TRUTH

What a wonderful weekend! On this the Feast of the Holy Trinity, we had an excellent liturgy, in addition to this being Memorial Day weekend, as well as the eighth grade graduation, it has been a festive weekend. The downside is that our church air conditioning has ceased to exist. There are no more fixes or patches, or anything else. We will need a new air conditioning system. But we continued to celebrate.

Earlier in the week we had the memorial of St. Philip Neri. St. Philip challenged all to seek God in all things, especially in the holy and sacred moments of life. His dedication to the Eucharist, prayer, and sacred scripture, presented for him insight and reflection upon the holiness of God. So to this motivated his great fervor in acts of charity and compassion.

John's Gospel, while having very few healing stories, demonstrates that those who seek wholeness and holiness in life, can and do discover healing. Towards the end of John's Gospel, as Jesus debates the religious authorities of the day, we recognize that they are uncomfortable with the Good News, and reject the truth of the Gospel. While the public sinners, physical broken, and spiritually lost go away healed and whole, those who should be spiritually insightful, are lost in their arrogance and pride. They do not want to hear the truth since it will challenge them to change their lives.

In our post modern era we tend to view truth as relevant. My truth supersedes every one's sense of truth. My opinion is equal, if not greater, than those around me. The Gospels though teach us something very different.

Our sacred scripture draws us into some very core themes. The greatest commandment reminds of these as we are called to love God and Neighbor. Both the Beatitudes and the last judgment scene, as found in Matthew's Gospel, reiterate the notion of love, charity, chastity, dignity, respect, and responsibility. These values and virtues are found in our scripture tradition, as well as in Western and Eastern philosophy.

Truth is not about being right, but being directed to that which is proper and good. Remember how Jesus becomes irked when the apostles sometimes considered their own welfare first. Jesus is real good about placing the cross in their midst. Seek the truth and the truth will set you free.