What Is Truth?

Be persistent

That’s one clear message of today’s Scripture readings.

Be persistent in action.

Including prayer.

Moses persisted, raising his hands in a prayerful gesture to God.

His arms grew tired, but he found a way to keep them raised.

Until the victory was won.

The widow persisted with the judge until she got what she wanted.

Jesus spells out his explanation of the story.

He’s instructing us to persistently pray to God.

To call out to Him day and night.

And in particular to pray for justice.

To pray for Truth.

You can’t have justice without truth.

Today’s second reading, that letter to Timothy,

Picks up the theme of persistence.

Persistence in spreading the word.

Convince, reprimand, encourage, teach.

An apt message for today—World Mission Sunday.

A day to renew our commitment to help spread the word of God.

To spread it throughout the whole world.

So that everyone can enjoy the fruits of Truth and Justice.

Jesus asked if, when he comes again, he’ll find faith on earth.

He will, if we do our part—if we act and persist.

Prayer is faith in action.

Evangelization is faith in action.

Promoting truth and justice is faith in action.

Truth is at the root of faith.

And at the root of all those actions.

Of course, the greatest truth is that ultimate truth of the Good News.

We have a God who loves us.

Loves us so much that he became one of us to redeem us.

So that we can have eternal life.

Truth is a basic necessity for us.

Something we humans instinctively seek.

How important is Truth?

Jesus said that he himself is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

And there are also many other lesser but still important truths.

Truths about the world around us.

Truths about actions and events and people.

Truth has always been obscured by lack of knowledge. 
As Pontius Pilate said to Jesus:  What is truth?

And truth has always been attacked by lies.
But today, truth seems to be under more persistent attack than ever.

Maybe because communication is so much easier.

Anyone can spread lies, worldwide, on the Internet and social media.

We’ve gone beyond the spin doctors,

Who twist the truth to cast facts in the best possible light.

We’re now flooded with completely false, unfounded, claims.

Fully intentional lies.

That don’t have even a twisted kernel of truth within them.

Any time our society has an important issue to address,

Intentional, absolute lies are spoken and published and spread.

And they obscure and interfere with the honest discussion of the issue.

They delay, or even prevent, our reaching a just decision.

They deepen the division between those holding opposing views.

And they deepen the bitterness of the group that loses on that issue.

Taking part in spreading those intentional lies is a truly evil act.

This year’s election highlights the depths to which some will stoop.
I'm not talking as much about the candidates themselves,
As their most outrageous supporters and attackers.

Their lies are not only immoral, but an all-out attack on democracy.

A successful democracy needs a well-informed electorate.

But citizens can’t be well-informed when they’re misled.

Or overwhelmed trying to weed out so many lies from the truths.

In the past, most people relied on trusted news sources.

We knew those sources were imperfect, we knew they had biases.

But they were bound by at least some ethics and rules.

Corporate reputations and individual careers were at stake.

It would take a lot of effort and a lot of risk to spread the big lie.

Now, the Internet and social media provide great ease and no controls.

And evil people take full advantage of that.

They go for high volume.

It’s like a mental denial-of-service attack.

Sometimes they don’t even bother to make their lies plausible.

A recent poll showed that for many 18-24-year-olds,

Facebook is their primary news source.

That’s about as unfiltered an environment as you can find.

Maybe I’m not giving people enough credit for weeding out patent lies.

But I’ve seen plenty of people, of all ages,

Reposting and spreading the most unbelievable lies.

Lies they could have debunked with just the slightest investigation.

So what are we to do?

How can we help bring truth and justice to our country?

And to the whole world?

Where is Superman when we need him?

He once led the fight for Truth, Justice and the American Way.

One thing we can do is be careful not to become part of the problem. 
Be careful about what we post and forward and endorse.

Also, there are some organizations known as fact checkers.

They might help.

Google just implemented a fact-check feature for items posted on its site.

But who will check the fact checkers?

Ultimately it comes down to each of us, individually.

We have to carefully exercise our discretion.

We have to recognize and acknowledge the indispensable value of truth.

And the destructiveness of lies.

And act accordingly, persist in seeking and promoting the truth.

If we persist individually, we can have great impact collectively.

With truth and justice as our guiding principles, 

We can change the world.

As Americans persisting in truth and justice,

We can build our country into a model world citizen 

That others might copy.

