Truth-telling, Testimony, and Prophecy: Hearing and Bearing Witness to God’s Active Presence in Our Lives in a Secular Age
Fr. Dale Launderville, OSB
Synchronous Presentation, Saint John’s University - Collegeville, MN
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The psalms of thanksgiving tell us that when God intervenes in our lives we are obliged to proclaim this energizing event to the believing community (Pss 22:23-32; 40:2-11). Our experience of God’s presence is to encourage others to trust more deeply in God’s care for all of us. Genuine encounters with God have an impact on us that overflows to those around us. St. Isaac of Nineveh, a Syrian monk of the seventh century, instructs us on how to discipline our physical senses and strengthen our spiritual senses. If I have been healed and believe it is due to God’s active intervention in my ife, how do I testify to this divine action in the face of an unbelieving audience? What is the difference between “fibbing” and testifying about God “as a serious player in our lives? In our time in America, it has become all too common for individuals to make claims without any facts to back them up. What are the realities or facts that we can bring forward to support our faith claims?
Fr. Dale Launderville, OSB, is professor of theology and Dean at Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary. He received a Master of Divinity from Saint John’s in 1979 and a doctorate from The Catholic University of America in 1987. His latest book, published by Liturgical Press in 2010, is Celibacy in the Ancient World.