Word to the Wise
Wednesday, May 19, 2010 - Wednesday in the Seventh Week of Easter
[Acts 20:28-38 and John 17:11b-19]Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth.
In my mercifully brief career as a novice master, I challenged the novices to answer a question: Does becoming a Dominican tell the truth about you? This is more than "navel gazing," since one of the mottoes of the Order of Preachers is the single word, TRUTH! We could scarcely be faithful to that motto if our very identity is a lie! Nor is it a play on words with the quotation from today's gospel scripture. The two most important words are CONSECRATE and TRUTH. In the scriptures, the word, "consecrate," means to dedicate someone for a mission. The last portion of Jesus' "farewell discourse" is a prayer for his disciples. In this prayer he begs his father to "consecrate them in truth." The truth in this case is Jesus himself. If the disciples do not believe completely in Jesus, they will not be able to tell "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth." Jesus commits himself to them so that they may be able to fulfill the mission to preach the truth. The way in which he will do this is through the presence of the "Paraclete," the Holy Spirit. Today I will have to preach words similar to these to my Dominican brethren at our provincial assembly. It is an interesting challenge but I have to rely on that promise Jesus has made about consecrating all his disciples in truth. Of course, a few prayers from my "beloved congregation" could help immeasurably! AMEN