“…What is truth?” John 18:38. In the world today that question is something with which we are all challenged. This year, on the Solemnity of Christ, the King at the end of the Church year, the Gospel reading was a dialog between Pilate and Jesus; Pilate was seeking the truth. In John 18:37, Jesus says, “you say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” This is not the first time Jesus speaks of truth. In John 14: 5-6, Thomas asks, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Jesus says he came to testify to the truth. An example of that truth that Jesus proclaims with his own life…life begins at conception. How did Jesus “testify” to this truth? Well, it’s quite simple and profound. In fact, it is such a fundamental truth in our faith that our Apostles Creed allows you and I to testify to this truth ourselves! As we profess the truths of our faith, we say… “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son our Lord, who was CONCEIVED by the Holy Spirit…” Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, “Christ the King”, became a precious child, at the moment He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in Mary’s womb!
There is another truth that Jesus came to proclaim. Through our Baptism, we are all adopted children of the King of Kings. If you were born female in the likeness and image of God, you are truly a daughter of the King of Kings. If you were born male in the likeness and image of God, you are truly a son of the King of Kings. Not only are each of us a son or daughter of the King of Kings but each and everyone of us is an irreplaceable, indispensable, unrepeatable gift! Yes, YOU are indispensable to God’s plan for the universe. You cannot be replaced! You cannot be repeated. You reveal a beam of God’s glory that no one else who ever lived or ever will live reveals in this world!
Become what you are – an irreplaceable, indispensable, unrepeatable gift from Christ the King!
Here’s what the Scriptures and our faith have to say:
John 18: 37-38 – So Pilate said to him, “Then you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
Ephesians 6:13-14 – Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and having done everything, to hold our ground. So stand fast with your loins girded in truthy, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate.”
YouCat (Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church) – Based on CCC 781-786 What is unique about the People of God? The founder of this people is God the Father. Its leader is Jesus Christ. Its source of strength is the Holy Spirit. The entryway to the People of God is Baptism. Its dignity is the freedom of the children of God. Its law is love. If this people remains faithful to God and seeks first the kingdom of God, it changes the world.