Charity is the ultimate truth

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

WE need to be very clear about this point. We often contrast charity with truth, mercy with justice. And that’s because we consider these values and virtues more from our own point of view, based only on our experiences, observations, sciences, etc., that while giving us some elements of truth can really go so far as to tell us the whole truth.

It’s a truth that depends mainly on our perceptions, discernments, judgments and reasoning. In short, in the way we are. It tends to be self-established and developed. It’s a truth that is often held captive by one’s subjective ways, and averse to anything pertaining to the truth that can go against how we are.

And so, with this subjective kind of understanding of truth, we tend to have at best only a partial grasp of reality, or a tentative one, if not a distorted one, that is most vulnerable to be used by the many ulterior motives we can have.

The whole truth can only come from God who, being the Creator of the whole universe, reveals it to us completely in Christ, the son of God who became man to offer us “the way, the truth and the life.”

Our experiences, observation, sciences, facts and data, in the end, are heavily conditioned by things of nature which, while giving us some aspects and elements of truth, often neglect the basic truth about ourselves—that is, that we are meant to live a spiritual and supernatural life with God. Our purely human ways cannot give us the whole truth.

What is worse is that many of us claim that there is no God, and that everything would just depend on our own selves in whatever way we understand that dependence. Many of us refuse to acknowledge that there is such thing as the spiritual and supernatural world that transcends our natural and material world. It’s no wonder that we can only end up with all sorts of ideas and professions, often contradicting each other.

Of course, to know the whole truth which is charity, we need to have faith in God. The problem we often encounter in this department is that that faith in God is often denied. Instead, we rely on the faith in our own selves, in our own powers that clearly are limited and prone to error.

Truth therefore just cannot be reduced to a cold data, or to mere personal perceptions and understanding, no matter how scientific it is, or politically and socially popular its consensus is achieved. We really cannot have the truth unless that truth is held also in charity as taught to us by Christ.

This is where we have to make some drastic adjustments in our understanding of truth. It’s when truth equates with charity that we can achieve true justice and equality among us. That’s when we can truly be brothers and sisters to one another, without anyone higher or lower than the rest of us.

It’s when truth equates with charity that we can live genuine prudence and discretion, avoiding the stupidities of gossips and mindless chatter. We would know what and when to think, speak and act, and when not.

It’s when truth equals charity when we, all of us, can achieve our authentic and ultimate dignity as persons who are the image and likeness of God and children of his, meant to participate in the very life and nature of God.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com