Choose a topic from Part 2B:
1. Reviling is the open and loud dishonoring of a person.Backbiting is the secret and quiet injuring of a man's goodname. Thus these two sins have a resemblance to two sins that dealwith external goods, namely robbery, which is open and violent, andtheft, which is secret and quiet. If the backbiting is lying, itsname is calumny or slander; if it is harmfultruth, its name is detraction.
2. Backbiting is a sin, and when it is done with fullknowledge and consent and in serious matters, it is a mortal sin.Slight things said about another do not seriously injure hischaracter, and may be venial sins.
3. Backbiting is a great evil, but it is not the mostserious evil against one's neighbor. It is, for instance, lessgrievous than adultery or murder. Rut, in its genus orkind, backbiting is more grievous than theft, which it resembles.For Scripture says (Prov. 22:1): "A good name is better thangreat riches."
4. St. Jerome says (Ep. ad Nepot.): "Takecare not to have an itching tongue, nor tingling ears; neitherdetract others, nor listen to backbiters." He who willinglylistens to backbiting, shares its guilt.
"The supreme perfection of man in this life is to be so united to God that all his soul with all its faculties and powers are so gathered into the Lord God that he becomes one spirit with him, and remembers nothing except God, is aware of and recognises nothing but God, but with all his desires unified by the joy of love, he rests contentedly in the enjoyment of his Maker alone."
St Albert the Great
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"The one thing necessary which Jesus spoke of to Martha and Mary consists in hearing the word of God and living by it."
R. Garrigou-Lagrange, OP
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"It is better to be burdened and in company with the strong than to be unburdened and with the weak. When you are burdened you are close to God, your strength, who abides with the afflicted. When you are relieved of the burden you are close to yourself, your own weakness; for virtue and strength of soul grow and are confirmed in the trials of patience."
St John of the Cross, OCD - Doctor of the Church
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