Spiritual Thought: January 7th

The following comes from Sirach 23:7-20.

Sir 23:7  Hear, O ye children, the discipline of the mouth, and he that will keep it shall not perish by his lips, nor be brought to fall into most wicked works.
Sir 23:8  A sinner is caught in his own vanity, and the proud and the evil speakers shall fall thereby.
Sir 23:9  Let not thy mouth be accustomed to swearing: for in it there are many falls.
Sir 23:10  And let not the naming of God be usual in thy mouth, and meddle not with the names of saints, for thou shalt not escape free from them.
Sir 23:11  For as a servant daily put to the scrutiny, is never without a welt: so every one that sweareth, and nameth, shall not be wholly pure from sin.
Sir 23:12  A man that sweareth much, shall be filled with iniquity, and a scourge shall not depart from his house.
Sir 23:13  And if he make it void, his sin shall be upon him, and if he dissemble it, he offendeth double:
Sir 23:14  And if he swear in vain, he shall not be justified: for his house shall be filled with his punishment.
Sir 23:15  There is also another speech opposite to death, let it not be found in the inheritance of Jacob.
Sir 23:16  For from the merciful all these things shall be taken away, and they shall not wallow in sins.
Sir 23:17  Let not thy mouth be accustomed to indiscreet speech: for therein is the word of sin.
Sir 23:18  Remember thy father and thy mother, for thou sittest in the midst of great men:
Sir 23:19  Lest God forget thee in their sight, and thou, by thy daily custom be infatuated and suffer reproach: and wish that thou hadst not been born, and curse the day of thy nativity.
Sir 23:20  The man that is accustomed to opprobrious words, will never be corrected all the days of his life.