Franciscan Advice: When forgiveness isn’t enough you need to clean house too! Here’s how!

/ Tom Delaney, O.F.S., M.A. Theo., Cert. Catech.

(photo: Sherburne County, Minnesota (USA), Tom Delaney, 2025)

Central Minnesota is blanketed in deep snow. The contours and features of the land get to be rounded and softer now, with a more resplendent and sparkling reflection of any glimmer of light. It makes you wonder if we are not cable of the same transformation — being more rounded rather than jagged in how we show up, softer rather than harder in our thoughts and words, and always reflecting brilliantly even the smallest glimmer of light in any situation. Winter has so much to teach us.

This article is for Catholics who have figured out that they are in a hard situation where forgiveness isn’t enough to fix the damage done or release people from that situation. In this article I use a section of a homily by Franciscan Fr. Roberto Pasolini to explain how situations where forgiveness is insufficient happen because of something Franciscan Fr. Robert Pasolini called “the word of falsehood,” how they require the work of clearing out life from the wrongs left by wrongdoing as well as that original word of falsehood, and how to do that clearing out so that they are replaced with truth, beauty, and flourishing in a person’s life.

Did you know the Vatican has it’s own in-house preacher? It does! Did you know he is a Franciscan? He is!

During this season of Advent, Franciscan Capuchin Father Roberto Pasolini will make three presentations (homilies) on the theme of hope to the Pope, Vatican officials and staff, and the worldwide Catholic Church. If you need some hope in your life, you may want to check out what Franciscan Fr. Pasolini has to say — the Pope does too!

Franciscan Advice for Forgiveness and Flourishing

During his December 5th homily, Franciscan Fr. Pasolini shared some good advice related to forgiveness and the times when being forgiven isn’t enough if we want flourishing for ourselves, i.e. a good life, a state in which all aspects of our life are good.1,2 At those times, what is needed is to dig into what is the false idea or belief one has about oneself that drove the forgiven act of evil to begin with. In this way, Franciscan Fr. Pasolini’s advice is not only for Advent, but for the whole year round, and for our lifetimes.

Here is my paraphrasing of a very important part of Franciscan Fr. Pasolini’s advice for forgiveness and flourishing:

[When] a word of falsehood has found a place in his heart…man’s life produces nothing but evil…While we delude ourselves that we can overcome it simply by perfecting or evolving ourselves, we should remember that our humanity not only needs to be fulfilled, but also – and above all – to be saved. Evil must not simply be forgiven: it must be erased, so that life can finally flourish in its truth and beauty.

You can see that Franciscan Fr. Pasolini’s advice is very dense and uses a number of compelling terms and concepts: a word of falsehood, the heart, a man’s life, evil, fulfillment, salvation, forgiveness, flourishing, truth and beauty. That is a lot! All that in three sentences! Let’s take a look at each idea one-by-one and unpack what they’re saying.

Flourishing Requires Forgiveness and Truth in the Heart

I am going to break down Franciscan Fr. Pasolini’s advice into smaller bite-size pieces for you and give you my interpretation. Here we go!

