As was painfully obvious to those attending last Saturday's evening mass, one priest was having problems with his voice. He'd given the homily in a croak but looked as if praying the Eucharistic Prayer was going to be beyond him. Afterwards the other priest, of the older variety, suggested that perhaps they didn't make priests like they used to. Such cynicism apart, the absence of a healthy voice did force me into the recognition that much of what I say is often better left unsaid. If this is true for me then chances are it's probably true for you.

Most of us spend a significant amount of time each day doing nothing but exercising our vocal chords. Whether it's shouting at the driver in front, whispering the latest gossip or running up our parents' phone-bill, we're hard at work talking but do we need to do it quite so much? A lot of our daily conversational output might be better left unsaid; some of it certainly should bet We are become a very noisy culture and one in which the capacity to be silent Is regarded as something suspicious. Do we need to spend time examining our words and deciding how many are necessary? I'm told that regularly doing this at day's end is a very worthwhile experience. I don't like doing it myself since the embarrassment of it all usually hinders sleep but the less scrupulous might find the exercise quite rewarding.

According to the Sacred Scriptures we should be on our guard against talking too much. "Fools talk on and on" rails the writer of Ecclesiasticus (10:14) whilst St Paul exhorts the Ephesians not to let "evil talk come out of your mouths" (4:29). Is it not better then to be totally silent? Not really for if God had never spoken where indeed would creation be? A healthy balance seems to be the divine hope.

I like to imagine that at our birth two angels are assigned to us. The first is given the unenviable job of writing down our every word - a bit like those court-room typists. Every conversation in the pub, torrent of abuse, declaration of love; all are dutifully taken down. The second angel is given the equally arduous job of bottling all our silence. Even angels need their rest though which is why, according to my reckoning, we are required each day to spend some time exercising our vocal chords and some time investing in silence. That way we keep happy both the angels in heaven and the people on earth and this in turn pleases God. DG