“they left everything and followed him.”
Jesus calls the apostles to come and follow Him. Today He makes the same request of us.
Why should we follow Jesus? To follow Jesus is to follow truth. To love Jesus is to love truth. “The truth is sometimes so obscured by sin, by our passions and by a spirit of materialism, that if we did not live it we could never come to discern it. It is so easy to accept a lie when it comes to the aid of our laziness, flatters our vanity or our sensuality, or encourages in us a false sense of prestige! Sometimes the cause of insincerity is vainglory, pride, or even a fear of looking foolish.”[i] To follow Christ is to be loving, but also loyal or faithful. “Faithfulness is loyalty to a strict commitment contracted with God or before God.”[ii]
Why should we remain loyal to God? We follow Christ in loyalty. If we remain loyal and faithful with God we will be able to remain faithful to our friends, family, and, if married, to our spouses and children.
What if we do not follow Jesus? If we fail to follow Jesus, then we are following something that is not the truth. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life”[iii]. If we are not following His way, through His truth, then we do not have life.
Why do people not want to follow Jesus? There are many reasons why people do not follow Christ. The underlying factor in the majority of reasons is fear. We ultimately fear the reality that following Jesus means to give up everything. Saint Jose Maria Escriva says, “As long as you are so afraid of the truth you will never be a man of sound judgment, a man of worth.”[iv] Saint John says in his epistle, “Perfect love casts out fear”[v]. If we are full of fear we cannot love. To follow Christ is to love, therefore fear must be cast out. To follow Christ is also to follow truth. Truth and charity (love) are linked.
VIDEO – Fear is the path to the darkside
The video is a montage of Anakin Skywalker who had great fear. Yoda said, “Fear is the path to the darkside. Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering.” Anakin was fearful of the loss of his wife, and lead him to suffer. As Christians we learn there will always be suffering, but when we unite it to the cross we do not hate or get angry when loss or suffering comes, but remain open to God’s love, and continue to follow even when we may not fully understand at the time.
What is the connection between truth and charity? “Through this close link with truth, charity can be recognized as an authentic expression of humanity and as an element of fundamental importance in human relations, including those of a public nature. Only in truth does charity shine forth, only in truth can charity be authentically lived. Truth is the light that gives meaning and value to charity. That light is both the light of reason and the light of faith, through which the intellect attains to the natural and supernatural truth of charity: it grasps its meaning as gift, acceptance, and communion. Without truth, charity degenerates into sentimentality. Love becomes an empty shell, to be filled in an arbitrary way. In a culture without truth, this is the fatal risk facing love. It falls prey to contingent subjective emotions and opinions, the word ‘love’ is abused and distorted, to the point where it comes to mean the opposite. Truth frees charity from the constraints of an emotionalism that deprives it of relational and social content, and of a fideism that deprives it of human and universal breathing-space. In the truth, charity reflects the personal yet public dimension of faith in the God of the Bible, who is both Agápe and Lógos: Charity and Truth, Love and Word.”[vi]
The Holy Father says that love without truth can fall prey to “emotions and opinions”. It is safe to say that charity (love) severed from truth is only emotion or feelings and can lead to “an empty shell”. "Feelings come to us, passively; love comes from us, actively, by our free choice."[vii] Love, if it is a choice, cannot be based therefore merely on emotion, feelings, or opinion, but is rooted in truth. If we are to follow Christ we must hold fast to both truth and charity in our life.
How do we continue to follow Jesus? We must be resolved to never fall prey to the devil. “Do not let even the smallest focal point of corruption take root in your souls, no matter how tiny it may be. Speak out. When water flows, it stays clean; blocked up, it becomes a stagnant pool full of repugnant filth. What was once drinking water becomes a breeding ground for insects.”[viii] We must remain truthful to ourselves and to everyone around us. People should never feel as if we are going to deceive them. If we strive for constant truthfulness, we will be able to correct any lie we may mistakenly tell. Saint Francis de Sales says, “You must become accustomed never to tell a deliberate lie, whether to excuse yourself or for some other purpose, remembering always that God is the ‘God of Truth’. If you happen to tell a lie inadvertently, correct it immediately by an explanation, or by making appropriate amends. An honest explanation always has more grace and force to excuse us than a lie has.”[ix] To be steadfast in truth, we must start with prayer. We must have a sincere prayer to help us see where our faults are and rely upon God for the strength to correct our errors. Our genuine prayer for truth should be supplemented with a daily examination of conscience, frequent Reconciliation, and possibly spiritual direction.[x]
MOVIE – Vantage Point
The movie surrounds an attempt on the president’s life as seen from multiple view points. The movie is about what each person sees, but also trying to untangle what is truth and what are lies and deceits. The devil works on all of us to hold the truth, and/or spread us so thin due to the chaos of our lives.
Finally, if we continue to strive and follow our Lord, we will continue to grow and strengthen in love. “Love for the truth will lead us not to form hasty judgments, based on superficial information about people or events. We need to exercise a healthy critical spirit towards the news broadcast by radio, television, newspapers or magazines, for it is often biased or simply incomplete. Often objective facts are wrapped in opinions or interpretations that can give a deformed view of the reality. We have to be especially careful about news referring directly or indirectly to the Church. For love of truth… [we must leave aside] …channels of information which do nothing but muddy the waters. We have to look for information that is objective, true and discerning. At the same time we have to contribute towards giving others correct information.”[xi]
[i] Fernandez, In Conversation with God, 2, 23.2
[ii] Fernandez, In Conversation with God, 2, 23.3
[iii] John 14:6
[iv] The Way, 33
[v] 1 John 4:18
[vi] Pope Benedict XVI; Caritas in Veritate; Section 3
[vii] Peter Kreeft
[viii] J. Escriva, Friends of God, 181
[ix] Introduction to the Devout Life, III: 30
[x] cf. Fernandez, In Conversation with God, 2, 23.2
[xi] Fernandez, In Conversation with God, 2, 23.3