Truth Leads Us

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Todays reading from St. Teresa of Ávila instructs us to live in the Truth. More than just not telling lies, it is about not living lies.

That’s always hard, to be truthful with myself. I can spend the whole day telling myself little lies that peck away at my soul. Just this little bit of gossip won’t hurt ... I’ll pray that Rosary later ... I’ll just do this thing this one time and then never again.

Walk in Truth

The challenge is to live my day with my eyes, my actions, my very soul toward God. If I can manage that, I am confident everything else will fall into place.

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You can pick up a copy of Let Nothing Disturb You for this wonderful daily reflection. Following is the text of today's meditation:

MY DAY BEGINS

Let us learn from this, my brothers and sisters,

that if we would bear any resemblance to our God,

we must strive ever to walk in truth.

I do not mean merely that we should not tell falsehoods;

I mean rather

that we should act with perfect truth

before God and all persons.

Above all

that we should not wish to be thought

better than we are.

In all our deeds

we should ascribe to God what is God's,

and attribute what is ours to ourselves;

we should seek for truth in all things.

In this way we will care little for the world,

which is built on deception and falsehood

and therefore cannot last.

God grant us

never to lose the grace of self-knowledge.

If for the love of God

we hated honors, possessions, and pleasures,

embraced the cross,

and set about God's service in earnest,

Satan would fly away from such realities

as from a plague.

He is the friend of lies and a lie himself.

He wants nothing to do

with those who walk in truth.

Let us speak

only that which is perfectly true,

and in so doing raise our sights to Truth itself,

that is, to God.

ALL THROUGH THE DAY

Let me walk in truth.

MY DAY IS ENDING

Let nothing, O Lord,

disturb the silence of this night.

Let nothing make me afraid.

Remove the dust of this day.

Forgive my lies,

the dozen ways in which today I have denied

in word and action

that you alone

are the source of all true life.

Cleanse my lips, my heart, my whole life

of the untruths,

the petty pride and self-love

that so easily, so persistently, come between us.

Fill my night with your forgiveness,

with that peace

that is possible only for those

who walk in your truth.

If I walk with you in truth, my Lord God,

I will want for nothing.

You alone are the Truth.

You alone suffice.

Copyright 2020 Maria Morera Johnson

The excerpt from Let Nothing Disturb You from the work of St. Teresa of Avila is reprinted with the kind permission of Ave Maria Press, the publisher.