This Explains a Lot

When in the Light of Truth

Painting: Jan Lievens, Young Man in a Yellow Robe

Every Other Creed

Something We Discover

Therefore, There is No Earth

"The final argument for modern broad-mindedness is that truth is novelty, and hence 'truth' changes with the passing fancies of the moment. Like the chameleon that changes his color to suit the vesture on which he is placed, so truth is supposed to change to fit the foibles and obliquities of the age. The nature of certain things is fixed, and none more so than the nature of truth. Truth may be contradicted a thousand times, but that only proves that it is strong enough to survive a thousand assaults.

"But for anyone to say: 'Some say this, some say that, therefore there is no truth' is about as logical as it would have been for Columbus, who heard some say 'the earth is round,' and others say 'the earth is flat' to conclude: 'therefore, there is no earth.' 

"Like a carpenter who might throw away his rule and use each beam as a measuring rod, so too, those who have thrown away the standard of objective truth have nothing left with which to measure but the mental fashion of the moment.'

Fulton J. Sheen

I am a Christian

But Never the Heresy

'The dogmas of the church are like bricks, solid things with which a man can build... the Church has been and will always be intolerant so far as the rights of God are concerned, for heresy, error and untruth affect not personal matters on which She (the Church) may yield, but a Divine Right in which there is no yielding. The truth is divine; the heretic is human.

'Due reparation made, the Church will admit the heretic back into the treasure of Her souls, but never the heresy into the treasure of her wisdom. Right is right even if nobody is right; and wrong is wrong even if everybody is wrong.'

Fulton J. Sheen

Painting: John Macallan Swan, The Prodigal Son, 1888

First, the Obvious

The Truth About These Days

'These are the days when the Christian is 

expected to praise every creed except his own.'

G.K. Chesterton

Painting: Thomas Dewing, The Mask, in US public domain due to age

The Truth About Truth

Christ Without His Nails

             'Some... equate goodness with indifference to evil 
             and think that God is good if 
             He is broadminded or tolerant about evil. 
             Like the onlookers at the Cross, they want God on their terms, 
             not His, and they shout 'come down, and we will believe.' 

             'But the things they ask are the marks of a false religion: 
             it promises salvation without a cross, 
             abandonment without sacrifice, 
             Christ without His nails.'

Venerable Fulton Sheen

Painting: James Tissot, Jesus Wept

Nothing But The Truth

'I can nourish myself on nothing but the truth.'

St. Therese of Lisieux

Painting: Carl Maria Seyppel, 1904 (cropped), in US public domain due to age

A Standard Not Of Our Own Making

'There is an organ in my home. As I look at the notes on that organ, I could ask which note is good and which note is bad? Which note is right and which note is wrong? One cannot say that any particular note is right or any particular note is wrong. What makes any note right or wrong? Its correspondence to a standard. Once I have a piece of music before me, I know what I ought to do, what note I should hit, what note I ought not to hit. So too, we have a moral standard within us which is our conscience. What is good and bad is in relationship to that standard which is not of our own making.' (Venerable Fulton Sheen)

'Conscience must be informed and moral judgment enlightened....the education of conscience is indispensable for human beings who are subjected to negative influences and tempted by sin to prefer their own judgment and to reject authoritative teachings. The education of the conscience is a lifelong task...In the formation of conscience the Word of God is the light for our path...'(Catholicism of the Catholic Church 1783-1785)

Painting: Michael Ancher, in US public domain due to age

But Truth Will Prevail in the End

'Error may flourish for a time, 
but truth will prevail 
in the end. 
The only effect of error 
ultimately 
is to 
promote truth.'

Blessed John Henry Newman









Painting: Chełmoński, Cross in a blizzard

Do Not Conform...

"The simplicity of the just man is laughed to scorn.  This is the wisdom of this world.... to make falsehood appear truth, and the truth falsehood."  (Pope St. Gregory the Great) 

"Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may judge what is God's will, what is good, pleasing and perfect."  (Romans 12:2)

(Painting: Renoir, Luncheon of the Boating Party, 1881, in US public domain)