From today’s Scripture: “Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’”—Mt 5:37

There was a great television series about 20 years ago called House. It was about a brilliant doctor who was also a bit of a misanthrope at worst or a curmudgeon at best. But if you were sick, you wanted Dr. House looking into your illness.

House had many great aphorisms. One was: “Everybody lies.” He found this to be particularly true when he was trying to understand people’s symptoms. Inevitably, when something did not align between a patient’s symptoms, their story, and the possible disease, Dr. House would assume that the patient was lying. He was usually right.

Probably, we all lie as well. We tell small, white lies, and, sometimes, we tell bigger lies. In our worst case, our lies go so deep and are so common that we don’t even know if we’re lying.

In the Gospel today, Jesus is inviting us to consider telling the truth. It’s a great reminder. Some would say that we are only as healthy or holy as the biggest lie we tell. If we want to be holy, let’s try our best to tell the truth.

Let us pray: Jesus, forgive me for the lies I have told and lived. Help me to be more honest with you and with others. 

Today’s author is Father Aaron Wessman, first vice president of Glenmary and author of The Church’s Mission in a Polarized World.

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