Almighty God,
you have endowed us with the power to speak,
to utter syllables and to frame them
into intelligible means of communication.

The medium of our daily deliberations is the spoken word.
All of us know its power;
words heal grief and open wounds,
they lift us up and crush us,
they bolster our confidence
and they rob us of our dignity,
used thoughtfully they enhance our regard for one another,
used maliciously they splinter reputations.

And yet the chaos of the Tower of Babel
has reappeared in our time,
the value of the spoken word has depreciated,
its sanctity and clarity has vanished.
For too often our words do not reflect
the sincere sentiments of our heart
and have become meaningless,
subject to misunderstanding
and misinterpretation.

Make us realize, O Lord,
that words uttered in this Chamber
are carefully watched by the entire world;
once spoken they are no longer controlled by the speaker.

Let us restore to words
the value which they have lost.
Let us resolve to weigh
and not to count our words
and to adorn them with the sacred garb
of appropriate deeds.

May the words of our mouth
and the meditation of our heart
be acceptable unto Thee, O Lord,
our Rock and our Redeemer.
Amen.