Truth and witness

The Roman Catholic Lectionary today takes us to think about the theme of truth and witness. How are we schooled by God in our experience to lead us to truth? The marvelous status of Eucharistic people is that they seek to be what they are. We are the children of God, the Body of Christ. Friar Jude Winkler notes the chutzpah of Moses before God and cites a Jewish saying that God dances and claps His hands every time a creature wins an argument with Him. This schooling is similar to the facilitator urging the learner to self discovery. Truth developed by our experience in the Presence of God is much closer to our being than that which we are told to observe or understand. The Pharisees in the passage from the Gospel of John continue to press Jesus to conform to their understanding of truth. Human beings are expert at the construction of scenarios which complement our self gratifying tendencies to drive iconic experiences of God, who is visible through our works, our situation of life and the study we do of the relationship He is with humanity, into the worship and attention to idols which demand practice which is directed to self sustenance of our own truth in conscious and unconscious rejection of our nature and destiny as people in deep intimate relationship with God.  George Butterfield ofCreighton University tells us that this is the tendency for us to exchange what God offers us for something of lesser value and glory. Jesus directs us and the Pharisees to see the works, hear the Father and reflect on the experience of Moses as the icons which focus our mission to intimate relationship with God through working with and being Christ to our brothers and sisters.