The Pursuit of Truthfulness
We all pursue happiness, but do we pursue Truth just as much?
Reading: John 13:16-20
About a year ago, I was talking to a senior Dominican brother of our community in Oxford – I won’t say who – and I admitted to him that I thought I was ‘too worldly’. To which he responded, ‘oh good!’.
Now we remember one of the most unworldly Dominicans, Pope Saint Pius V, the observant Dominican and austere reformer, and the greatest of the four Dominican popes. You can see Pius V’s unworldliness in his uncompromising political decisions, the most famous of which concerned the Queen of England.
Evelyn Waugh wrote about this episode: “He confided in no one and took counsel from very few … he prayed earnestly about the situation in England, and saw it with complete clarity; it was a question that admitted of no doubt whatever. Elizabeth was illegitimate by birth, … she had deposed her bishops, issued a heretical Prayer Book and forbidden her subjects the comfort of the sacraments. No honourable Catholic could be expected to obey her.”
Pope Pius therefore excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I and not only absolved her subjects of obedience to her, but threatened them with excommunication if they did obey her. This was of course a convenient pretext for her courtiers to persecute Catholics, one which they took full advantage of.
Had Pius been more of a politician than a saint, less of an idealist more of a smooth operator, he might instead opted for some sort of compromise, one which avoided catapulting English Catholics from the frying pan of soft persecution into the fire of martyrdom.
Pius was not a worldly man; certainly he was no diplomat. An uncompromising pursuit of Truth is the overarching theme of his life. This teaches us something about what holiness looks like.
Truth is not just something to be contemplated, it is something which requires action from us. As Our Lord says, “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them”. For Pius this meant there could no compromises. So be it if that meant martyrdom.
Now there is a word for this, for saying ‘I agree with that, and I’m going to do something about it’. It’s one we’ve just heard in the Gospel translated as ‘truly’, and it’s one we say all the time: amen.
It shouldn’t be said lightly or without thought, because it commits you to action. To say this requires docility. You must be humble before the truth: “Truly, truly, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.” Pope St Pius was a servant of Truth, his Master, the Lord Jesus Christ. And you and I must be that too: however worldly we may be, we must have Pope Pius’ passion for truth. Anything less will not do.
Let us entrust our own pursuit of Truth to Pope St Pius V. May he pray for us each day and guide us now to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Image (at Santa Sabina, taken by the author): Pope St Pius V watches the angelic news, by which he knew that the Ottoman forces had been defeated. For this reason, he is an unofficial patron of television.
