How Can This Be?

By: Ivonne J. Hernandez

‘Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” When he had said this, he again went out to the Jews and said to them, “I find no guilt in him...”’  (John 18:38)
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“You can’t handle the truth!” This famous line from the movie “A Few Good Men” touches upon what I think is the deepest question in the human heart, “What is truth?” Yet sometimes, a question is not a question; sometimes, it is a statement in disguise. A genuine question is an inquiry, a quest for information… a quest for truth. It requires openness on the part of the one asking. Sometimes we do not seek answers because we are afraid to ask. Pilate did not wait for Jesus to answer; he trusted in the limited knowledge he had.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8)
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What is truth?... Perhaps the question should be, Who is Truth?

“I am the way and the truth and the life.” (John 14:6)
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​How often do we believe the lie that we can’t handle the truth. How often do we give into the fear that what will be required of us is more than what we have. My dear brothers and sisters, we CAN handle the truth because we were made for Truth. 

“Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth.” (John 17:15-17)
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Our relationship with the truth is ultimately a direct reflection of our relationship with God. This is why Satan, in the Garden, went straight for the jugular.

‘Now the snake was the most cunning…  asked the woman, “Did God really say…?”’ (Genesis 3:1)
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How often do we listen to the snake instead of listening to God? 

“But they refused to listen; they stubbornly turned their backs and stopped their ears so as not to hear.” (Zechariah 7:11)
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In the Feast of the Annunciation, we find the antidote to that. 

“But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” And the angel said to her in reply, “The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.” (Luke 1:34-35)
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Mary asked a question and waited for a response. Mary listened to the messenger of God, and she believed. 

“And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us…” (John 1:14)
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“The primary mission of the Holy Spirit is to inspire us, to be the inspiration that reveals our Lord and makes him known to us. Spiritum veritatis – the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father (cf. Jn 15:26). He is sent by the Father and the Son. Therefore, he gives us his own special inspiration, sanctifying us, giving himself, working in us as he worked in the apostles, as he does in the Church, guiding us by his spirit of holiness. Our Lord resides perfectly only in the Eucharist, where he gives himself to us. Outside of that, he is the sun, the public fountain, the stream of the Eucharist, personifying himself in us, becoming our goal. But when the Holy Spirit comes to a soul, he takes control of it and inspires it. Our Lord said: He will reveal me, and guide you to all truth (cf. Jn 16:13- 15). He is the divine inspiration of our souls.” (St. Peter Julian Eymard)

Let us then learn to ask… then wait for a response. Let us allow the Holy Spirit to guide us.

“Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” (Luke 1:45)
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Ivonne J. Hernandez

Ivonne is a Lay Associate of the Blessed Sacrament, President of Elisheba House, and author of The Rosary: Eucharistic Meditations. She lives in Trinity, Florida, with her husband, Rick, and their children.