Homily of the Day

Monday in the Octave of Easter

Truth is a tricky thing. Stories are inherently biased, and as these get passed on from one to the other, we discover just how malleable they can be. We ourselves bend the truth every so often, whether for “noble” reasons like protecting loved ones from disgrace or disillusion, or for more selfish ones like avoiding consequences of wrong actions we persist in doing.

In today’s gospel reading, the price of the truth was an easy lie from the chief priests and a “good sum of money.” The high priests loved the limelight. It was imperative to keep their fellow Jews in the dark, lest the truth of the resurrection set them free—and into the light of the Risen Lord. The resurrection, after all, is the single most important event in our religious history. It signals our ransom and freedom from sin, and the triumph over death in all its forms—not just physically, but spiritually. The empty tomb is an eternal symbol of hope.

In our lives, how often are we tempted to manipulate the truth so we don’t look like the bad guys? Does this approach set us free, as we hope? In this season of renewal, let us avoid trapping ourselves in webs of lies and resolve to stand for truth and the freedom it brings. The resurrection is real, and like truth, it will prevail in our lives, undenied. And this is something worth telling the world.

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