Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we once again meet Psalm 104. Since we have had a very recent reflection on this psalm, we might instead like to reflect on our Gospel verse for today:
“Truth”, which would appear to be an evident reality, is in fact quite elusive. In his master work Summa Theologica, Thomas Aquinas writes extensively, and some might say exhaustively 🧐, in an effort to define truth.
For this reason truth is defined by the conformity of intellect and thing; and hence to know this conformity is to know truth.
Reflecting on the concept of Truth today, I remember Jesus’s self-description:
I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
John 14:6
By journeying through life with Jesus, we come to comprehend truth more clearly – both the truth around us and the truth within us. It is an unfolding which brings us ever closer to God’s complete imagination for us when we were created.
It is as if God’s fingerprint, first poured into on souls at our conception, becomes ever clearer in our lives. Let us pray each day to be consecrated in that Truth.
Poetry: truth by Gwendolyn Brooks And if sun comes How shall we greet him? Shall we not dread him, Shall we not fear him After so lengthy a Session with shade?
Though we have wept for him, Though we have prayed All through the night-years— What if we wake one shimmering morning to Hear the fierce hammering Of his firm knuckles Hard on the door?
Shall we not shudder?— Shall we not flee Into the shelter, the dear thick shelter Of the familiar Propitious haze?
Sweet is it, sweet is it To sleep in the coolness Of snug unawareness.
The dark hangs heavily Over the eyes.
Music: Heaven’s Window – Peter Kater (Angels of Hope)
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we pray with Psalm 19, a hymn to the beauty of God’s Law.
The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul; The decree of the LORD is trustworthy, giving wisdom to the simple.
Psalm 19: 8
Placed as it is in today’s liturgy, the psalm brings added emphasis to our exquisite first reading from Hebrews:
The Word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.
Hebrews 4: 12
LAW…WORD…TRUST…TRUTH…WISDOM…SPIRIT
These themes shout out to us from today’s readings. And they need to shout in order to be heard above the clamor of a culture that has so enfeebled “truth” that it can barely speak.
At the electoral confirmation hearings, after the Capitol insurrection, Mitt Romney bravely said, “The best way we could show respect for the voters who are upset is by telling them the truth”.
Unfortunately, this seems to be a novel idea in our fallacious political culture.
Praying Psalm 19 challenges me to recognize my role in reclaiming a mutually truthful, respectful, and reverently attentive society. It also summons me to demand the same from my political and religious leaders.
Poetry: two poems today
truth - Gwendolyn Brooks And if sun comes How shall we greet him? Shall we not dread him, Shall we not fear him After so lengthy a Session with shade? Though we have wept for him, Though we have prayed All through the night-years— What if we wake one shimmering morning to Hear the fierce hammering Of his firm knuckles Hard on the door? Shall we not shudder?— Shall we not flee Into the shelter, the dear thick shelter Of the familiar Propitious haze? Sweet is it, sweet is it To sleep in the coolness Of snug unawareness. The dark hangs heavily Over the eyes.
And this one from a Franciscan friend and revered mentor in social justice – Marie Lucey, OSF
A Justice- Seeker’s Journey
In high school art class—and in life--
I stayed within the lines.
“Timid soul,” the teacher branded me.
In English class I stood—green girl
in more ways than uniform--
to argue with the wiser nun
that men were more intelligent than women.
(Forgive me, God, and sisters!)
How did I get from there—a lifetime ago--
to here?
Over time layers of knowing peeled away,
core truths revealed.
Cries of people suffering—oppression,
injustice, human cruelty,
and my own dark nights,
insisted that I stand up, speak up, act up,
kneel down, reach out, reach in,
march, be cuffed and fined,
and even jailed just once.
Neither brave nor timid
I try to follow Jesus
who walked outside the lines.
Music: The Trouble with Truth – Joan Baez
Oh the trouble with the truth Is it’s always the same old thing So hard to forget, so impossible for me to change Every time I try to fight it I know I’ll be left to blame.
Oh the trouble with the truth Is it’s always the same old thing And the trouble with the truth Is it’s just what I need to hear Ringing so right, deep down inside my ear.
And it’s everything I want And it’s everything I fear Oh the trouble with the truth Is it’s just what I need to hear
It had ruined the taste of the sweetest lies Burned through my best alibis Every sin that I deny Keeps hanging round my door Oh the trouble with the truth Is it always begs for more
That’s the trouble, trouble with the truth That’s the trouble, trouble with the truth And the trouble with the truth Is it just won’t let me rest I run and hide, but there’s always another test And I know that it won’t let me be ‘Till I’ve given it my best The trouble with the truth Is it just won’t let me rest
Lavish Mercy 