Fr. Gregory Pine

the world's big enough to accommodate more than one preacher.

The point of us being here isn't so that each of us could contend for being the best preacher.

And I think that when someone sees something in you and calls it forth, it has a way by which of ennobling you, of actually helping you to mature into your true identity and mission.

And so detraction is the sin where we speak about somebody behind his back and we...

say true things, but like kind of true things out of turn.

It's like, did you hear, you know, it's like this person doesn't need to know.

And all it does is undermine the individual's reputation unnecessarily.

So calumny or slander is when I say false things.

So I've stooped to such a degree that I'm willing to invent stuff just to

hurt this person in effect.

And then gossip, you know, like we use that to name a variety of things, but often enough gossip is fueled by a certain idle spirit.

So I think like when it comes to detraction and calumniation or calumny, it's often enough like we feel like we're in competition or we're in comparison as it were, and we're trying to get ahead.

Or we've been hurt and we're trying to hurt back.

Or it's like, maybe there's an in crowd and we want to be part of it.

And so we tender this information as whatever is necessary for admission.

You know, it's like, I've got the secrets, admit me to your company so I can share the secrets.

And it doesn't matter to us that other people are wounded thereby.

Whereas often enough, gossip is just like, we need to do something with our tongue.

And so we're completely content to...

trade in juicy morsels.