THIRTY-NINTH LESSON
On Lying.
"Wherefore, putting away lying, speak ye the truth every man with his neighbor."—ST. PAUL, Ephesians 4:25.
God hates lying, my children, because it is the work of his enemy the devil, who introduced here below the first act of false-hood, so as to destroy the peace of our first parents. Holy Scripture, for this reason, gives the malignant spirit the name of the father of lies: and God, who particularly loves the virtue which is in opposition to this vice, calls himself the God of truth. Must you hear more to be inspired with the horror of untruth!
Let us then try to understand perfectly in what consists the guilt of falsehood. To lie, is to say voluntarily the contrary of truth; it is to lead one's neighbor into error, and make a wrong use of the gift of speech God has deigned to grant us; speech, in truth, was given to us to express our thoughts, and not, my dear children, to dissemble them.
There exists several kind of lies; each of which, it is true, is not equally blamable, but there is not a single one which is allowed. There is not a lie, let it be as insignificant as possible, which we ought not to reproach ourselves with. Thus many people lie in joking. According to them, it is a kind of amusement, and they excuse themselves of their falsehoods by saying that they are of no importance, and that besides they harm no one. That may be; nevertheless the habit of telling things differently to what they are in reality, is a most reprehensible one; it leads generally to falsehoods of deeper importance.
You begin by relating, with all kinds of embellishments, some insignificant tale; and then, not content with this, at a later period you talk of your neighbor's faults with the same disregard to truth.
Children very easily give way to falsehood, by telling an untruth in order to avoid the discovery of a fault, and to shield themselves from the punishment they have thereby deserved. By so doing they add one sin to another, and become doubly guilty in the eyes of God and of their parents: if the latter discover the hidden fault, the child who has lied deserves then to be doubly punished, while, on the other hand, the child who has been truthful, will have forced maternal severity to relent. How can it be possible to scold the guilty child when he himself has owned all? Believe me, my dear children, sincerity is preferable to all false excuses; and it is fully as much your interest as your duty to be sincere.
The most hateful of all falsehoods is calumny; that is to say, the false accusation of your neighbor. Such wickedness makes you feel indignant, my children. I cannot, for a single instant, suppose that you would be apt to commit it. No doubt you would blush at the bare idea of calumniating any one from mere wickedness, and with the full intent of injuring him; but if you do not get the better of the reluctancy you feel to own your wrong doings; if you allow yourself a first falsehood to excuse them; perhaps you will be drawn on to calumniate, and end in accusing your brother or a servant of a fault that you have committed yourself. It would already be very wrong to let your parents suspect others, and their suspicions would be unavoidable if by the help of a lie you succeeded in proving that you are not the guilty one.
You can lie in deed, as well as in word, by trying to appear better than you really are. This kind of falsehood, which springs from pride, is called hypocrisy. At church a child's demeanor is most pious. His hands are clasped together, he seems to be most deeply engrossed in prayer; seeing him so, you would say he is a little angel; but he is a hypocrite. He has only the outward appearance of piety, for he is thinking of all sorts of things excepting prayer. That scholar, instead of doing his tasks, is amusing himself, but in order to deceive his teacher, he seems in his presence to study very attentively: this also is an act of hypocrisy.
And now, my children, tell me what you have won by such behavior? compliments, praise? but these compliments, this praise, are not deserved. What pleasure can you derive therefrom? Are they not rather a kind of reproach?
My dear children, do you wish never to be tempted to lie? Never have anything to hide; never do wrong. The Lord's eyes are always upon you; even when no one on this earth sees you, God sees you and judges you; no mortal being can deceive him: of what use would it be to you then to deceive your fellow-men?
Besides, my dear children, sooner or later God allows the truth to be made known, and liars betray themselves. They are then full of confusion, and receive, even in this world, the punishment they deserve. The man who is deceitful and untrue is despised; all his words are distrusted; he is never believed, even when he speaks the truth: no one would consider him as a friend.
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