Day 320: The Truth

The eighth commandment forbids misrepresenting the truth in our relations with others. This moral prescription flows from the vocation of the holy people to bear witness to their God, who is the truth and wills the truth. Offenses against the truth expresses by word or deed, a refusal to commit oneself to moral uprightness: they are fundamental infidelities to God and, in this sense, they undermine the foundations of the covenant. CCC 2464

In today's reading, the Catechism provides an introduction to the Eighth Commandment, emphasizing the importance of truth. As Christians, we are called to live our lives in the truth (CCC 2470), to be "witnesses of the Gospel," and like Christ our Savior, "bear witness to the truth" (CCC 2471-72). The holy Martyrs through the ages have given us great examples of faith, sacrificing themselves in the face of adversity for His sake. Their martyrdoms "form the archives of truth written in letters of blood" (CCC 2474).

The Catechism Compendium summarizes our duty toward the truth:

Every person is called to sincerity and truthfulness in acting and speaking. Everyone has the duty to seek the truth, to adhere to it, and to order one’s whole life in accordance with its demands. In Jesus Christ, the whole of God’s truth has been made manifest. He is “the truth”. Those who follow him live in the Spirit of truth and guard against duplicity, dissimulation, and hypocrisy. (#521)