“To put into practice the teachings of our holy faith, it is not enough to convince ourselves that they are true; we must love them. Love united to faith makes us practise our religion.” (Saint Alphonsus Liguori).
I am trying – quite desperately – to teach my two teenage sons (and one pre-teen daughter) to have some manners.
And this often involve me pretending that I am deaf and cannot hear what they have said so that they are forced to repeat themselves and try things another way so that they can have a chance of having me react to what they are saying and to respond in the manner that they are aiming for.
When my children do repeat themselves, they tend to do so in a cockney British accent. And – though I find this quite funny (though I hide my amusement from them) – this accent just makes me feel that they are really not taking me seriously. And it also means that when they actually do try again using respectful words I generally do not feel terribly well respected. In fact I often feel very disrespected by their lack of sincere respect.
And I have been thinking about that today as I have been reflecting on the words of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, who said, “To put into practice the teachings of our holy faith, it is not enough to convince ourselves that they are true; we must love them. Love united to faith makes us practise our religion.” (Saint Alphonsus Liguori).
And I have been reflecting on those words, because the more I think about them the more it seems to me that I am not actually loving the Truth.
Now, from a human perspective, the truth can be difficult. After all, it is true that it is less healthy to eat cake than it is to eat a boring old piece of raw vegetable. And yet, despite that fact that I would love it to be more healthy for me to eat cake than raw vegetables, no amount of wishing or convincing or arguing is going to make that piece of cake more healthy than a piece of raw vegetable.
And this is a significant thing because it is a simple way of understanding that the truth can literally be more difficult to swallow than a lie. And yet, if we tell ourselves lies, or convince ourselves that lies are the correct way to approach things, then we are really just going to make ourselves sick – just as eating too much cake will make us sick when compared with eating a fresh raw vegetable.
And in essence, it is GOD HIMSELF who is Truth… He told us, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Light…” (John 14:6).
And in order to really love my Beloved, I must not only know the truth – but I must love it… Even when a lie feels so much easier for me to bear…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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