Truth Seeking

15 June 2025   John 16:12-15

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

“When the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all truth.”  John16:13​

What would a portrait of “Truth Seeking” look like?

Some might paint a portrait of a solitary man perched on a mountaintop, contemplating the recesses of his own mind, with his own mind. It is the portrait of a man who thinks that he is in exactly the right place, that he can discern the Truth without any help, that he will recognize it when he finds it, and that he will know exactly what to do with it.

Others may paint a portrait of a scientist working in a laboratory, surrounded by the most up to date equipment, trained in the most up to date understandings of the material universe. It is the portrait of a person who thinks that Truth, in the end, is physical in nature, and can be grasped by human reason alone. It is the portrait of a person who thinks that there is no such thing as non-physical reality, and that once we understand the physical facts of the universe, we will certainly know everything that is good for us.

Neither of these, of course, is a Christian or biblical understanding of what Truth Seeking is.

If any were to create a Christian and biblical portrait of Truth Seeking, they could do no better than a picture of a group of women and men in a room, with flames upon the head of each one, flames that burned, but did not injure or consume. It would be a portrait of people who knew that they could not find the Truth unaided, that they would need the assistance of the Mysterious Other, who would come to them in a way that was beautiful and terrible at the same time, who was frightening and irresistible at the same time, who burned but did not injure, and did not consume, who made people say, “I must see this great sight,” then draw closer, despite their fear, and learn from the people on whom this strange flame rested. They would leave their shoes behind them. It would seem wrong somehow to track the world’s impurities into such a place.

Truth Seeking is coming inside, all the way in, to see this flame, to touch it, to be illuminated by it, to be healed by it, and never hurt by it. It is only frightening from the outside. All the people inside know that, and urge you to come closer.

In the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. there is a mosaic of Christ in Majesty high in the apse at the front. His expression is severe. From the back of the Church His outstretched arms could be seen as a gesture of welcome, but with that expression on His face they could also be seen as hands outstretched, as if to say, “Come no closer, not one more step.” From the back of the Church, you can’t tell which one it is, and sensible people might hesitate to come in. But if you do come in, all the way around the main altar, to the very front and beneath the mosaic, you see that the arms are not stretched out as a gesture of welcome, nor are the hands held out to say, “Stop!” From the very front you can see that the hands are stretched out over you, to lay upon you, as if to say, “All that is mine I give to you.” The serious expression on His face says also, “Use it like it belongs to Me.”

But you can only see all that when you have come all the way in.

Truth Seeking is joining the people who have come all the way in, and leaving your shoes at the door.