Nothing But The Truth
May 24, 2017 – Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (16:12-15)
Jesus said to his disciples:
“I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.
But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,
he will guide you to all truth.
He will not speak on his own,
but he will speak what he hears,
and will declare to you the things that are coming.
He will glorify me,
because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
Everything that the Father has is mine;
for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine
and declare it to you.”
Reflect: The Spirit of truth, will guide you to all truth. Jesus’ declaration about the Holy Spirit as “the Spirit of truth” clearly shows that God is nothing but all truth – nothing but the truth! That is why our lives – no matter our age or our level of holiness – are called to an ongoing process of change and conversion through the Holy Spirit. Bit by bit, we are inching closer and closer to abiding completely in the truth; the truth truly sets us free. Because of original sin we pick up and carry a lot of unnecessary baggage, falsehoods, lies that we try to convince ourselves are really the truth; but the Holy Spirit convicts us of those lies and gives us light to see and recognize the truth. In contrast, we give the devil the title “father of lies” because of his cunning and his desire to keep us away from the truth, from being set free. In the first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles (17:15, 22-18:1), Paul is in Athens at the Areopagus surrounded by the images of the false gods of the ancient Greeks. Through the Holy Spirit, he speaks the truth boldly, saying: The God who made the world and all that is in it, the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands because he needs anything. Rather it is he who gives to everyone life and breath and everything. He made from one the whole human race to dwell on the entire surface of the earth, and he fixed the ordered seasons and the boundaries of their regions, so that people might seek God, even perhaps grope for him and find him, though indeed he is not far from any one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being.’” May God give us the courage to confront the falsehoods upon which we have built our own lives and to courageously proclaim him as “The Truth” in whom we live and move and have our being.
Questions: What might be the lies that I find myself perpetuating about my own life and God’s relationship with me? How is God calling me today to denounce the falsehoods that I worship and to invite his truth to penetrate all aspects of my life? What are the implications for me to seek and live as one with the Spirit of Truth?
Pray: Loving God, help me to rejoice in and seek with all my heart your Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth. Unleash your Spirit upon me so that I can be free to recognize that in you I live, move and have my being. I pray this in the powerful and perfect name of Jesus. Amen.
I will send to you the Spirit of truth, says the Lord; he will guide you to all truth. Alleluia!
