Knowing the truth

AS I’ve been saying since Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI three years ago, we have to learn to catch up with him, because his words just flow from his mouth like a kilometer a second.

And to think that these are not just casual words, but words that carry a lot of weight, that had been invested with hours and days and years of study and prayer, and that truly hit the mark, bull’s eye, where putting Christ to our current complex life situations is concerned!

This was clear during his recent US visit where we heard him speak quite at length in his gentle, mellifluous, heavily German-accented voice. The miracle was that people got mesmerized by him even if most likely they did not get even 80% of what he said.

His addresses, I think, are meant more than just heard. They have to be studied, meditated, parsed and analyzed, and hopefully put into action, applied into life, and made a living culture.

Thus, I am happy to know that the American bishops are conducting post-visit conferences to reflect more deeply and echo more widely the Pope’s many very interesting messages.

For if one is already a practicing Catholic, then he understands that listening to the Pope, and reading and studying his words are like listening and reading and studying Christ.

This is because the Pope, successor of Peter, inherits these words from Christ himself: “I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth is also bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth is also loosed in heaven.” (Mt 16,19)

But if more than just a practicing Catholic, one is more sensitive to the Pope’s personal qualities—his deep spirituality and his tremendous mind—then he realizes that the Pope’s words indeed provide him with a wonderful picture of the world as seen through faith.

This is a point I would like to reiterate. Especially for those who may find the Gospel a bit dated, study the Pope’s words and you will most likely be fascinated to see how the Gospel becomes alive again and is directly in touch with our current reality.

The showtime of the papal visit should be accompanied by a quiet and rigorous study time and prayer time!

I myself am still wading through his many addresses. And I admit that I get overwhelmed at many junctures of his speeches. He simply has a way of presenting things that takes you out of your own world, your own cocoon.

In his address to the American youth and seminarians, there was a point that totally struck me. It was the point about our business of knowing the truth. We often think it is just a matter of studying, researching, gathering data, etc., in short, a purely human and intellectual affair.

This was what he said: “Dear friends, truth is not an imposition. Nor is it simply a set of rules. It is a discovery of the One who never fails us; the One whom we can always trust. In seeking truth we come to live by belief because ultimately truth is a person: Jesus Christ.

“That is why authentic freedom is not an opting out. It is an opting in; nothing less than letting go of self and allowing oneself to be drawn into Christ’s very being for others.”

I must say that many things can be said of and from these words. To be upfront about it, these words challenge us to make a revolutionary turn in our usual way of understanding of what knowing the truth entails.

At least to me, these words explain quite well what St. John in his first letter said: “He that knows God, hears us. He that is not of God, hears us not. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” (4,6)

Knowing the truth is dealing with God through Christ in the Spirit. It’s living by faith, by God’s commandments. It’s not just us with our human resources studying and discovering things on our own.

Especially now when we can become easy prey to alarmist claims of some our brighties, we need a sure guide and path to know the truth. And that’s simply dealing with Christ. Everything else follows properly.