Reading and meditation on the Word of God, Saturday of the 17th week in ordinary time, August 1, 2020

Reading by Wilson Tan (Jakarta, Indonesia) and meditation by Margareth Sembiring (Singapore) DEATH FOR THE TRUTH The theme for our meditation today is: Death for the Truth. There is at a city gate, a famous statue which is called "The Child on the Mother's Shoulder" stands to give meaning to the city. In ancient times the city was defended by a young man who led the whole people to fight the enemies who wanted to occupy the city. Even though the city was successfully defended, this young man was killed in the war. His own mother put the son on her shoulder, and while mourning for him she carried him into the city to be given reverence by everyone and the whole city. The Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus Christ, cared for Him, and witnessed with her own eyes the son's shameful death, then she put Jesus' body on her lap (the la pieta from Michaelangelo). The Blessed Mother witnessed firsthand the Lamb of God who was sacrificed for defending the truth from those who were seeking to destroy the truth. Mary's nephew, John the Baptist, was also killed earlier than Jesus by an evil king Herod because this ruler was so threatened by the truth. After Jesus and John the Baptist, there are men and women throughout generations have been willing to sacrifice their lives for defending the truth that comes from God. Heroes from our towns and countries are people who have died for the truth. Then the question is this: does the truth have to be compensated by death? The first answer would be on those who oppose the truth, namely people of bad reputation or people who are known for their evil deeds, who seem to be very strong in this world, and their goal is to eliminate the truth and all the elements associated with it. One of its main targets is to destroy those who fight for the truth, who defend it and who live by it. And another answer would be more on the spiritual point of view. Here, it is irrelevant with violence from and bloodshed, maybe because the enemy or opponent is rather weak. However, the truth remains our principle point of reference in life and must be upheld. Our real challenge is to live our that truth with genuinity, to practice it and to make others live in truth as well. It is here that we should die for our laziness, boredom, indifference, selfishness, forgetfulness and other personal deficiencies that put us away from the responsibility to live in truth. The truth, in principle, is in accordance with reality or fact. This means that it is against what is not real or lie. Truth is also defined according to rules, norms, morals. If you are morally recognized, you have truth and this is contrary to acts that break the rules or moral standards. Ultimately, truth for us believers is to do God's will and commands, therefore, everything untrue is following the will which is not from God but from someone else. So let us live by the truth that we are obliged to, even to defend it till our death. Let's pray. In the name of the Father ... Almighty God, may our efforts to defend the truth and to testify it to everyone around us, will be pleasing to You. Hail Mary full of grace ... In the name of the Father ...