17 May 2023 - Wednesday of the 6th week of Easter - John 16:12-15

      We hear Jesus tell us about how he is sending us the Holy Spirit,  the Spirit of truth, who will lead us and guide us to all truth.  We hear the word “truth” being bantered about all the time all around us. We hear some say: “I want the truth to come out” or “I am here to speak the truth.”  Sometimes what we think is the truth is perhaps our own perspective on things, even though we don’t want to admit it.

      In the year 1633, a century after the Protestant Reformation, the Inquisition of the Roman Catholic Church forced Galileo Galilei, one of the fathers of modern science, to recant his theory that the earth orbits the Sun. Under threat of torture from the Church, Galileo reluctantly recanted. Galileo's theories threatened the truth that many held onto, and their vision of the world and the universe. 

     Fast forward to 1992, 359 years later.  The Church finally agreed with Galileo. At an audience at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Pope John Paul II declared that Galileo was right based on the findings of a committee of the Academy that the Pope set up in 1979, soon after taking office. The committee decided the Inquisition had acted in good faith, but was wrong.

     For a long time, the Church often saw science as its enemy, but thankfully, that is no longer true. Instead, quantum physics, biology, and other academic disciplines are revealing that science can be a partner with the Church.  There is not to be a dualism separating the spiritual world and the material world - the truth can be found in both.  We could all be looking at the one truth from different angles, different assumptions, and different vocabulary depending upon our discipline, but we should all be working together.  We can look back at the theology and spirituality of St Francis of Assisi to complement our stewardship and care of all of God’s creation here on earth, to complement what science is discovering about the environmental destruction and pollution that is damaging God's creation.  If we trust that we in the faith have the truth, then we need to trust that others can see the truth from different angles and different perspectives, helping us to grow in understanding and faith. We all should be working towards a community of brothers and sisters, a community of good will.