ONE very crucial virtue in our life
is sincerity. That, of
course, has something to do with truth. Our genuine development and
perfection as persons and as society would depend to a large extent on
how we are sincere, or on how we understand and handle truth. As the
gospel says, it’s truth that will make us free.
If instead of truth, we are dominated by lies, falsehoods
and deception, we can be sure that we would be doomed to perdition.
Injustice and inequality would flourish. Some people will exploit
others. Forms of slavery will come. And we will attract many other
evils.
But before we think that truth and sincerity are simply a
matter of telling what we see, how we feel, what we experience, how we
understand a certain thing, or how we fare with respect to a certain
matter, we have to realize that truth and sincerity actually involve a
lot more than these.
Sincerity is a matter of continually pursuing the truth
that in the end is none other than dealing with God. We should have no
doubt about this. God is Truth himself, the source and measure of
truth. Only in him can we have the whole scope of truth in all its
objectivity.
Apart from him, we can only have partial truths, or data
and facts that are subjectively used to suit our ulterior motives. We
can play games with these pieces of information that may be true but
very prone to be manipulated according to our schemes.
Being a pursuit of truth, sincerity is a very dynamic
virtue that involves developing an increasingly intimate relationship
with God. It cannot be any other way. But we have to understand that
this relationship just cannot be limited to knowing God only. It also
involves loving him, since God is not meant to be known only, but
mainly to be loved.
And to love God means to follow his commandments. “If you
love me, keep my commandments,” Christ said clearly. (Jn 14,15) And
his commandments are that we love God above all, that we love our
neighbor as ourselves, and that we love one another as Christ himself
has loved us.
And so, we can conclude that to be in the truth or to be
sincere means to know and love God as well as to know and love others,
the way Christ knows and loves us. We are not being truthful and
sincere enough if we just blurt out what we see, what we feel, what we
experience, how we fare about a certain matter.
In other words, we can be quite frank and candid about how
we feel or how we understand things, but unless we make an effort to
know and love God and others, we would still be far off the mark of
truth.
The other day, in a family reunion, I observed two
one-year-old toddlers greeting each other. Toddler 1 started by
touching the face of Toddler 2 but in a way that would appear to us as
slapping.
At first, Toddler 2 did not respond, but when later on he
did by doing the same act of slapping to Toddler 1, the latter cried
and sort of complained to us, because he was showing his cheek to us.
The whole time that was what he did, in between his
bumbling forays around the house. The poor one-year-old only
understood that he was slapped.
And I thought that that is exactly what happens to us when
we simply are concerned about our own feelings, views, observations,
etc., without making any effort to know what God and the others want
of us. We can be candid and yet still miss the point. We can feel
sincere, but actually not truthful enough.
We need to be clear about one point. For us to develop
properly personally and as a member of society, starting with the
family, we need to be sincere and truthful, making our love for God
and concern for the others as the constant parameters in our effort to
be in the truth.
That’s why we always need to ask ourselves as to where our
thoughts and intentions go. Do they revolve around ourselves or around
God and the others? We have to realize that thinking of God always and
being mindful and thoughtful of the others will actually simplify our
life and put in touch with the real world.
We should have the attitude of serving the others. This is
how we can be truthful and sincere, avoiding living in a world of our
own.
course, has something to do with truth. Our genuine development and
perfection as persons and as society would depend to a large extent on
how we are sincere, or on how we understand and handle truth. As the
gospel says, it’s truth that will make us free.
If instead of truth, we are dominated by lies, falsehoods
and deception, we can be sure that we would be doomed to perdition.
Injustice and inequality would flourish. Some people will exploit
others. Forms of slavery will come. And we will attract many other
evils.
But before we think that truth and sincerity are simply a
matter of telling what we see, how we feel, what we experience, how we
understand a certain thing, or how we fare with respect to a certain
matter, we have to realize that truth and sincerity actually involve a
lot more than these.
Sincerity is a matter of continually pursuing the truth
that in the end is none other than dealing with God. We should have no
doubt about this. God is Truth himself, the source and measure of
truth. Only in him can we have the whole scope of truth in all its
objectivity.
Apart from him, we can only have partial truths, or data
and facts that are subjectively used to suit our ulterior motives. We
can play games with these pieces of information that may be true but
very prone to be manipulated according to our schemes.
Being a pursuit of truth, sincerity is a very dynamic
virtue that involves developing an increasingly intimate relationship
with God. It cannot be any other way. But we have to understand that
this relationship just cannot be limited to knowing God only. It also
involves loving him, since God is not meant to be known only, but
mainly to be loved.
And to love God means to follow his commandments. “If you
love me, keep my commandments,” Christ said clearly. (Jn 14,15) And
his commandments are that we love God above all, that we love our
neighbor as ourselves, and that we love one another as Christ himself
has loved us.
And so, we can conclude that to be in the truth or to be
sincere means to know and love God as well as to know and love others,
the way Christ knows and loves us. We are not being truthful and
sincere enough if we just blurt out what we see, what we feel, what we
experience, how we fare about a certain matter.
In other words, we can be quite frank and candid about how
we feel or how we understand things, but unless we make an effort to
know and love God and others, we would still be far off the mark of
truth.
The other day, in a family reunion, I observed two
one-year-old toddlers greeting each other. Toddler 1 started by
touching the face of Toddler 2 but in a way that would appear to us as
slapping.
At first, Toddler 2 did not respond, but when later on he
did by doing the same act of slapping to Toddler 1, the latter cried
and sort of complained to us, because he was showing his cheek to us.
The whole time that was what he did, in between his
bumbling forays around the house. The poor one-year-old only
understood that he was slapped.
And I thought that that is exactly what happens to us when
we simply are concerned about our own feelings, views, observations,
etc., without making any effort to know what God and the others want
of us. We can be candid and yet still miss the point. We can feel
sincere, but actually not truthful enough.
We need to be clear about one point. For us to develop
properly personally and as a member of society, starting with the
family, we need to be sincere and truthful, making our love for God
and concern for the others as the constant parameters in our effort to
be in the truth.
That’s why we always need to ask ourselves as to where our
thoughts and intentions go. Do they revolve around ourselves or around
God and the others? We have to realize that thinking of God always and
being mindful and thoughtful of the others will actually simplify our
life and put in touch with the real world.
We should have the attitude of serving the others. This is
how we can be truthful and sincere, avoiding living in a world of our
own.
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