Truth finds man, since man cannot, by himself, find the Truth.

I have often questioned why there are so many people of different faiths and none. So many arguments caused over who is ‘right’ and in the name of religion. But as I watched a film on St. Augustine of Hippo called, ‘Restless Heart’, I found my long sought answer in the words Bishop Ambrose said to St. Augustine. It is the Truth that finds man, not man the Truth. That Truth is Jesus Christ, Son of God, our loving Saviour, Redeemer, Brother and Friend.

Jesus Christ is the Brother more than any brother, Friend more than any friend, but most of all, the Love beyond all love. For it is said, “For God so loved the world: he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life”. This is the expression of God’s love for us – so uniquely created to give us even the slightest glimpse of Heaven on Earth – fully human, and ‘like us in all things but sin’, yet fully divine, in the divinity of God which is above and beyond all measure of the human language.

It is this Truth in Jesus that finds us, that cannot necessarily be searched for and found ourselves. It takes another to help us discover it – hence the importance of community. Without which, we would be trapped in our own egos, turned inwardly, staring only at ourselves and back. But when we seek Jesus, and allow Him to find us, we find what is deepest in our hearts – the longing in our hearts that creates a void lest it be filled with our deepest desire, that is, Love – agape – unconditional love (and mercy) that only our God can give us.

It is in Truth that we realise why the famous saying goes, ‘faith is a gift’. How can we know Truth if He doesn’t find us? Truth is a person, not a mere ideology or a figment of our limited human imagination. Truth is Jesus Christ Himself, who came for us, for our salvation, but most importantly, out of love. In the movie, ‘Restless Heart’, St Augustine learns a line from a famous orator, ‘these are not words, these are facts’, but what he proclaimed as ‘facts’ were not ‘Truth’, and he lost everything. Everything was temporary and nothing satisfied him until He was found by the Truth through his encounters with those around him, in particular, Bishop Ambrose, who later became a saint.

What can we learn from this in our lives? Nothing is lost, unless we have lost sight of the Truth, which is Jesus. So long as He is constantly invited into our lives, we can still see the light and grow in the ways of the Lord, in our faith. It is not by mere words, rhetoric, nor violence, nor force that we exert the growth of the church, but in helping people find the Truth – bringing it to them by our very example of how we live, in all we think, do and say. As St Monica, the mother of St Augustine prayed for over 30 years to see her son come to know God and be baptised, so we too should pray for our communities, those whom we encounter, that they too may come to know the Truth. “Nothing is impossible for God” (Luke 1:37) and if He can do what He did with St Augustine, amongst many of the greatest sinners, and turn them into great saints, so much more can He do with us, if only we open our hearts to Him and trust Him to lead us. God will ask much of us, but be comforted knowing that ‘in the measure that we give, it will be the measure we receive”.

So, let the Truth find you this Eastertide, with a renewed spirit in the Risen Lord, and remain with you for ever. Amen.