Diary of a Ghetto Priest | What is Truth?

What is the right thing to do? What is good? What is evil? What is truth? What is falsehood?

What should I do with my life? How best can I use my talents?

What is happiness? Is there such a thing?

Is there life after death?

Is there anything else but pleasure and money in this life?

When faced with condem-nation, Jesus was described by the pagan Pontius Pilateas "Ecce Homo", or 'behold the man'. Christ is the definition of the true man. That is the truth! And we derive the beauty and power and goodness of our humanity by being like Him.

We are absorbing our life from His very life, given from His word or sacrament, His very body and blood. There is His life sacrificed and delivered over to us by His heavenly Father and by He Himself who loved us all unto death.

Jesus Christ is true man and true God. He is my hero. In a world absent of any truth, we still have the truth, Christ is true God and true Man. He is all that any human person needs to be.

There is no one so truthful as Him. We are all His brother. He is like us, we are like Him. He will always be more than we are, but we can become like Him. We can participate in His life. There is no one who is as good as He is. He brought good news to everyone.

He gave everything to the poor. To the hungry, food; to the blind, sight; to the deaf, hearing; to the sick, good health; to the poor, a special place in His heart.

What about sinners? He gives forgiveness. What about our enemies? He offers love. To the wicked who would murder Him? Kindness and wide open arms welcome us.

Jesus lived as a true man

He did it! He actually did it! He was a man, a true man. He walked the earth and learned lessons from His parents. He lived as a human person and undertook human life as a true man.

He underwent temptations, rejection, scorn, hatred, physical beatings, insults, and even death as every one of us. He knew thieves, prostitutes, and tax collectors and forgave them. This brought about compassion in His heart. We are poor people - poor in our ability to love, poor in our understanding of God. He granted to us our desire for meaning and purpose in our lives.

What is truth? Truth at its most basic level asks, who am I? What do I do with my life? What are my gifts? Truth requires reality! Reality! Reality! Reality! Can't you see, my brothers and sisters, everybody is looking for truth. But not an abstraction, not just concept, but a truth lived! To see, touch, hear, to be present to, to deal with everyday life. This Christ must touch people, be part of our lives. The Christian message must be lived, not just preached with our fingers pointing to the sky.

Jesus Christ is the truth! The only difference between Christ and ourselves is that we are sinners. We give in to weaknesses. Nobody is without sin! Except for Christ Himself, and He understands us and makes sinners become saints. I know many saints, but I am not a saint!

But I do want to be holy and saintly so that I'll be like Christ. We are all sinners, but we should want to be holy and saintly. And we will be. You might know I am not saint, and perhaps you are not. But strangely, we will become more saintly if we love Jesus Christ. We become more and more like Christ, the one we love.

I want Jamaica to be a nation of saints! Despite all the wickedness in our island, we still are a God-loving people. Let us live out the life of Christ as best as each one of us can. There is no greater truth that anyone can fulfil but that we are brothers and sisters of our Lord Jesus Christ!