The whole assembly cried aloud,
blessing God who saves those who hope in him.
They rose up against the two elders,
for by their own words Daniel had convicted them of perjury.
According to the law of Moses,
they inflicted on them
the penalty they had plotted to impose on their neighbor:
they put them to death.
Thus was innocent blood spared that day. (Dn 13:60-62)
At Mass today, our first reading is from the Book of Daniel. Specifically, we hear the story of Susanna.
She was caught between two men who were prominent elders and judges among the people. However, the elders were consumed with lust. They attempted to force themselves upon Susanna telling her that no one would ever believe her word over theirs.
When Susanna screamed, the townspeople came in and the two men made false accusations against Susanna. These accusations were serious enough to cause Susanna to be condemned to death by the people.
However, Daniel saw what was happening and did not believe the two judges. He halted the rush to stone Susanna and forced another trial of sorts against the two men. Having the men separated, he interrogated them. Not having time to form a common story, they each told a lie. Their lies betrayed them and they ended up being given the same sentence they attempted to give to Susanna. They were stoned to death.
When we live a lie, we can never be sure whether we will be caught. We have to try to remember what we said the last time, what we told the other people, what we will say in the future, et cetera. Not only is lying a lot of work; it will also catch up to us in the end.
Additionally, if we live a lie, we are living in the devil’s camp and not in the Lord’s. The more we lie, the more we become like the devil and the farther away we drift from our God.
Lies have consequences. Living a lie can have eternal consequences. Like the lying judges, we could find ourselves condemned to death — an eternal death.
FAITH ACTION: Ask the Lord for the grace that you need to live in the truth this day.