5th Wed of Lent - "The Truth Will Set You Free"

 

 Jesus said in today’s gospel: “And you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”  The truth is-- that all of us know we are created in the image and likeness of God; that we are children of God and can be forever united to Him; that we are capable of knowing the truth and freely ordering our lives towards the good; that we are connected with one another through the mystery of the Body of Christ and this can inspire us to loving service for our neighbor.

“And the truth will set you free,” Jesus said. Many people associate freedom with the mere absence of external constraints. Yes, this can be one of the conditions for freedom, but the core of freedom does not lie in an absence of external constraints.  Freedom gives us the ability to make choices, to decide and to determine ourselves. Pope Saint John Paul II had greatly emphasized that: “Although each individual has a right to be respected in his own journey in search of the truth, there exists a prior moral obligation, and a grave one at that, to seek the truth and to adhere to it once it is known,” (The Splendor of Truth, n. 34).

You know what, there are many manifestations or signs that will appear in our body to show we are telling lies and not telling the truth.

There is the cartoon Pinocchio, which illustrates every time Pinocchio lies, his nose grows longer and longer and so it’s obvious he is lying. Jiminy Cricket becomes Pinocchio’s conscience and so he is eventually able to convince him to stop lying.

According to an unknown author here are some of the signs of not telling the truth: the color of the skin on our face may become pale; our eyes may show rapid movement or become watery from the fear of being discovered; we will try to avoid eye contact; the pattern of speech changes; our voice will tremble while our jaw tenses. Under stress, we may have shallow breath; we may try to avoid and change the topic or we may even sing because we are nervous; our comments can be contradictory; we may play with our hair or bite our nails; our hands may begin to move about. We perspire for no obvious reason; we may feel weak in the knees; at night we may not sleep in peace for our morals will bother us. Though we may think our secret is safe, the signs our body can give us away.

There is the story of four high school boys who couldn’t resist the temptation to skip morning classes. Each got a bad case of spring fever. After lunch they showed up at school and reported to the teacher that their car had a flat tire. Much to their relief, she smiled and said, “Well, you missed a quiz this morning, so take your seats and get out a pencil and paper.” Still smiling, she waited as they settled down and got ready for her questions. Then she said: “First question, which tire was flat?” They began to perspire and each had different answers to the question. The wise teacher easily discovered the truth.

God knows all our secrets. Let us ask Him to forgive us and to give us strength. He will lift our burdens of guilt and return our inner peace so the truth can be known. And may we always embrace Jesus Himself who is the Truth that sets us free.