Devotion to the Truth

Reflection on Today's Readings and Memorial of St. Alphonsus Liguori
Texts: Jer. 26:11-16; Ps. 69:15-16,30-31,33-34; Matt. 14:1-12
Devotion to the truth requires offering of one's life. Anyone who is not ready to offer his life at the altar of Truth has lost the fight for the Truth from onset. Truth is served with one's own life. This is clear in today's readings.
In the first reading, Jeremiah told the people the Truth but they could not take it and as such they wanted him dead. He offered his life to defend the Truth he had spoken by saying, "But as for me, behold, I am in your hands. Do with me as seems good and right to you. Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and its inhabitants, for in truth the Lord sent me to speak all these words in your ears". The Truth protected Jeremiah and gave him back his life.
John the Baptist was another person who offered his life in defence of the Truth; he died in service for the Truth. He was put in prison and finally beheaded because he told king Herod the truth that it was unlawful for him to marry Herodias, his brother's wife. While the Truth restored to Jeremiah a temporal life, it restored to John the Baptist eternal life. Truth always protect and restores our lives to us, whether in this life or in the world to come.
St. Alphonsus Liguori, whose memorial is today, also lived in service of the Truth. In his writings and preachings, he defended the Truth; his excellence in moral theology made him to be taken as a patron of moral theologians. He had preferential option for the poor, and he established a congregation, Redemptorists, to evangelize the poor.

Lord our God, give us the courage to be able to offer our lives for the Truth. Amen.

Fr. Andrew Olowomuke