I know it’s on people’s minds, but I don’t have much to say about the recent scandal. Which one, you might ask? The Catholic Health Association supporting the so-called “health care reform” bill, denying that abortions will be funded—and increased—by it, in blatant defiance of the Bishops and the teachings of the Church? Many so-called Catholic politicians campaigning and pushing the same legislation, also in open defiance of the Church, and falsely claiming that one can be pro-abortion or “pro-choice” and be a faithful, ardent practicing Catholic? Or the vicious attacks accusing Pope Benedict of covering up sexual abuse, attacks which misrepresent the facts or ignore them altogether? I’m not going to write about the details. Jimmy Akin already did that in an excellent post tracing the actual events, complete with links to documents online, Cardinal Ratzinger An Evil Monster? and Evil Monster Update: The Inside Story.

And, yes, I am aware that two of the Four Horsemen (pardon me, but I always burst into giggles whenever I think of them flattering themselves that way) are now calling for the arrest of the Holy Father for “crimes against humanity” when he makes his visit to England. If I had any doubts before about who those jokers served, I don’t now. Not that I had any doubts. I’ve heard them speak and have read enough of their articles and books to know exactly who speaks through them. Good grief…

But I’m not going to attempt to dismantle all the lies, the twists and turns, the deceptions and falsifications foisted on us by malingering denizens of the media. I’m not going to spend my time that way. I’m not going to spend your time that way. The words of Pope John Paul II to Cardinal Gagnon come to my mind more and more these days:

“‘[E]rror makes its way because truth is not taught. We must teach the truth whenever we see something which is against the truth. We must teach the truth, repeat it, not attacking the ones who teach errors because that would never end—they are so numerous. We have to teach the truth.’ …[T]ruth has a grace attached to it. Anytime we speak the truth, we conform to what Christ teaches and what is being taught us by the Church…The truth may not immediately enter in the mind and heart of those to whom we talk, but the grace of God is there and at the time they need it, God will open their heart and they will accept it.” —From 50 Questions on the Natural Law by Dr. Charles Rice.

As I look over the posts I’ve written on this blog, I realize that I’ve paid less attention to and have written less about the truth of Catholicism and have spent more energy addressing the errors of her detractors and other errors that don’t relate directly to the Church at all. The past few weeks I’ve been splitting my time between reading the Bible and my favorite book on Carmelite spirituality and studying American history. I’ve got my little mass market paperback introduction to the Constitution here on the table and I’m beginning to study that again too. (I started studying it last February but didn’t get very far then.) Something’s been bugging me, playing hide and seek with me, tugging at my mind, hiding out of sight at the edges of my vision. Something I’m supposed to say or write but I haven’t known what it was.

So I think I’m going to try something different: I may comment on events to some extent and from time to time; but mostly I’m going to take the teachings and truths of Catholicism and explore those. Because people are hungry for truth. They may be looking in all the wrong places for that truth and they may not even realize they’re searching. But the hunger for truth is part of being human. That need is built right into us. We must seek truth and we must find it or we will be miserable. We won’t be living up to what our souls demand of us and we’ll know it.

Some people deny that there is any such thing as truth. You might as well deny yourself food to eat, water to drink, and air to breathe. That is how much we need truth. You can deny it, pretend it’s not there or that you don’t need it, but that’s the way to starve yourself. Or you can try to fill the void within with all kinds of spurious substitutes. That way lies spiritual anorexia. Anemia of the soul. And death. Truth gives life. Gives freedom. Gives real liberty, the ability and freedom to do the thing that is right.

That is what I pray for. For me. For you. For all of us. Freedom. Liberty. Joy. Peace. The freedom, liberty, joy and peace that come only from seeking, finding and holding onto truth. No matter what.

Thank you for reading. Hope you’ll join me here again soon. We’ll see what happens. I have to tell you, I feel a lightness, a freeness in my chest that I haven’t felt in a while. I don’t think it’s all from the allergy pill I took either. I think I’m feeling…hope. Not the worried, feeble kind of hope. The faith-filled kind. The uplifted kind. That’s something else I pray for: that you will be filled with hope. And faith. And grace. Peace be with you, peace be to you, whoever you are, wherever you are. See you soon.