As soon as we hear of someone making a mistake, there’s an urge to tell other people about it. The degree with which we relish beginning a sentence with “Did you hear . . . . .?” shows how much some of us like to gossip.
Each time that we enjoy telling about what someone else has done wrong, we are publicly announcing that our soul is not as close to salvation as it might be. Guardian angel try to get a question through the clouds of vanity within: “Will you please start telling God about you’ve done wrong, rather than yakking to your neighbors about the mistakes that other people are making?”
Gossip makes salvation difficult. First, gossip keeps us focused on our neighbors’ tendencies to make mistakes.
Gossip makes salvation difficult in a second way: Our gossiping is concrete proof that we know right from wrong. Our gossip lets God know that we think we know right from wrong so well that we love to tell others about how well we know it. Therefore, at Judgment, we who gossip can’t use ignorance of wrongdoing as an excuse when it comes to what we, ourselves, done wrong.
Gossip makes salvation difficult in a third way: Gossip shows that we think we are capable of judging others. Only God can judge. Therefore, gossip swells our vanity to damnable proportions.
Gossip makes salvation difficult in a fourth way: Implicit in gossip is an underlying thought: “I am better than others because I know what they’ve done wrong.” Not only do we think we should do God’s work of judging, but also, that we are fit to do it.
As long as we gossip, we cannot sufficiently concentrate on making our own souls acceptable to God. Gossipers cannot bully or buy their way into His Kingdom, where humility is the coin of the Realm.
