Saturday June 15th: Be truthful

“All you need to say is ‘Yes’ if you mean yes. ‘No’ if you mean no.”

Matthew 5:33-37

How often have we heard these words: “I swear to God I didn’t do it” or “I swear by all the hairs on my head, I saw nothing”,?. In many cases when people swear it is because their words cannot stand alone but need others to validate them.
Moses and the ancestors understood the drawbacks of swearing and constantly warned their people about the need to live up to what was sworn.
In this passage taken from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls for a conversion by telling his listeners not to swear at all. Instead, he advises them to say exactly what they mean, in other words, to be truthful. He understood only too well how easy it was not to live up to one’s words. Dear Father, we ask you to help us to be truthful in our dealings with one another so that we would not become victims of the evil one. Amen.