Devotion for today: So what is truth?

I love to read Jesus' final discourse  as recorded in the Gospel of John, particularly during Holy Week. This week I have been struck by how many times Jesus uses the word “truth” as He gives His final good-bye to His disciples before He heads into His passion and death. It causes me to wonder: is it here we find the answer to the question Pilate poses to Jesus as he interrogates him? Remember in John’s account of the passion, Pilate asks Jesus if He is a king, and Jesus replies in John 18:37: “It is you who say I am a king. The reason I was born, the reason why I came into the world, is to testify to the truth. Anyone committed to the truth hears my voice.” Pilate responds in John 18:18: “Truth? What does that mean?” Jesus makes it very clear what truth is, if we carefully read His last words at the Last Supper. They remind me of what Fulton Sheen used to say: “The truth is still the truth even when no one believes it, and a lie is still a lie even when everyone believes it.” That sounds a bit like our world today, doesn’t it? Holy Week is a good time for us to reflect on the word ‘truth’ and to examine ourselves carefully. Do we believe in Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life? Is His the truth upon which we base our lives, or do we buy into the lies surrounding us in our daily lives: the lies the world preaches, the lies the evil one whispers in our ears to bring us down, the lies we tell ourselves to justify actions or hold onto past hurts? It is time this week to explore the Truth, to claim it as our path for life, and to atone for any lies which govern or have governed our minds and hearts. The Truth, my friends, will set us free, so pray to have the Spirit of Truth enter your soul, and release you from the spirit of lies. Remember, the words Jesus spoke to His disciples that Holy Thursday night, He speaks to us today.

John 14:5: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father also. From this point on you know him; you have seen him.”

John 14:16-17: I will ask the Father and he will give you another Paraclete- to be with you always: the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot accept, since it neither sees him nor recognizes him; but you can recognize him, because he remains with you, and will be within you.

John 14:23: Jesus answered: “Anyone who loves me will be true to my word, and my Father will love him; we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.

John 15:26-27: When the Paraclete comes, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father – and whom I myself will send from the Father – he will bear witness on my behalf. You must bear witness as well…

John 16:7-8, 13: “Yet I tell you the sober truth: It is much better for you that I go. If I fail to go, the Paraclete will never come to you, whereas if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin, about justice, about condemnation. When he comes, however, being the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but will speak only what he hears, and will announce to you the things to come.

John 17:14-19: I gave them your word, and the world has hated them for it; they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but to guard them from the evil one. They are not of the world, any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them by means of truth – ‘Your word is truth.’ As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world; I consecrate myself for their sakes now, that they may be consecrated in truth.

Prayer: Prayer for the Indwelling of the Spirit by Saint Augustine of Hippo

Holy Spirit, powerful Consoler, sacred Bond of the Father and the Son, hope of the afflicted, descend into my heart and establish in it your loving dominion. Enkindle in my tepid soul the fire of your Love so that I may be wholly subject to you. We believe that when you dwell in us, you also prepare a dwelling for the Father and the Son. Deign, therefore, to come to me, Consoler of abandoned souls, and Protector of the needy. Help the afflicted, strengthen the weak, and support the wavering. Come and purify me. Let no evil desire take possession of me. You love the humble and resist the proud. Come to me, glory of the living, and hope of the dying. Lead me by your grace that I may always be pleasing to you. Amen.
http://www.catholic.org/prayers/prayer.php?p=334