Reading a good novel that includes some real twists and turns in a courtroom drama has always been enjoyable. If you listen and/or read carefully about the moment the prime witness is called forward to give important testimony, there is that swearing-in moment. “In the testimony you are about to give, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God?” The judge, the jury, and the entire courtroom are seeking to arrive at the truth.
The emphasis placed on the whole truth and nothing but the truth is powerful, to say the least. I cannot make up the truth, I cannot repeat something often and, because of my saying so, it becomes the truth. The truth is exclusively and
totally the truth.
The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the one whom Jesus promised to send remains as a force and an ongoing reality in Christianity. In fact, Jesus would say that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit’s reason for being among
believers is to give testimony to the truth.
So what is the truth about God? What is the truth about God’s role in creation and, in fact, in and for each one of us? How has God revealed the truth to us? The underlying truth to which the Spirit testifies is that God is love. It is a simple
phrase heard in sacred Scripture and in religions of the East and the West. God is love. The entirety of creation, all of us, are expressions of this truth.
The continuing movement of the Spirit of truth draws us more and more deeply into the concrete manifestation of this truth, found in Jesus Christ. For while we can know about the truth, it is another thing to live the truth. The life, the teachings, and example of Christ show us how to live the truth. It is a truth so profound that embracing it alters the landscape of life. It can define us, allow us to find our true purpose, and show us how to live out our purpose.
Telling the truth enables us to live with integrity. Living in the truth enables us to be good models of what it means to be a follower of Christ for others, especially our children and the children of others.
If for whatever reason one does not seek to live the truth, one can find oneself living a lie which manifests itself in so many of the classic illnesses of our time: loneliness, destructive excesses, pervasive searching, discontent on so many levels, an unhappy restlessness, the deterioration of societies, demonization and denigration of one another as persons and as countries, violent conflict and more are all manifestations of not living the truth.
That God is love and we, each of us, are expressions of that love, called to live that truth in our daily lives with one another, is the foundation of everyone’s true purpose in life as is the responsibility to identify and challenge lies. So, perhaps when things become out of sorts and life is closing in on us, reaching out and grasping the truth and all that it means for each of us every day can not only be a lifesaver, but a soul saver – the soul of humanity.
Fr. Ronan
Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
May 29/30, 2021
In today’s Gospel and in the reading from the letter of St. Paul we hear of the gift of the Triune God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
In our devotional life we make the sign of the cross and recite the “Glory Be” as an expression of our faith as a Trinitarian people.
But what does it mean for Christian stewards to accept in a practical way the experience of God in this threefold gift?
Is it not a call to share our own life in community, with compassion and love,
and to work for healing, justice, peace and unity?
Is it not an invitation to invite others into fellowship with us in the unity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?
ICSC@catholicstewardship.org (800) 352-3452 International Catholic Stewardship Council www.catholicstewardship.co