Today begins a week of prayer for Christian unity, during which we should give time to read the catechism and become familiar with the tenets of our religion. It is only when we are familiar with what we believe that we can reach out to others who don’t understand.

Thursday is a day of prayer and penance as we remember that our nation is one that legalized the killing of children and continues to slide down that immoral road, which affects all stages of human life, even our lives.

I think these things coming together is a sign for all us to see that, as Saint Paul says that, “The body is not for immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body…therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:13c-13a, 17-20).

I found a quote in Blessed Paul VI’s encyclical letter, Humanae Vitae where he quotes John XXIII saying, “No course of action “is acceptable which does violence to man’s essential dignity; those who propose such solutions base them on an utterly materialistic conception of man himself and his life. The only possible solution to this question is one which sees the social and economic progress both of individuals and of the whole of human society, and which respects and promotes true human values.” (26)

This is a good yardstick for making decisions that will affect not just us but for human beings everywhere.

We heard Jesus asking his disciples, “What are you looking for?” When they responded, “where are you staying,” meaning what are you about, Jesus responds, “Come, and you will see.” Jesus wants us to look into His life and see with the eyes of faith that He is ‘the Way, the Truth and the Life’ and that ‘no one goes to the Father except through Me.’

What we really seek, my friends, is Truth in its absolute and unchangeable reality. The Truth we seek is not here on earth. It is not a material. We can’t touch it. We can’t hoard it. Truth is a universal reality that comes from God alone.

Take for instance the Ten Commandments. There you find universal truths: Murder is wrong. Worship God alone above all things, stealing is wrong. Value your neighbor’s goods and respect your neighbor’s wife. These are universal and unchanging truths that pertain to me as an individual.

The worse thing I ever heard someone say is, ‘this is my truth.’ There is no ‘my truth.’ Truth is that which is of God! Truth is the yardstick I use to make sure I am on the path to holiness. Truth doesn’t change because ‘I’ don’t like it. Truth never changes.

Jesus is calling us this morning to see with the eyes of faith. He calls each of us, like Samuel, individually and as a parish, to answer His call. If we respond, “Speak Lord, your servant is listening,” He will tell you how to see things through the eyes of Jesus, instead of seeing the world as dangerous, and chaotic, we will see a world filled with hope and promise.

Redirect your minds and hearts not to worldly things but rather to the knowledge and love of God. Model yourselves in the light of all Truth, which can only be found in Jesus Christ.