Day 321: Offenses Against Truth (2475-2487)

• It’s Day 321!!

• OFFENSES AGAINST TRUTH 

• These are things like false witness, perjury, rash judgment, detraction, calumny, boasting, bragging

• We usually think of lying as the offense against truth, and it is

• Let’s pray!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, we thank you and praise your name. May you be honored and glorified. May you be known by every human being. The truth of what you are, the truth of who you are, may you be known. May you be known in the depths of our hearts and the depths of our intellect, Lord God. And not only help us to know the truth of who you are, help us to live that truth. And in all ways, Lord God, we ask you to help us to live in humility. And humility is nothing more than telling the truth. Truth of who you are, the truth of who we are, and the truth of reality. Help us to walk in humility before you this day and every day. Help us to walk the truth, this day and every day. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”

• So there we have it!!

• Paragraph 2476 says, “False witness and perjury. When it is made publicly, a statement contrary to the truth takes on a particular gravity. In court it becomes false witness. When it is under oath, it is perjury. Acts such as these contribute to condemnation of the innocent, exoneration of the guilty, or the increased punishment of the accused. They gravely compromise the exercise of justice and the fairness of judicial decisions.”

• There are real consequences to our speech 

• All of our sins have eternal consequences

• They cut us off from the Lord and lead to spiritual death

• They also have temporal or earthly consequences

• Paragraph 2477 says, “Respect for the reputation of persons forbids every attitude and word likely to cause them unjust injury. He becomes guilty: -of rash judgment who, even tacitly, assumes as true, without the sufficient foundation, the moral fault of neighbor; -of detraction who, without objectively valid reason, discloses another’s faults and failings to persons who did not know them; -of calumny who, by remarks contrary to the truth, harms the reputation of others and gives occasion for false judgments concerning them.”

• Gossip is telling something that is true about another person to someone who doesn’t need to know that

• Calumny is when it is not true

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike talk about his days in seminary…

• A Jewish rabbi taught him that in order to avoid sinning against the Eighth Commandment, one did not talk about another even in positive things

• To speak about another person at all, even about positive things, opens the door for the possibility of there being detraction or calumny

• This is not the Church’s rule

• But this could be a guideline

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike’s example about Jill dropping off some food…

• When it comes to guarding our speech, we even have to guard the beginnings of speech

• It’s not that you can never talk about someone else

• It just pays to be guarded

• Paragraph 2478 says, “To avoid rash judgment, everyone should be careful to interpret insofar as possible his neighbor’s thoughts, words, and deeds in a favorable way: Every good Christian ought to be more ready to give a favorable interpretation to another’s statement than to condemn it. But if he cannot do so, let him ask how the other understands it. And if the latter understands it badly, let the former correct him with love. If that does not suffice, let the Christian try all suitable ways to bring the other to a correct interpretation so that he may be saved.”

• There is a call to accept the people who we are in relationship with at face value and to assume the best

• It is not benign innocent as doves without also being as clever as serpents

• We need to do both

• Paragraph 2479 says, “Detraction and calumny destroy the reputation and honor of one’s neighbor. Honor is the social witness given to human dignity, and everyone enjoys a natural right to the honor of his name and reputation and to respect. Thus, detraction and calumny offend against the virtues of justice and charity.”

• What are some of the ways we give ourselves a pass on detraction and calumny?

• It is usually when we do not know them

• It is someone who is in the public eye like a celebrity, politician, or athlete, etc.

• We think that is the price of being in the public eye that people will have an opinion about them and talk about their faults and their relationships

• Unless, it is part of my responsibility and role to talk about these things, then I do not have a responsibility to do that

• IN FACT…

• My responsibility is to not be involved in the detraction or the calumny of someone else

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike talk about a man who was a co-manager along with someone else…

• Oooh! An Office allusion!!!! 😉

• There are times when you might have to talk about someone and their faults

• That is very different than talking about those other person’s faults to someone who does not need to know them

• Paragraph 2480 says, “Every word of attitude is forbidden which by flattery, adulation, or complaisance encourages and confirms another in malicious acts and perverse conduct. Adulation is a grave fault if it makes one an accomplice in another’s vices or grave sins. Neither the desire to be of service nor friendship justifies duplicitous speech. Adulation is a venial sin when it only seeks to be agreeable, to avoid evil, to meet a need, or to obtain legitimate advantages.”

