The Truth will set you free..

Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky


Truth is a beautiful thing! I was just thinking about its power and fierceness yesterday.
Truth has the ability to open the eyes of the blind and soft the hearts of the hardened! Truth is that which can and will penetrate the person because that is what it was made to do. You and I were made for the truth!


This is kind of a bold statement considering the amount of rationalizing, manipulating and lying that goes on in this world. It happens so often that truth does not seem real and what the world has distorted us to think is that truth is,  saving face, getting what I want at all costs and being the person that people want me to be.  The reality is that, that is the LIE- the truth is the very thing that unravels the manipulations, allows us to be real and also pushes us to be everything that we were made to be.  It also calls us to desire that in, not just the world around us, but then company we keep.  I know for myself, their is nothing harder then watching someone living in a false reality. Living in a way that you know denies the very person that they are. It is tough, and what is even tougher is having to be the light of that truth.  The truth is beautiful, but it hurts. It can hurt as bad as a slap in the face, because it surprises the one who has not been living in it and then stings -- It is exactly what you needed and nothing that you wanted.  


The Gospel this third Sunday of Lent spoke very much of truth--Now there were two gospels, Cycle A w/ the scrutinies and Cycle A-- I got the one with the scrutinies and that Gospel spoke of the woman at the well.  She was a woman living in shame--hence why she went to the well at noon, no one went there then because of the heat, so she could go with no worries of being called names or worse, being called out. So she went and Jesus met her there, as he does with all us in the midst of out lies and sins! He met her and spoke to her with not just mercy but firm justice.  He spoke truth to her, knowing that she then would have to make a choice to believe and drink of the living waters that He spoke of to her.  He brought her sin to the light, and gave her hope through his living waters.  Saying in many ways to her, "you don't have to live this way anymore, and you can have a new life if you want it...there is hope." 


Where there is truth there is hope to be found.  Whatever that truth that is given to you may be. I believe that the reason the truth sets us free is that it gives an opportunity to choose a simpler more life giving way.  I never, and no one ever said,  that way would be easy, but it is a chance to live in a genuine, authentic light.  A light that only Christ can provide for you and me. Christ came to die for us out of love for us and to bring that light of truth upon a dark and hopeless world.  He in many ways asks us to do the same with our lights,
  
You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father. (Mt 5:14-16)


 We are called to be light in a darkened world..we are called to be Christ to others.  As we have received the gift of the truth in healing and forgiveness, we are in turn to go out and do the same. It is scary out there and shining your light is taking quite a risk, but:  if are God is for us, who can be against us. (Rom 8:31)

The key is the relationship with God. Nothing is really difficult when you have love and live in truth.  When you drink of the streams of the living water, you know that the truth you speak is not your own but of the one who has brought you to light.  Who has given you the ability to see such truth--we need to be Christ to others so that the world can be reached. 

Truth is a gift that we are given after being blinded, but I have found that I am even grateful for the times that I was blind to the truth because now I am a light bearer for that road for others.  I think of an image of a man on a dark road that carries a lamp--he is there to meet you in the darkness and that is what we are to be to others.  And we are to walk until they either reject the light or find there own! 

Truth is a hard pill to swallow, but is most medicine that works. It is potent and powerful but when taken allows the body freedom from the suffering that it may be carrying.  

It's funny to me that sometimes we are called to speak truth to others and they may not be showing signs or symptoms--some diseases are masked and or maybe in a latent stage.  Speak the truth and allow God to work through you.  We are only the carriers of the truth and are not the truth itself. 

God is truth, God is light and God is purely and simply love and love is above all what we strive for.  Love requires more than just feelings-- love calls us to die, love calls us to live and love call us always to new life!!! 

The Mountain Top

Give me all of you!!! I don't want so much of your time, so much of your talents and money, and so much of your work. I want YOU!!! ALL OF YOU!! I have not come to torment or frustrate the natural man or woman, but to KILL IT! No half measures will do. I don't want to only prune a branch here and a branch there; rather I want the whole tree out! Hand it over to me, the whole outfit, all of your desires, all of your wants and wishes and dreams. Turn them ALL over to me, give yourself to me and I will make of you a new self---in my image. Give me yourself and in exchange I will give you Myself. My will, shall become your will. My heart, shall become your heart. --C. S. Lewis

So i went to mass today and as the priest spoke of the readings in the homily he specifically spoke of the mountain top theme that was all over the readings. Abraham walking up the mountain to sacrifice his only son and Jesus taking Peter, James and John up the mountain top to see Him transfigure before them.

The interesting part was how Father showed how in both readings their was an experience of transfiguration on the mountain top. How when Abraham reached his destination he proceeded to do what he was told, God’s will, and in that moment was asked to stop and not take his son’s life.  So in his attempt to do what he understood God’s will to be for him, God stopped him only to bless him in his act of faith and in turn Abraham was transfigured by his experience. 

I think to myself, how hard it is to climb that mountain top at any point in time and how, and as Father put it, it is a test of trust.  

And as I climb I get so tired and frustrated wondering day in and day out, have I lost my mind to walk this road upward like this? Have I lost my mind to say yes to God and act in such a way that requires a certain amount of suffering? The answer is yes I have lost my mind and what I am asking God to do is slowly but surely help me see as he sees and love as he loves.  I cannot do that with my mind...I have to lose mine for his.  I have to give up what I know, for what he knows. I have have to die to myself and do what my heart is calling me to and not necessarily what I think feels good.  Feeling good, does not bring transfiguration--death to self and pushing through what is comfortable is what brings about change and strength.

I am sure that Abraham was not happy with what God was asking of him, but he knew that God was calling him to more and and he knew that God knew best.

Transfiguration, or transformation brings only new life in Him who is calling you to take that risk and die to what you know feels comfortable. 

This time of year can almost be a bit scary--I think, I let go of something that may or may not have a hold on me for 40 days, or rather I add something in my life that changes the way I live.  Both call us to change--a change I do not see the outcome of.  I think from the first moment that lent starts, and we make a forty day commitment, we are attempting to transform--we fall in our attempt, but so did Christ on his way up the mountain top.  He actually fell three times -- he knows that the way up is painful, trying and hard, but he knows that his grace is sufficient.  He knows that as he called upon his own Father in his anguish--we too are to call upon the Father in those moments where lent gets way to hard and the journey to our calvary is way more painful than expected.

Transformation is scary, but it is a process and I think lent does a pretty good job of gauging where we are at in our spiritual lives.  It gives a pretty good read on how we treat ourselves in these times when we fall.  I know for me, I use to beat myself up more, but the reality is, I am human and I am going to fall and I am not gonna get it right all the time--it is not about getting it right all the time, it is about getting it.  It makes me laugh that even in my sacrifices I am prideful, wanting to get it perfect and make this 40 days like there is a grade that I am shooting for, or at then end of the 40 days there is a pizza party or I am trying to attain gold stars or something. haha!! Not at all....we give things up and attempt to draw closer to Christ--heck it might be harder to add things onto your life, because making time for God is not the priority it needs to be. 

That is the point of lent--to draw closer to Christ--to walk with him this road to calvary--to attempt to feel with him, every lash of that whip and thorn from the crown and nail on the cross. The point is that we draw more intimately in relationship with Our Lord, so that nothing in this world will ever be a hindrance to that loving relationship--the only relationship that matters.