Who Can You Trust?

 

Dear Parishioners,

Many moons ago, I had an elderly professor in the seminary who taught us canon (church) law. He was a person who was well-seasoned from years of experience as a priest dealing with people in general, but failed marriages in particular. He handled the process of annulments for his diocese. Having been told by other seminarians that he would utter a particular phrase when prompted, we were all too eager to bait him frequently with a hypothetical question. Father, do people always tell you the truth when they come to you seeking an annulment? The bait was set. Would he take it?  Gentlemen, they lie and they lie and they lie. Never failed; like clockwork.

I sadly think in similar manner when I look at the world around me.  Who can I trust?  The media? Politicians? Big pharma? Doctors? Educators? Lawyers? Lobbyists? Corrupt church officials (think McCarrick)? Need I go on?  They lie and they lie and they lie!

Yes, I am cynical, at times, and skeptical quite often. Can you blame me? Look at the approval ratings for the media and politicians.  If they got any lower they would actually be communicating to us or legislating on our behalf from Hades or Sheol or Gehenna.  Speaking of such a place, need I remind you who is considered the Father of Lies?

Today the Gospel provides us with an alternative to all of this. I am the way and the truth and the life (Jn.14:6). Very bold words indeed!  Certainly you have heard of the liar, lunatic, Lord trilemma.  Who can say such things as Jesus did?  Is He a liar, a lunatic or is He Lord?  C.S. Lewis put it so eloquently:

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him [that is, Christ]: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic–on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg–or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse.... You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. —Mere Christianity

I am the Bread of Life . . .

I am the Resurrection and the Life . . .

I am the Light of the World . . .

I am the Way, the Truth and the Life . . .

I Am.

We all must make a choice.  No fence-sitting. Who is Jesus? 

Lord Jesus, I trust in Thee!

Fr. Ed Namiotka

Pastor

C.S. Lewis