• If someone commits a grave sin and I praise them for that, I am now an accomplice in that grave sin

• We think a true friend is someone who is supportive no matter what the friend does, even if it is a grave sin

• When was the last time that you thought being agreeable could be a sin?

• When it comes to someone else's sins, to be agreeable could be a sin

• Being a brownnoser in order to obtain legitimate advantages is duplicitous and is manipulative of another person

• Paragraph 2481 says, “Boasting or bragging is an offense against the truth. So is irony aimed at disparaging someone by maliciously caricaturing some aspect of his behavior.”

• Boasting is not just saying that you can do something that is impressive

• Boasting is a violation of humility

• Humility is thinking of yourself less

• Humility is living the truth

• Humility is acknowledging the truth of reality

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike talk about cutting down a tree…

• Boasting is extolling or vaunting one’s abilities beyond those abilities

• Irony as humor is quite funny

• Irony as humor oftentimes comes across as sarcasm and sarcasm can be wounding

• Sarcasm comes from two Latin words that mean rending or tearing flesh

• Sarcasm can come across as malicious, as a way that hurts another person

• Not all irony is hurtful

• A malicious caricature is taking some aspect of a person’s behavior or character and overemphasizing it to the point where now it is no longer true

• On its own, this aspect may have some merit, but overblowing it so that it is no longer true

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike give an example using a celebrity…

• We have a tendency to do this when a person belongs to the other political party, or if it is someone we do not like

• This also happens in relationships

• How often have you been backed against the wall in an argument with someone you love and they say one thing and you take that and overblow it

• You aren’t hearing everything they are saying

• You are taking one thing they said and refuse to let go of it

• In essence, you are maliciously caricaturing one aspect of what they said

• Paragraph 2483 says, “Lying is the most direct offense against the truth. To lie is to speak or act against the truth in order to lead someone into error. By injuring man’s relation to truth and to his neighbor, a lie offends against the fundamental relation of man and of his word to the Lord.”

• Paragraph 2484 says, “The gravity of a lie is measured against the nature of the truth it deforms, the circumstances, the intentions of the one who lies, and the harm suffered by its victims. If a lie in itself only constitutes a venial sin, it becomes mortal when it does grave injury to the virtues of justice and charity.”

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike give an example…

• Paragraph 2485 says, “By its very nature, lying is to be condemned. It is a profanation of speech, whereas the purpose of speech is to communicate known truth to others. The deliberate intention of leading  a neighbor into error by saying things contrary to the truth constitutes a failure in justice and charity. The culpability is greater when the intention of deceiving entails the risk of deadly consequences for those who are led astray.”

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike talk about World War II and hiding Jews from the Nazis…

• When we have two competing goods, the good of truth and the good of charity, which do we choose?

• We are only obliged to tell the truth to those who deserve to know the truth and deserve to hear the truth

• We always toe the line between truthfulness and discretion

• Paragraph 2487 says, “Every offense committed against justice and truth entails the duty of reparation, even if its author has been forgiven. When it is impossible publicly to make reparation for a wrong, it must be made secretly. If someone who has suffered harm cannot be directly compensated, he must be given moral satisfaction in the name of charity. This duty of reparation also concerns offenses against another’s reputation. This reparation, moral and sometimes material, must be evaluated in terms of the extent of the damage inflicted. It obliges in conscience.”

• If i have lied, do I have a duty to tell the truth at some point?

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike talk about a drunk driver…

• Christians are called to live radical honesty in the course of our lives and radical reparation when needed

• There can be times when one must do what they can to make reparation for their sins

• Will it do more damage to tell the truth than it would to remain silent?

• We need to discern that

• There can be times when telling the truth won’t help the victim, it might even hurt them, but it would make me feel better

• In that case, maybe not telling the truth is better

• If it is just to make myself feel better and someone else feel worse, maybe it is best to let sleeping dogs lie

• Discernment is necessary

• Courage is necessary

• Humility is necessary

• Walking and living the truth is necessary

• So we pray for God’s grace to help us do those things

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!

• I cannot WAIT…