Is there my truth, your truth?
The real Personal truth is neither mine nor yours.
In 2011, Pope Benedict addressed the young people at World Youth Day in Madrid. Here is the extract:
Many believe themselves to be gods, they think they need no roots or foundations other than themselves. They take it upon themselves to decide what is true or not, what is good and evil, what is just and unjust, who should live, and who can be sacrificed in the interests of other preferences, leaving each step to chance, with no clear path, letting themselves be led by the whim of each moment. These temptations are always lying in wait. It is important not to give in to them, because, in reality, they lead to something so evanescent, like an existence with no horizons, a liberty without God.
We, on the other hand, know well that we have been created free, in the image of God, precisely so that we might be at the forefront of the search for truth and goodness, responsible for our actions, not mere blind executives, but creative co-workers in the task of cultivating and beautifying the work of creation.
God is looking for a responsible interlocutor, someone who can dialogue with him, and love him. Through Christ, we can truly succeed, and, once established in him, we give wings to our freedom. Is that not the great reason for our joy? Isn’t this the firm ground upon which to build the civilization of love and life?
To say that we can seek the truth is not the same as saying we are already filled with truth. Since we are free, we may conform our minds and wills to falsehood, exercising our liberty to deny reality, usually in response to desires that are themselves temptations—obstacles to our clear perception of reality, necessarily involving a denial of what is true. We may, of course, be merely confused, but personal selfishness often plays a key role in our confusion.
Sometimes, we believe that everything is reducible to “my mind” and “my desires”. Yet we must conform our minds to reality, that is, prove our freedom by seeking and finding the truth—and even, when under duress.
But we must remind ourselves of this frequently since it is so easy to weaken our commitment to the truth. Yet both root ourselves in Christ and live our lives in such a way that others may ask us, “Where do YOU come from?” And should we not be able to answer, both to ourselves and to others, just as Christ did: “Come and see”?
Should we not encourage others to start with the only religion that claims its Founder has risen from the dead? With the only religion that can display both a long and contemporary history of miracles of every kind that have survived even the most rigorous examinations of modern science? In other words, why not begin with the most outrageous but, if true, the most beneficial claim?
Jeffrey Mirus
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