One of the most dangerous philosophies of our society is relativism. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI called such a belief the tyranny
of relativism. This worldview states that what is true
for you is true for you, and what is true for me is true for me.
On
one level this system is okay. For
instance, it is true for me that I like chocolate ice cream. At the same time, it may be true for
you that you loathe chocolate ice cream and prefer cookies and cream. Both of these may be true because they
are subjective—based on an individual’s perceptions.
There
are other truths, however, that do not allow such differences. We call these objective or universal
truths—they are simply true no matter what any individual thinks.
Jesus
highlights this fact: “The Kingdom of
heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. When it is full they haul it ashore and
sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away.” Indeed, there is such a thing as good and bad, especially
when it comes to human morality.
St.
Ignatius of Loyola was famous for his Spiritual
Exercises. His primary focus
in this work was in learning how to discern our spiritual ebbs and flows to be
able to understand what is from God, what is from the world, what is from our
personal sinfulness or what is from the evil one. His focus is on discerning the truth—not according to our
standards, but God’s.
May
God give us the wisdom to discern what is right and wrong in the choices we
make today. May we always choose
the good, avoid evil and so glorify God.
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