In today's reading from Proverbs there are appropriate words for so many in our world today: "Whoever makes a fortune by a lying tongue is chasing a bubble over deadly snares."
We live in such a challenging society, many are overwhelmed. So burdensome is the need to prove oneself in almost ever conversation that we easily and quickly provide protection by "trifling with the truth," as my grandmother was want to say when she did not believe us.
It is interesting that the word "bubble" is used in the proverb. Haven't we heard that frequently: "the high tech bubble," "the real estate bubble." And we know that these phrases and their context today refer to financial troubles and most recently in people and institutions "trifling with the truth."
What we have experienced is seeing firsthand in many instances the results of greed: lying for our own benefit. It is easy for us to point fingers and parts of the federal government, government representatives, financial institutions and on and on. However, it is important to stop and ask ourselves a very simple question: "Have I allowed myself to "trifle with the truth?"
Today's gospel reading reminds us what it means to be a good person, a brother (or sister) of Jesus: to be a person who hears the word of God and acts on it. And Luke presents Mary as a good person in his gospel because she was open to God, open to hearing the word of God, willing to change her life to follow what God was asking of her.
To deal with the truth is to deal with the Ten Commandments. To lie is to deceive one's neighbor. To live in the truth is a challenge not just for those in government or banking or the real estate market: living in the truth is a challenge for all of us whether it be dealing with members of our family, our colleagues in an office, our circle of friends. Eventually lying will bring us, like water pictured above, over the falls.
