(The Nationalist, 6 January 2006)
Moral courage and intellectual honesty are in short supply in Irish life. They are deficiencies in our national character. When you look at some court cases, especially those involving claims for compensation, and some practices in social welfare claims, you can see that there is a lot of lying, even under oath. I remember discussing this matter a few years ago with two people, both of whom said that, if they were in court, they would lie under oath if it was to their advantage. That is a shameful admission: a Christian should tell the truth. And a truth concealed is as bad as a lie told.
If people could say about us, ‘He or she will always speak the truth, no matter what’, that would be high praise indeed. But could it be said? Do we tell the truth, or do we tell lies? If you look at the soap operas on TV, which in some way reflect public attitudes, it’s noticeable how the characters lie to each other, without, seemingly, any disturbance to their conscience. When caught, they admit that they lied, and do so without a blush. But truthfulness is the bedrock of credibility, trust, respect, and of community.
There is more to truthfulness than simply not telling lies. There is also doing and living the truth. Have we numbed ourselves into political correctness, going passively with the flow of prevailing fashions and fads? Has the fear of being thought different so stultified us that we no longer even see the truth for ourselves, much less have the courage to speak it?
Just after a person has been baptised, the priest anoints them, saying, ‘As Christ was anointed king, priest and prophet, so may you live always as a member of his body…’
For many people, a prophet is someone who foretells the future. In the Bible, a prophet is one who forth-tells the present more than foretelling the future. Jesus was more like a prophet than any other biblical figure. The word “prophet” need not conjure up the image of a fiery orator, angrily, perhaps arrogantly, denouncing the sins of others. The work of truth, which is at the heart of prophecy, can proceed quietly, with few words. A prophet is one who reads the signs of the times with perceptiveness, who speaks and does the truth when all around is spin, PR, or lying.
Truthfulness involves seeing things as they are, calling them by name, and taking responsibility for our part in them. It means doing what is right and true, even at personal cost. Christians are called to that challenge; it is part of our baptismal vocation. If we face it, we will be respected and listened to. ‘As Christ was anointed King, Priest and Prophet, so may you live always as a member of his body…’
For those in a hurry: ‘Truth is conformity between the intellect and reality’ (Saint Thomas Aquinas)