Truth + Love

Speak truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). Why are these words tied together so closely? Love and truth are the most powerful forces in the Universe. Speaking truth in love has everything to do with submitting one’s self to God. We are to speak truth in love because we are to seek holiness in us. You and I can do nothing to create holiness. What is holiness? Christ in you!
 
Is holiness in you? The most recent study shows that 2/3 of self-proclaimed Catholics in the United States do not believe the Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ. Pew Research Center also reports that 53% of Catholics say they never read Scripture. 18% only read Scripture a few times a year (possibly Christmas and Easter Mass). Is Christ in us? Not without the Eucharist and Scripture!
 
Jesus said: This is why I was born and why I came into the world, to bear witness to the truth (John 18:37). When we attempt to be self-sufficient unto ourselves we fall away from God and we are disconnected from the truth. And the desire of Christ to save you and me is not enough to save us. We choose to accept or reject the Truth – The thoughts of many hearts shall be revealed (Luke 2:35). We don’t get to pick over and choose the words of Jesus that comfort us and then discard the one’s we find challenging. We don’t get to rewrite and redefine what Jesus said and meant to meet some culture shift that has corrupted moral truth.
 
As we enter into a new Lenten Season, maybe we might want to focus our lives a bit more on truth and love. Let us start by returning to Scripture and let it speak truth to us first. Then we might speak it better to others. Let us remember; the beginning and the end of the Gospel provide the same message: The kingdom of God has come… Repent and believe the Gospel (Mark 1:15). And Jesus tells us, sin is transplanted to the soul through the body, and the body is moved by what the will is conformed to. Let us pay careful attention this season to what we place inside us. Let us call to mind too, that the truth is at odds with what the world holds dear.
 
Christ died because of truth. He had to die! Calvary is the price paid by him for revealing and being the Truth. We can also be absolutely certain about what is tied to both life and death – the truth and love of Christ.