The Gospel relates that when Jesus was judged by the
Sanhedrin, the Jews bore false witness against him in order to have him
executed. But Jesus kept silent in the face of such false and contradictory
testimonies. Only when the High Priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the
Son of the Blessed One?” (Mark 14,61), did he confess the truth even though
he knew that for speaking the truth he would undergo tremendous suffering
and even death.
The eighth commandment states: “You shall not bear false
witness against your neighbour”. False witness includes: perjury, lying,
slander, defamation and calumny. The commandment is very necessary
because sins against it obscure and mar human relations so much. To all
these sins we have to oppose the love of truth.
Jesus teaches us with his example to tell the truth, although
doing so brought on him terrible suffering and even death. Saint Thomas says
that truth is something divine, and it has to be respected and loved. At times,
saying the truth is hard and requires quite an effort, we have to be brave to tell
the truth always and never lie.
Jesus said once: “All you need say is ‘Yes’ if you mean yes, ‘No’
if you mean no; anything more than this comes from the Evil One” (Matthew
5:37). This is a good motto which will help us to be sincere and faithful with
God, with ourselves and with others.
Just as a match, despite being so small, can destroy a large
forest, lying can destroy the treasures of friendship and parental trust, for he
who lies to friends and parents ends up losing their friendship and trust. The
liar is not believed even when he tells the truth. Social life requires that we be
sincere and tell the truth. To do so we have to strive to be sincere with
ourselves. Though lying is never justified, at times we have to remain silent in
order to keep a secret or to avoid damaging others.
Often one lies due to fear or to the shame of being exposed, to
avoid being embarrassed, or in order to play a practical joke on someone. To
lie can be a mortal sin if one lies concerning important matters knowing that it
could inflict serious harm.
If the common or a particular good does not require us to be
silent, we always have to tell the truth, even to the point of martyrdom, which
is the supreme witness to the truth of the Christian faith.
Honour is more precious than material goods. All men have the
right to a good reputation. That is why we cannot harm or take away their
good reputation.
a) How people’s reputation can be harmed
- Calumny: to exaggerate other people’s defects or to say that
they have done something bad, knowing that it is not true.
- Defamation: to unjustly make public the hidden defects of our
neighbours.
- False witness: to state in a trial something which is not true and
that harms others.
- Rash judgement: to think badly of others without just reason.
In the trial before the Sanhedrin a guard slapped Jesus in his
face as he was answering Caiaphas. Jesus defended himself. “If there is
some offence in what I said, point it out; but if not, why do you strike me?”
(John 16:23). Jesus provides us with an example of how to defend our good
reputation when it is unjustly harmed.
Moved by charity we have the duty to tell the truth to others
gently, face to face, never backbiting. To tell things in truth and charity is to
help our brothers by fraternal correction. As Our Lord said: “The truth will set
you free” (John 8:32).