Good morning folks. I am sitting here at my home sipping coffee looking out my window at the gently falling snow, thinking and praying for you all today. As Advent is upon us this December as we prepare for the birth of our Lord Jesus, I thought I would share today an interesting topic that is very dear to my heart: the topic of “truth” and a perspective of what discovering “truth” might entail.
Before I get started, I just want to remind you that the topics I share with you are meant to be “MJ’s Food For Thought”. I’m not trying to impose any of my own opinions upon you all, you need to decide for yourselves, what makes sense to each of you. I trust that the Holy Spirit will help you discern the “take away” He wants you to get out of these posts.
So, a special person very close to me recently said to me, “What’s true for you is true for you and what’s true for me is true for me”. Has anyone ever said that to you? Our culture seems to have fallen into this “relativism” mode of thinking which suggests, there is no objective truth. Nothing is true for everyone. I have my opinion and you have your opinion. Matthew Kelly in his book Resisting Happiness tells us that truth is relative on many levels, and that our culture seems to be tiptoeing around the topic of truth. This idea is crazy.
We know that obviously many things are true for everyone. For example, gravity exits for everyone, we also need water and air to breathe. This is objective truth that is true for all of us, everywhere. Matthew Kelly says that in order to overcome resistance, we need to give truth a place of honour in our lives. That there is a direct relationship between truth and happiness. That truth leads to happiness. Lies bring misery. In order to constantly experience the happiness and joy God wants to fill us with, we need to always be seeking truth in our lives.
Let’s reflect upon a few honest questions for each of us: What place does truth have in your life? Are you willing to speak truth even at great personal cost? Are you able to acknowledge truth even if you can’t live up to it? Even if we can’t do something that is good, even if we willfully and sinfully choose to do something that is wrong, we should still acknowledge what is good and true, rather than trying to justify our own behaviour. It’s so easy for us to fall into the trap of thinking that because we can’t live up to the truth we should deny it, or worse, attack it. Where are we allowing lies to take root in our lives? A life with God always clears the path of clutter and confusion and leads to truth in our lives.
MK says, that when we resist truth, we resist God and we resist happiness. We cannot be fully happy separated from the truth; we cannot be happy in a world of lies. In the end, “truth will prevail”. We’ve all heard that expression before. But in the meantime, our refusal to acknowledge and celebrate truth will cause many people to suffer. Kelly states that “our culture is trying to murder truth and it is important to note that you cannot murder truth without first murdering the Catholic Church. So in a culture that hates to acknowledge truth in our lives, the Catholic Church is enemy #1”.
In reflecting upon this theme, note the following passage: taken from Matthew Kelly’s book “Resisting Happiness”:
One Friday afternoon they nailed truth to a tree.
But on Sunday morning truth rose from the dead.
You cannot kill truth.
You can put it in a tomb but you cannot keep it there.
May the Way, the Truth and the Life of Jesus Christ rise up in you this Advent and Christmas season.
As “MJ’s Food For Thought” concludes on the topic of “Truth”, all I can say is, as we navigate through the ups and downs, good times and confusing times in our lives, let’s always have the courage to seek through prayer, God’s truth for us in each of our life’s circumstances we encounter daily. Remember everyone, if He brings us to it, He will lead us through it. God does not call the equipped, He equips the called. God will equip us with all we need to see and live out truth in our lives, one situation at a time if we seek His guidance. We must give truth a primary place of honour in our lives.
As we travel through Advent, a time of preparation, let’s continue to speak the truth, live the truth and celebrate truth. This will lead us to the happiness our Lord wants for all of us. Have a blessed Advent and a very Merry Christmas everyone. See you in 2019. Many warm wishes, MJ xo.
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