As Christians persisting in truth and justice,

We can build the moral authority that will lead others to listen to us.

During the next few weeks we’ll each have the opportunity to vote

In our country’s elections.

We’ll each have to rely on our own well-formed conscience.

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops offers us some basic guidance.

You can find it at usccb.org.

Individual bishops will, like us, be making their own different decisions.

But their basic guidance is this:

We strongly urge all parishioners to register, to become informed on key issues, and to vote. The Church does not support or oppose any candidate, but seeks to focus attention on the moral and human dimensions of issues.

As we prepare to cast our important votes,

Let’s persist in our prayers.

And on this World Mission Sunday,

Let’s ask God to guide us and to give truth and justice—and mercy—

Not only to us, but to the whole world.

And let’s commit to be disciples who will persist in spreading those gifts.

29th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Lk 18:1-8   Read this Scripture @usccb.org

Builders

We all know we’re not perfect.

We all have interior problems.

Interior shortcomings and defects.

We all know we don’t fully measure up to what God wants us to be.

And we all know that it’s what inside that really counts.

So, how can we become clean inside?

How can we become righteous?

St Paul tells the Galatians—and us—that it’s not through the law.

That is, it’s not through obsession with every minor rule and ritual.

But only by faith working through love.

Paul was echoing  Jesus’ similar message to the Pharisees—and us.

Don’t focus on the external.

Don’t neglect the critically important while you obsess with the minutia.

And what’s critically important is:

Give alms and everything will be clean for you.

It's not the minutia of the law.

It's love of neighbor—and, through that, love of God.

Give alms—that’s the proof of caring, the proof of love.

Let’s give our precious dollars to those who need them.

But alms aren’t limited to just dollars or material goods.

Let’s give our precious time to those who need it.

Let’s give our precious talent to those who need it.

And let’s give respect always to everyone.

Let’s give mercy when it's needed.

Today, disrespect for each other—and for truth—is rampant.

Look at the state of our political discourse.

Look at the hate and lies people post in anti-social media.

Jesus came to reconcile us to one another and to the Father.

He said, Blessed are the peacemakers.

He said, Love one another as I have loved you.

He established the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.

But he left it to us to continue building that kingdom.

We’re really needed out there.

Let’s be builders.

Tuesday, 28th Week of Ordinary Time

Lk 11:37-41   Read this Scripture @usccb.org

Listen

Did you hear all that?

Our readings today were all about listening.

Listening and being changed and then acting.

Saul was an up-and-coming Pharisee.

Progressing beyond many of his contemporaries.

A zealot persecuting the Christians.

Until he heard that voice of God, calling him to change.

His message was delivered far more dramatically than most.

God spoke aloud, knocked him to the ground, and struck him blind.

And Paul listened, and turned 180 degrees.

He went into the desert for three more years of listening and instruction.

Our Psalm response repeatedly prayed that God would speak to us.

And that we would listen, hear and follow.

Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.

Mary sat beside the Lord at his feet, listening to him speak.

She was already listening.

She didn’t have to change in that regard.

She had already chosen the better part.

But Martha—she did need to hear Jesus’ direct call to change.

A call to recognize how important it is to make time to listen.

The saint we honor today, St Francis of Assisi, was also a good listener.

And faithful in changing and acting on what he heard.

As a wealthy young man, he enjoyed partying

And the finer material things of life.

But in his early twenties he was stricken with a fever.

And began to hear messages in his dreams.

Messages calling him to change, to follow Christ.

He followed that call to a spiritual life; a life of total poverty.

At different times he lived in seclusion and in community.

He labored along side the poor, he gave away all he owned.
And he begged.

He founded three religious orders.

He moved about, repairing and living in churches, or in caves or huts.

He traveled as a missionary.

He constantly listened for God’s guidance.

And did his best to follow wherever it led.

Adjusting his course whenever necessary to better serve God.

Each of us should step back every now and then and ask ourselves:

Am I really listening?

Is God calling me to change something, to take some action?

We may not physically hear and see Jesus like Mary and Martha did.

We probably don’t even want an encounter like Paul’s.

But surely we will have dreams or hear that inner voice like Francis did.

The messages will be there for us, if we listen carefully.

And as our Gospel acclamation affirmed today:

Blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.

Tuesday, 27th Week of Ordinary Time

Lk 10:38-42   Read this Scripture @usccb.org