What is truth? # 1 of 2

What is truth? # 1 of 2
In pursuit of the truth – www.cinopsbegone.com - Wednesday, May 5, 2010

About 18 years before he became Pope, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger wrote a classic, concise and poignant meditation on truth. {Co-Workers of the Truth, Meditations for Every Day, Ignatius – 1992}

“Truth is not one of the great moral catchwords of our age; it does not stand high on the roster of virtues… Considering the widespread social concern of our epoch, there seems to be little time left for the wearisome and boring questions of truth.

“Indeed there are some who suspect that it serves us rather as a way of bypassing pressing human problems; that it is far from offering an answer to these problems… But what shall we say, then, about truth? Where is it actually to be found? What does it mean?

“I would like to attempt an answer to the question by relating a brief episode from the life of Pater Rupert Mayer. Rupert Mayer became acquainted with Hitler as early as 1919 when the latter was discussion leader at a Communist meeting. At that early period, when Hitler was not yet recognized as the future dictator, it could still seem on the whole likely that, despite some annoying traits, he could become an ally in the struggle against the threat of Marxism. Hitler himself had hinted at this.

“In 1923, he sent Father Rupert Mayer, a congratulatory telegram on the occasion of his Silver Jubilee as a priest – no doubt realizing that a patriotic priest, who had served the Fatherland well, who was favorably regarded in the city, and who had joined the ranks of Hitler’s followers – that such a one could be very important and very helpful to him in winning over those persons, especially those Catholics, who were hesitant about espousing his cause.

“We know how difficult it was for German and even foreign intellectuals, whether they were writers, scholars, politicians or theologians, to see through Hitler and to realize what was actually at stake, and we do not want to judge too leniently.

“Father Mayer, who was not an intellectual, but a simple priest, recognized as it were, the mask of Antichrist in something that we might well have overlooked. He realized from the beginning that Hitler constantly exaggerated and had no scruples about lying. One who does not respect the truth cannot construct anything worthwhile. If truth is not held in honor, then freedom, justice, and love cannot flourish. Truth, by which I mean the simple, humble, patient truth of daily life, is the foundation of all the other virtues.

"I am not speaking here about truth in matters of great importance, such as God, the world, and human beings, but about truth in those matters of small importance that impinge on our daily lives – but the two are not to be separated. And one who has qualms about treading ruthlessly on the truth in small matters cannot claim to be a guarantor of the truth in greater matters… To be continued