Live the Truth

The movie Frozen was wildly popular over a decade ago, but for me, it was a “plane movie.” I probably started watching Frozen three or four times on different flights, but I could never finish it. Despite that, the song “Let It Go,” sung by the character Elsa, caught my attention, specifically these lyrics:

“It’s time to see what I can do

To test the limits and break through

No right, no wrong, no rules for me

I’m free.”

Why do I quote from a film I admittedly never finished? Because these words, in this—lest we forget—children’s movie, capture a significant struggle in our culture. “No right, no wrong, no rules for me” echoes our world’s prevailing sentiment that you should “live your own truth.”

If we reflect on current events or observe the lives of those who seek to live their own truth, it’s easy to see that such a guiding principle yields only chaos and disorder, not the freedom and peace it promises.

Tragically, we have shifted from a society with a common set of moral norms to one that is totally amoral. A society in which everyone lives by his or her own truth, with no shared moral grounding, simply can’t flourish.

Franciscan University faces the crucial challenge of engaging and transforming a world adrift, where even the most basic truths are under siege. How do we withstand hurricane-force winds of change that now argue, for example, it’s possible for a man to become pregnant? What is the answer to this confusion?

The answer is, and has always been, Jesus. He and his teachings are the antidote to the confusion of our times. Our culture offers shifting sands, but Jesus provides the firm foundation of unchanging truth. Jesus, in his love for us, shows us what is right and what is wrong. It is Jesus who liberates and provides us a safe shelter from the storms of destruction swirling around us. It is he who whispers truth to the deepest recesses of our wounded hearts. Jesus isn’t a truth or our truth; he is THE Truth.

Truth is not a matter of opinion or public consensus; it is embodied in Jesus, who has been the cornerstone of Franciscan University for over 75 years. Thus, our new tagline, “Live the Truth,” describes well our mission as a Catholic university.

Jesus, “the Way and the Truth and the Life” (John 14:6), is who our world needs most. My prayer is that every student, professor, staff member, every conference guest, visitor, and worshiper who comes to our campus encounters the One who is True. This Truth makes sense of our deepest longings, hopes, and dreams. It brings order, hope, peace, unity, and joy.

However, it’s crucial that this encounter with the Truth doesn’t stay confined to our hilltop. As St. John Paul II said, “God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves” (Fides et Ratio, No. 1). To answer that desire for truth, our graduates must go out—our entire Franciscan University family must go out—and LIVE the Truth in this world.

This is the only way we can fulfill Jesus’ mandate to make disciples of all nations. We must live the Truth by loving, serving, forgiving, and inviting everyone to conversion, just as Jesus did. To the degree that we do this, we Live the Truth. This is the mission entrusted to Franciscan University by the Lord, and I extend a heartfelt invitation to each of you: Join us in living and spreading this life-giving Truth. For, as Jesus said, “‘If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free’” (John 8:31-32).

Peace,

Father Dave, TOR