Truth and Charity

"Charity in truth, to which Jesus Christ bore witness by his earthly life and especially by his death and resurrection, is the principal driving force behind the authentic development of every person and of all humanity."-Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, 1.

One of the distinguishing characteristics of Catholic theology is the "both...and" as opposed to the "either...or". Faith AND works. Scripture AND Tradition. Revelation AND reason. To divide these into "either...or" propositions is to miss out on the fullness of truth. One area in which I see this today is in the attempt to divorce truth and charity.

There are many in the Church today who are uncomfortable with proclaiming anything controversial for fear of offending others. They will either downplay what the Church teaches or actually seek to distance themselves from it. I'm sure from their perspective, this seems like a form of charity- to not ruffle any feathers, to avoid causing unpleasant feelings. But is this charity? "Charity" devoid of truth is little more than sentimentality. Our modern society tends to define love as being a pleasant feeling for another. But love is not a feeling, it is an action. Love is desiring the good of the other. Love is the willingness to suffer for that good. Our ultimate example of love is found in the Crucifixion- Christ laid down His life out of love for us. What He did not do was to run from the Cross, to say to the scribes and Pharisees "you're entitled to your opinion". He spoke the truth, would not deny who He was or what it meant to live in charity, and He died for it. He spoke the truth, even when it was unpleasant. The Pharisees did not want to hear what He had to say. But who loved the Pharisees more than Jesus? He spoke the truth to them, knowing it would be difficult for them to hear and that He would be rejected for it.

The Pharisees show the other side of the coin- truth without charity. In belief, Jesus was close to the Pharisees, but not in practice. The Pharisees knew they had the truth from God and sought to justify themselves because of it. But simply believing correctly is not enough. "Truth" without charity is oppressive; we see how in fundamentalist cultures, the "truth" is used as a whip. When the love of Christ is proclaimed but not lived, it does great damage to the Body- people are driven away, are turned off, and leave believing that all Christians are just hypocrites. And is this really truth? When we present a Christ without mercy, without forgiveness, a judgmental rather than a loving Christ, we are presenting a false image of Him.

Ultimately, all truth leads to the one who is truth: the Divine Logos, the author of truth. Truth leads us to a Person, and that Person is Love. Truth and charity meet in the Person of Jesus Christ; to divide one from the other is to separate oneself from Him.

Looking for a volunteer opportunity this summer?

St. Ann's Summer Camp in Belcourt, ND, serves the youth of the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation. People come from all over to serve at this camp, and we are looking for more counselors this summer. A typical camp day involves Adoration and Mass, Canoeing, Archery, Sports, Arts and Crafts, and much more! Orientation starts June 6, and camp goes to July 28. If you are only able to serve a few weeks, that's fine too. For more information, contact us at 701-278-2500, or email stannsyouthministry@gmail.com.

A bit more personal...

I haven't written very much on this blog in recent months as I have a lot going on my life. Namely, being a candidate for The Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (the first step towards the priesthood.) You can follow my progress at my other blog, Duc in Altum.

Repentance

When we in our modern society hear the word "repent", it tends to conjure up images of a fanatic on the street preaching fire and brimstone. It is not a word that hits our ears well nowadays. In fact, in a culture that embraces individuality and relativism, it is a foreign concept. How can one turn from sin if we don't acknowledge sin? If a celebrity or politician does "repent", it is normally done to get back into the good graces of the public eye. Tiger Woods needs to apologize so he can get back to playing golf. A politician caught in a scandal needs to make a teary-eyed confession in order to have a chance at winning public office again. This "repentance" isn't a sorrow for the wrong that has been committed, but rather for the loss of some temporal good due to that behavior. Repentance loses all meaning and becomes simply a means to an end.
Yet here we are in the Catholic Church, at the beginning of a whole liturgical season devoted to repentance. But how many of us truly understand Lent? Most of us will give up something for Lent, be it chocolate or soda or television. But these sacrifices have no meaning in and of themselves. Separated from the goal of repentance, they are absurd. If we give something up just for show, then we are even further from the goal of true repentance than those who "repent" for personal gain, for we gain nothing. We offer up these insignificant sacrifices to detach ourselves from the things of this world, and to focus on God.
The Greek word for repentance is metanoia. It does not simply imply sorrow for the wrong committed, but a fundamental change. To repent, we must change our hearts. Lent is a period for us to reflect on our lives. We must search our hearts and be truly sorrowful for the times when we have sinned. This is not something that should be done out of fear that an angry God will punish us. God loves us and wants what is best for us. He wants us to be all that He created us to be. But when we sin, we distort the image of God in our souls. We become something less than what we were created to be. More importantly, in sin we turn away from the God who loves us. We choose worldly things over the love of the Creator, and our priorities become confused.
We must recognize that we have done wrong, that we have allowed ourselves to become something less than God made us. We must be truly sorry for our sins. But it does not end there. God does not wish us to wallow in self-hatred because of our sins. Rather, we must turn to Him in His mercy. God will forgive us, but we must seek His forgiveness and trust in that forgiveness. Peter and Judas both felt intense sorrow for what they had done to offend the Lord, but Peter trusted in His mercy, while Judas went and hanged himself because he did not trust in that mercy. Peter trusted, Judas feared.
Finally, we must let God transform our hearts. We must let His grace change us so that we desire the good rather than the evil. That we seek His will rather than ours. And to do this, we must deny our own will. That's what the discipline of Lent is about.
Repentance is about freedom. The freedom from sin. The freedom to be who we are in Christ. In Jesus, there is not fear, but freedom. So let us go to Confession. Let us give up those things that hold us back from God. Let us delve into this season of Lent, and ask the Lord to free us from the chains into which we have put ourselves.