Belonging to Christ obliges us to seek the truth and to bear witness to it in our lives. We should be able to give up a lot in the name of the truth, even up to martyrdom. The truth is important and Jesus proves that saying that He himself is the Truth. Christianity does not allow us to settle for substitutes and fakes, it makes us seek true love, true happiness and true freedom. Often very different from what the world offers us.
Yesterday, with my community I went to the cinema to see „Florence Foster Jenkins”. It is a masterpiece not only because of the brilliant role of Meryl Streep and gallant smile of Hugh Grant. There are plenty of plots that will leave questions in your heart. Florence is a dreamer who has completely no voice, but really wants to sing. In achieving this dream she is helped by her great fortune, which makes people pay her false compliments, but above all, a beautiful world in which she is the greatest singer is created by her devoted husband. We might have many doubts about the purity of the intentions of the film characters and ask ourselves if this farce is not aiming at truth, beauty, perfection… But I cannot help feeling that there is something bigger than the truth, and this value is love.
Today, in the Gospel evil spirits tell us the greatest truth on earth. They say to Jesus: „You are the Son of God.” He does not praise them for that, on the contrary – He rebuked them and does not allow them to speak. So maybe not every truth is good, and not every lie is evil? Probably you will accuse me of relativism, but that is not what I mean – because sometimes the line between the truth and a lie does not run along our words and actions, but it is in our hearts. If we speak the truth in order to hurt someone, it ceases to be true, because it opposes love. Only our heart knows the true intention.
The eighth commandment in this context sounds very blunt – it does not end with the statement: „you shall not bear false witness,” but adds, „against your neighbor.” What if I say something false in his favor? Is it possible to cheat someone out of love? The answer is certainly complex, and there are no ready prescriptions. But the most important question seems to be whether we alter the truth for our own convenience, or on the contrary – we risk our own good name in order to protect someone out of love.
So think twice before you say something. Let the first question you ask yourself not be: „is it true?”, but „will this be good?” and „do I say this with love?”. These seem to be far more important questions.
