Word to the Wise
Saturday, June 14, 2008 - Saturday in the Tenth Week of Ordinary Time
[1 Kings 19:19-21 and Matthew 5:33-37]I say to you, do not swear at all; not by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is his gootstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it si the city of the great King. Do not swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. Let your 'Yes' mean 'Yes,' and your 'No' mean 'No.'
"Remember, you're under oath!" We hear that expression often enough in TV legal dramas. A witness is reminded that perjury can lead to serious consequences, including jail time! Before a civil official is considered to be in office, he must take "the oath of office." In everyday life, we have such expressions as "cross my heart and hope to die!" All of this is somehow calculated to guarantee the truthfulness of a statement or the integrity of an office holder or the binding character of a promise made. We know from experience that such guarantees are not going to work unless there is a personal integrity in the one who swears the oath! Therefore Jesus' statement about the inability of an oath to change reality makes sense! The public legal oath of a witness or civil official guarantees only that the authority who administers the oath can punish any violation of it, not that there will be no violation! One of the mottoes of the Dominican Order (the Order of Preachers) is VERITAS (TRUTH!). When I was a novice master, I challenged the novices to answer a fundamental question about themselves: Does becoming Dominican tell the truth about you? This question could apply to all "oaths" whether they be civil or religious (profession of vows). Jesus puts the emphasis on the integrity of the disciple. If that integrity is present, an oath or vow is not necessary. If it is missing, no oath or vow is going to supply it. If we make a promise it should be because it is of our very nature to carry it out, not that we carry it out to avoid negative consequences. Experience shows that human ambition and appetites are more than powerful enough to overcome fear of legal consequences, oath or no oath. We have to start with a person of integrity and faith. Otherwise an oath is simply an effort "to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear!" AMEN
config
view
logs
3840.0 KB
62 ms
4
