Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 453 – Part II.

YOUCAT Question n. 453 – Part II. What does our relationship to the truth have to do with God?

(Youcat answer - repeated) Living in respect for the truth means not only being true to oneself. More precisely it means being truthful, being true to God, for he is the source of all truth. We find the truth about God and about all of reality quite directly in Jesus, who is “the way, and the truth, and the life” (Jn 14:6).

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 2468) Truth as uprightness in human action and speech is called truthfulness, sincerity, or candor. Truth or truthfulness is the virtue which consists in showing oneself true in deeds and truthful in words, and in guarding against duplicity, dissimulation, and hypocrisy. (CCC 2469) "Men could not live with one another if there were not mutual confidence that they were being truthful to one another" (St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II 109, 3 ad 1). The virtue of truth gives another his just due. Truthfulness keeps to the just mean between what ought to be expressed and what ought to be kept secret: it entails honesty and discretion. In justice, "as a matter of honor, one man owes it to another to manifest the truth" (St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II, 109, 3, corp. Art).

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) Someone who really follows Jesus brings greater and greater truthfulness into his life. He eliminates all lies, falsehood, pretense, and ambiguity from his accomplishments in life and becomes transparent toward the truth. To believe means to become a witness to the truth.

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 2470) The disciple of Christ consents to "live in the truth," that is, in the simplicity of a life in conformity with the Lord's example, abiding in his truth. "If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth" (1 Jn 1:6). (CCC 2505) Truth or truthfulness is the virtue which consists in showing oneself true in deeds and truthful in words, and guarding against duplicity, dissimulation, and hypocrisy.    

(The next question is: How strongly obligatory is the truth of the faith?)