September 30, 2009

Q: How are you supposed to respond to a friend or family member who doesn’t want to hear the truth? Why would anyone not want to hear or know the truth?

A: People actually prefer ignorance (“darkness”) to truth (“light”) because truth exposes their “evil deeds” (See Jn 3:19-21). St. Augustine gave a brilliant response to this timeless question, which he dealt with more than 1,600 years ago in his famous autobiography “Confessions” (Book X, Ch. 23). Augustine makes several important points:

• All men want to be happy.
• Which would you rejoice in: truth or falsehood? A reasonable person would rejoice in the truth.
• A happy life, therefore, consists of joy in the truth.
• Augustine said he had never experienced anyone who wanted to be deceived; although he had experienced many who wanted to deceive others.
• If no one wants to be deceived, why, then, do some people not rejoice in the truth? Why does truth “beget hatred” in some people? 
Augustine answers:
• Because they love something else more than truth (it could be some lesser good besides God; or some sin or vice).
• They love the truth when she shines on them; but hate her when she rebukes them.
• They love her when she reveals herself (or someone else) but hate her when she reveals them.

“The human mind, so blind and sick, so base and unseemly,” Augustine said, “desires to lie concealed, but wishes not that anything should be concealed from it.”

But here’s the kicker: even though people want to hide from the truth because she’ll expose their faults, yet they rejoice when she does reveal them because all people, deep down, are happy when they know the truth.

That’s why we always feel better after going to confession. Even though we may be reluctant to go because we don’t want to expose our faults, we feel better when we do because we have faced the truth squarely.

This week’s apologist is James Cavanagh, director of the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis for metro area parishes and author of the Breaking Open the Word Scripture reflection. Send your question to: editor@archden.org.