St. James says we must have a bridle on our tongue, or our religion is vain. We nullify whatever faith we have in Jesus Christ if we don’t guard our tongue. Also, the evils of the tongue also brings down evils on our own head as the Book of Proverbs points out. “He that hath no guard over his speech, shall meet with evils.” It also brings down a scourge on our home, our family, as the Scripture saith, ”A man that sweareth much, shall be filled with iniquity, and a scourge shall not depart from his house.” Did you catch that? A scourge even on his own home. He is bringing evils down upon his own wife and children. Let us see some examples of that.
One man in our own time used to cuss and swear, and take God’s Holy Name in vain, and his son was killed in a car wreck at only 16. Also, one morning, he flew into a rage, taking God’s Holy Name in vain, and before the morning was out, he ripped his hand and had to go to the doctor to get stitches. Another man in our era, did the same thing, often talking the Lord’s Name in vain. His daughter died at twelve. A scourge on the home? You be the judge.
What about these men? One was warned about taking the Lord’s Name in vain, and he didn’t seem to think it was a big deal. He later cut his leg with a chain saw. Another man was warned. He soon injured his shoulder and wasn’t able to work for several weeks. “He that would love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guild.” 1 Peter 3:10
God says he will punish the man who takes His Name in vain. He doesn’t say, ‘maybe.’ He says he will. “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for he shall not be unpunished that taketh his name upon a vain thing.” [Deuteronomy 5:11] What about this man? In the time of St. Joan of Arc, a rough soldier said about her: “So that’s the Maid, is it? Well, by God, let me have her for a night, and she won’t be a Maid any longer.” St. Joan heard him, stopped her horse and looked at him, and then said, “Why do you take God’s Name in vain when you have such a short time to live?” An hour later he slipped in the river and drowned. In the time of Fr. Paul of Moll, a man had the custom of swearing, and developed a canker in his mouth. He went to Father Paul for a cure, for Fr. Paul was known as a miracle worker. Fr. Paul told him, “You can be cured if you cease to blaspheme.” The man improved for a while, then he fell back into his former habit of swearing, and died! Sin has consequences, especially sins of the tongue when men curse constantly. It most definitely does come back upon them, even in this life. “He that sinneth in the sight of his maker, shall fall into the hands of the physician.” Ecclus. 38:15. That’s pretty plain ,isn’t it. Sin has consequences.
And what shall we make of the next two stories, who involve bad parents who gave up going to confession? Both of these again, involve Fr. Paul. Bad parents who neglect their duties bring down a scourge and curses on their families, just like the men of bad tongue. Let us see. One couple went to Fr. Paul and told him their children were all sick. Fr. Paul spoke to them and told them it was their fault. He said to the wife, “You haven’t been to confession for 6 years,” and to the husband, “You have not been to confession for 7 years.” The next couple went to him and complained that their children had died. He told them it was their fault, because they had not fulfilled their religious duties. To the wife he said, “You have not been to confession for 14 years.” To the husband he said, “And you haven’t been to confession for 20 years.”
A warning to those who practice birth control. First of all, know that God killed Onan for practicing birth control, Genesis 38:10. Onan did not want to raise up seed by his brother’s wife, so he spilled his seed on the ground, and God killed him for it. What I have noticed over the years is couples who only had two or three children would eventually lose one of the children they did have when they got older. One couple only had three children. They lost their youngest son when he was a teenager. Another couple only had two. They lost their son in a car accident! Fr. Robert Brown once said, “Most Catholics couples are contracepting,” and the person asked him, “Why do you say that,Father?” and he replied, ”NO children.” Even in the movie Courageous, the man and his wife only have two children in 16 years. The boy is 15, the little girl is 9, and, the little girl gets killed in the movie. It’s ironic, even in the movie we see this! Parents who only have two children, unless one is sterile, which is not normally the case, they are contracepting. And since they didn’t want the children that God intended them to have, they wind up losing one of the children they do have. Protestants like to talk about the Catholics who have big families as being busy. Yes, perhaps, but busy doing what God commanded. But on the day of judgement at the end of the world, we will see that the protestants were actually busier because they had figured out a way to get around the problem of childbearing, so they were just basically coming together through lust. Fornication in marriage. In the Book of Tobias, Sara is married seven times to seven different men, and each one is killed on the night of the wedding because they had married her out of lust. drbo.org. But Tobias the son is preserved through the good counsel of Raphael the angel, and marries her for the right reason, and is blessed by God. St. John Vianney once told a woman who came to him expecting another child, and he encouraged her and told her that God knew He could count on her to fulfill her duties, and that, on the day of judgement, she would see many women condemned to hell for not giving to the world all the children they were supposed to . As the Scripture saith, ” Yet she shall be saved through childbearing; if she continue in faith, and love, and sanctification, with sobriety. ” 1 Timothy 2:15. A woman shall be saved through childbearing. ” “Marriage honourable in all, and the bed undefiled. For fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” [Hebrews 13:4]
You may want to view this next meditation to put ourselves in mind of the day of judgement, and what we can expect. Very sobering! https://motherofgodlibrary.org/2019/09/14/see-you-on-the-day-of-judgement/