In today's Gospel lesson Jesus is teaching the disciples the difference between the words that we speak verses the things that we eat. There was a law back in Biblical times you could not eat with "defiled" hands. This is not too far from where we are today with the mandate to wash our hands often and use hand sanitizer, etc.
When we say mean, hurtful, angry words (and I would add when we text or email them) it is like pounding a nail into a wooden fence post. You cannot change what has been said, you can certainly seek forgiveness and apologize. But even though you can take the nail out of the post, the hole is still there.
God calls us to use words to build up one another and to encourage. We must watch what we say, as my mother taught, and to use words to uplift, help, assist, bring comfort and help another.
