Gospel (Mt 5,33-37) - At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: «You have also heard that it was said to the ancients: Do not perjure yourself, but fulfill your oaths with the Lord; but I say unto you, Swear not at all: neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God; nor for the earth, because it is his footstool; nor by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King. Do not swear even by your head, because you do not have the power to make a single hair white or black. Instead, let your speaking be yes, yes; ninth; anything more comes from the evil one."

The commentary on the Gospel by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia

There is a need to recover trust between men, to therefore remove that distrust which requires the addition of the oath. Today, unfortunately, there is a sort of drying up of mutual trust due to the abuse of words and the lack of weight given to them. Jesus, on the one hand, calls for humility which is the foundation of relationships between us. And humility is followed by truth and frankness. With some humor Jesus warns that it is not worth swearing "by one's own head", given that we do not have the power to make a single hair black or white. On the other hand, however, Jesus underlines that the Lord created man by giving him the dignity of the word. For this reason Jesus says: «Let your speech instead be: “Yes, yes”, “No, no”; anything else comes from the Evil One." Our words carry weight; they must therefore not be vain or ambiguous. Through them the heart appears, as if for God himself. It is the evil one, in fact, who tries to expand his strength with the corruption of words. The disciple of Jesus must learn to know how to say "yes" to the life that comes from the Gospel and at the same time must oppose a firm "no" to proposals that lead to evil for himself and others. It is important to also know how to say "no", that is, to impose a discipline of the heart. Saying "yes" to the Lord whom he calls, but also saying "no" to seductions and proposals that only apparently suggest a good thing for our lives.