Don’t speak with lies: If you know something is a lie, don’t spread it. Let’s not invent rumors about others. It’s a very serious thing that causes enormous personal and social harm.
San Francisco has a fitting saying: “Blessed is he who loves and respects his brother as much when he is far from him as when he is with him, and does not speak ill of him behind his back what he would not dare say in his presence.” Backbiting is a consequence and reflection of bad thinking. Enough of laughing at those who speak ill of an absent brother. This should not be tolerated among Christians. And, by the way, the accusation of slander, in order to be forgiven, must be made not so much to a priest, but to the one who was slandered behind his back. Otherwise, we are in a fiction.
We should be recognized as Christians by our respectful and fraternal way of speaking in this time of so much verbal violence. If we speak like everyone else, what use is the Gospel to us?
Fidel Aizpurúa Donazar
(February 15, 2026)
English version translated with AI