Daily Reflection

From a Creighton Student's Perspective

June 1, 2011

Eric Lomas

1st Year Dental Student

Acts 17:15, 22-18:1
Jn 16:12-15

“But when he comes, the Spirit of Truth, he will guide you to all truth.”

What is truth?  Is it simply a construct of the human mind, a concept that we use to try and make sense of each other and the happenings of the world around us?  Is it something that is relative to each individual, dependent upon his or her situation, personality, frame of mind, and upbringing?  Is there an absolute truth, either accessible or inaccessible to a questing human heart? 

The questions could go on and on, and they have for millennia.  Philosophers still talk about the concept of truth and the various levels of interpretation that accompany it.  I will not try to answer all of the questions, because there are no answers, at least in the sense that everyone will agree with me upon them.  In trying to answer we would be talking in circles about truth with the wisdom lovers of Athens, as Paul attests to in today’s first reading.  In my opinion, doing so would be good for all of us.  Talking about such things helps us to delineate what we truly believe and how we see the world. 

However, despite the wisdom that we can gain from hiking trails of endless questions with each other, Paul reminds us that God transcends such things.  Somehow the Spirit of Truth is beyond all of our human questing. 


If we seek proof, some sort of scientific evidence, we will be so focused on finding that answer that we will end up stumbling over the truth of Christ.  If we become consumed by the questions, never settling for anything less than a final, ultimate answer to our doubts, then we will call the truth of Christ much too simple-minded and easy. 

As we grow, we recognize that the world is not a place made for simple answers to all of our questions.   There is no worldly or logical answer that can satisfy the mind’s need for understanding.  That realization can be horribly frustrating and easier to deny than accept.  Christ provides us with the answer, offering us freedom from the weight of the questions.  He does not ask us to stop considering them, to stop seeking wisdom, he is simply offering us respite from the impossible task of trying to reconcile the world with how we want it to be. 

The answer is love.

We are loved and we are called to love.  If we accept the security that comes with such a profound revelation we can rise up as free men and women, open to face the challenges of the world, seeking wisdom with open minds and yearning hearts.



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