Sun chat: The Spirit is Calling us to Examine Our Own Speech for Truth

Several central national issues emerge from the case: right to free speech, campaign financing, and political organizing, just to name a few. As disciples, we pay close attention to these matters because our political voice is essential as we seek to bring the Gospel into our daily lives here and abroad.

St. Francis de Sales, whose feast we celebrate on Sunday [January 24], knew the power of the pen. As a young priest, he was a pamphleteer, a role that actually was named in extensive ruling of the court’s majority. DeSales, though, sought to bring Jesus and the church to people in search of meaning and truth, two chief values that are at the core of both our democracy and church. Yet, we struggle to find meaningful and truthful discourse among candidates who chirp sound bites at each other in an effort to address the serious issues before us. How disappointing that almost all major media outlets have fact-checkers as a regular feature after a debate, presentation, or speech by an elected leader or someone seeking to become one. Most employees work hard to make sure that their reports are factual prior to offering them. What employer or client would settle for a presentation with a number of factual errors? Why do we as voters?

St. Francis de Sales wrote in the Introduction to the Devout Life:

Let your language be mild, open, sincere, frank, unaffected, and honest. Guard against equivocation, artifice, or dissimulation. Although it may not always be advisable to say all that is true, yet it is never allowable to speak against the truth. Accustom yourself, therefore, never to tell a deliberate lie, either by way of excuse or otherwise, remembering that God is the ‘God of truth.’ Should you tell a lie inadvertently, do not fail to correct it immediately by an explanation of reparation. An honest explanation has always more grace and force to excuse than a lie.

We are our own fact-checkers when we speak at home, work, school, or in the community. We grow frustrated with the affected or artifical speech of some of our leaders. Perhaps this annoyance within us is the Spirit calling us to examine our own speech: Aren’t we the leaders of our own lives where what we say really matters to those listening to us?

As we celebrate the Feast of St. Francis de Sales, let us renew our commitment to speaking well, charitably, and truthfully. Together, may we be Disciples United.

Happy Feast Day!