I want to start with a familiar story. Two con men came into the court of an emperor and profess that they are weavers who have found a thread that is only invisible to the stupid and incompetent. They succeed in gaining funds to make magnificent new robes from this invisible thread and supposedly work on it, each time fooling one official or another into thinking that the clothes must be there. The day comes when the con men finish and dress the emperor in his new clothes so that he may parade through town for all to see. Even the townsfolk go along with the ruse so as to avoid appearing dumb, until one lone child begins to cry, “He hasn’t got anything on.” The townsfolk eventually agree with the child, but the emperor continues his parade of folly.
There are many ways this old tale has been applied but it seems to resonate with me this past week in recognizing something we never wish to acknowledge: we have no tolerance for truth in this age. As much as we may profess ourselves to be truth seekers or haters of false news, we cannot stand to hear the truth. Why is that? Because the knowledge of the truth requires us to act contrary to our passions and feelings, and we will not stand for this.
What other answer is possible in the face of not one but two pro-life amendments not passing in this country? In two states that are supposedly deeply conservative-our state of Kentucky and the state of Montana,-neither could muster enough votes for an amendment to be introduced into the state constitutions. Despite the fact that both states elected so-called conservative leaders in big proportions-in our state, almost a million people voted for the incumbent Republican senator-yet many of those same voters did not think it important to grant protection to the unborn here at home. If only one hundred thousand voters had switched their votes, the amendment would have passed here.
We have no tolerance for truth in this age. We cannot tolerate truth, because truth does not give us rights, but obligations. We cannot tolerate truth because it requires that I acknowledge my faults and correct my ways. We cannot tolerate truth because truth is above and beyond the self, but the self is the only frame of reference most of us have anymore. How many who profess themselves as Catholics went and voted in favor of the murder of the innocent and the helpless? How many call themselves champions of women’s rights but lock them in to the subjugation of evil men and a world that hates their femininity? How many were too cowardly to stand up for the truth?
Why does persecution happen? Because we have no tolerance for the truth. In particular, we have no tolerance for He who is Truth in the flesh: Jesus the Son of God. Why did so many of the Jews hate Him? Because He preached the truth. Why did the Pharisees seek to kill Him? Because He is the Truth. Why did He have to die? Because we don’t want the truth. Our blessed Lord, the Word Incarnate, stands before Pontius Pilate and tells him at the end of his life, as the crowd screams for His blood, “‘For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice.’ Pilate said to him, ‘What is truth?’”
The history of the world has been a consistent battle against truth. The demons fell from Heaven because they rejected the truth. Adam and Eve hid because the truth of their sin shamed them before God. Cain lied about killing Abel: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” he dares to say to God with blood on his hands. The Israelites built a false idol in the golden calf rather than wait and hear the truth come from God through Moses. David tried to deceive people when he took the wife of Uriah in adultery. Judas dares to lie to Truth Himself when he kisses Him as a sign of his betrayal.
There can be no rest for the few who seek truth and wish to possess it, or rather to be possessed by Him who is Truth. They are the little child crying out the truth against the conformists surrounding the emperors of this world. They cry out and are hushed, told to remain quiet, because they don’t actually understand how things work. If they persist, they are punished. Many of them have even been killed, the blood of martyrs who would not stop crying out the truths that the world does not want to hear.
What is this truth? It is summarized in one simple phrase: “Jesus is Lord”. If Jesus of Nazareth is truly the Son of God, then He is also the Lord who reigns above all, the true King of the Universe. If this is true, then all of the truths of the Catholic faith must be true, which means that so much of what the world professes is wrong and untrue. But too many do not wish to hear it. They profess themselves wise and knowledgeable about many things, yet are dumb themselves and unable to see the truth which is Jesus Christ. They will hate the truth and hate any who shout it out for others to hear.
This world is truly falling apart. The signs are there for people to see, who have eyes to see. Is this the end of all things? It’s possible, but it is at least the end of an age. This nation continues to fall headfirst into degeneracy and degradation. Nothing is sacred for the average American except themselves and their ego. But it is not restricted to the United States, nor is it limited to the West. Everywhere, the cracks grow in the modern structures and institutions. The time is coming when they shall finally break and all shall be washed away in the collapse. But before that day, they shall persecute those who cry out that the emperor has no clothes.
Dear brethren, the hour is at hand: the hour when Satan tries to claim victory over our Lord. There is no room for accommodation with the world. We cannot serve two masters, but must pick one. Shall you follow Christ in the way of truth or shall you follow the crowd who conforms with the world and its dark prince? We cannot be both Catholics and good members of society any more, but must be the voice of truth in an age of falsity. The end of the Temple which Christ prophesizes in today’s Gospel is not just the ancient Temple in Jerusalem, reduced now to only its foundations. It is the temple of the world, which must also fall and be destroyed before it can be reborn.
The prophecy of Malachi we hear in the first reading is a frightening one, but it shall come true: a day of fire and wrath that will envelope everything. For the wicked, for those who choose falsehood, that fire shall continue forever. But for the faithful, for those who fear the name of the Lord and seek He who is truth, that fire will turn into the sun, and they shall see the truth and rejoice in that truth forever. The choice is ours: shall we walk with the emperor of the age as he struts around pretending to be in control, or shall we be the little child who declares the truth behind all truths: “Jesus is Lord”? May we have the grace to make the true choice and to bear witness to the truth, even at the cost of our lives, hopeful in the words of the Lord: “By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”
No comments:
Post a Comment