And the Lord, seeking his laborer
in the multitude to whom He thus cries out,
says again,
"Who is the one who will have life,
and desires to see good days" (Ps. 33:13)?
And if, hearing Him, you answer,
"I am the one,"
God says to you,
"If you will have true and everlasting life,
keep your tongue from evil
and your lips that they speak no guile.
Turn away from evil and do good;
seek after peace and pursue it" (Ps. 33:14-15).
And when you have done these things,
My eyes shall be upon you
and My ears open to your prayers;
and before you call upon Me,
I will say to you,
'Behold, here I am'" (Ps. 33:16; Is. 65:24; 58:9).

What can be sweeter to us, dear ones,
than this voice of the Lord inviting us?
Behold, in His loving kindness
the Lord shows us the way of life.

Today is an especially interesting reading, because it reminds me a bit of the calling of Isaiah, in Isaiah 6:8 "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’" Those are frightening terms, because God put Isaiah on a mission.

When Benedict asks us the questions and we answer yes, he says

"If you will have true and everlasting life,
keep your tongue from evil
and your lips that they speak no guile.
Turn away from evil and do good;
seek after peace and pursue it" (Ps. 33:14-15).

Right there is a challenge, "keep your tongue from evil." We would like think that as Christian's we do that automatically, yet our experience tells us it is not the case. It is not right to dwell upon the sins of our tongues only, without taking into account the rest of the reading.

And when you have done these things,
My eyes shall be upon you
and My ears open to your prayers;
and before you call upon Me,
I will say to you,
'Behold, here I am'" (Ps. 33:16; Is. 65:24; 58:9).

Perhaps there is nothing left for me to say about this section. After all, the final section is enough to make the entire journey, and all the effort, worth it.

What can be sweeter to us, dear ones,
than this voice of the Lord inviting us?
Behold, in His loving kindness
the Lord shows us the way of life.

We cannot pass over the "seek peace and pursue it" quite so easily. So, don't use your tongue and lips for guile, tricky talk to make someone else look stupid, or gossip, we must also pursue peace. The pursuit of peace is probably going to elude a person who sins with their mouth.

As Lay Cistercian's of Gethsemani we must take this reading to heart, and guard out lips, or peace will never be part of us. Peace is present among us, for the most part, I believe. The lesson here for us is
1. Watch your mouth.
2. Seek the peaceful solution
3. If you like that solution, don't gloat.
4. If you don't like that solution, don't gripe.

All is within the hands of God. Our job is to be peaceful people who less and less sin with their tongues. Remembering that Isaiah 6:6,7 reads

6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7The seraph* touched my mouth with it and said: ‘Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out