  • A “word of falsehood” can find a place in your heart.
    • Our spiritual hearts take in what we give it through our life experiences, including our thoughts, ideas, and beliefs about ourselves and others, including God.
    • If we are not careful, it is possible for a thought, idea, or belief about ourselves or others that is profoundly not true, to make its way into our heart.
    • The entry of a word of falsehood into our heart is the opposite of education. The word “education” means “leading out” into truth, or to quote John Henry Newman and the statute of St. Thomas Aquinas outside of my high school, “Ex Umbris in Veritatem” — Out of the shadows, into truth!3 The entry of a word of falsehood leads us the other way, mentally and spiritually: from the truth of things, into only insubstantial shadows of things.
  • When a word of falsehood finds a place in your heart, life tends to produce more of what we know as evil.
    • God is truth, and when a false thought, idea, or belief makes its way into our heart, it can seriously damage our relationship with God, ourselves and others.
    • When our daily thoughts, feelings, and actions become based on a profoundly untrue thought, idea, or belief, they tend to show up as evil in our lives.
    • Evil in our lives looks like disorder, derailment, destruction, and especially broken relationships, sadly often in a marital relationship, and crucially in the personal relationship with God.4
  • Getting rid of evil and its source in a word of falsehood requires more than just our own efforts at self-improvement.
    • The easiest way to understand this is that fixing dinged, dented, and destroyed relationships always requires work from both ends of the relationship. You have to do your work, and whoever is in the other part of the relationship, has to do the work as well, otherwise the relationship will never really be fixed. This includes our relationship with God, which is the very basis of our own being.
    • Self-improvement is a very important and necessary part of fixing a relationship, but it’s just not sufficient. The other person in the relationship has to do work as well, or self-improvement ends up building a bridge to nowhere for us.
    • When it comes to fixing our relationship with God, self-improvement is still important and necessary, but we have to understand that the fixing really depends upon God’s outreach to us and us accepting and embracing that outreach for ourselves and in our lives. It’s always that way, and the good news is that, no matter our situation, God is always reaching out to us!
  • When we make our efforts to giving God our whole and complete response to His call to blessed life, we will not only fulfill our own purpose as human beings, but we will also be saved from the things that delay, distract, and derail us from that purpose. That’s what God does.
    • Our hearts have a place for the desire for happiness that God places in us in order to draw us to Him – the “One who alone can fulfill it.”5
    • God is truth, an when a word of falsehood takes a place in our heart it draws us away from divine truth, and toward mistaken ways to try and fulfill our innate desire for happiness. We start literally living a lie, and it shows up as evil in our lives.6
  • Forgiveness is a good start in getting the evil out of our lives.
    • Forgiveness is always about things that for very good reasons begin with the prefix “re-“. The short list is: recall, recollect, repent, return, repair, restore, reconcile, and renew, and rejoice.
    • Forgiveness is a way to roll up our sleeves and get to work on fixing the evil derailment, damage, and destruction in our relationships caused by the word of falsehood.
  • Sometimes forgiveness isn’t enough for a bad situation, and then we need to completely clean up the situation as well.
    • Forgiveness doesn’t necessarily clean up all the wrongdoing or wrongs done in any situation.
    • As much as forgiveness may impart the empathy to see the situational causes of wrongdoing, it often does not get at the root cause of the wrongdoing and eliminate it — the word of falsehood that is at work underneath it all.
  • If we want flourishing for ourselves, we have to not only forgive, but also remove the word of untruth from our hearts that is the root of evil in our lives and preventing us from flourishing.
    • Human flourishing is a state in which all aspects of a person’s life are good including: happiness and life satisfaction, physical and mental health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, close social relationships, and spiritual well-being.7,8,9
    • God has a plan of sheer goodness for each one of us, and God is truth.10
    • Removing the word of untruth in our heart, what is called “purity of heart,” happens by choosing to abide in the living word of truth, Jesus Christ. Living in Jesus Christ as the truth means a simple life that closely follows the example of Jesus Christ, including participation in the Blessed Sacraments of the Church.11,12
  • “Truth is beautiful itself,” and your life will flourish in truth and beauty when you live your life with and from truth and beauty.13
    • You live your life with truth and beauty when you are living it from the source of truth and beauty: Jesus Christ, “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).14,15
    • Remember, flourishing is a process, not an overnight transformation or something you shop for online. Be patient with yourself, and access the support of your Church and parish or community.

Forgiveness: Replace the false in your heart with the true!

At this point, you might be confused: “Wait, are we talking about forgiveness from God, or forgiveness from another person, or forgiving ourselves?” The practical answer is … are you ready? … the answer is, “Yes!”

Being forgiven by God or by another person or by ourselves are definitely three different things. You can certainly be forgiven by God, but not forgiven by another person, and you can just as certainly be forgiven by another person but not forgiven by God. We can make the same distinctions for forour own forgiveness of ourselves. That said, we also know that they are related to each other, because Jesus Christ taught us to pray, “And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” There is a connection between our forgiveness of others and God’s forgiveness for us. It may even be that our forgiveness of others is a reflection of God’ forgiveness, and we may even be the means by which God draws a person to divine forgiveness. The traditional Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi even proposes that we ourselves can be instruments of God’s peace and forgiveness:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
and where there is injury, pardon.

Sometimes the forgiver and the forgiven are two different people, and sometimes they’re not. Sometimes the “those who trespass against us” is ourselves. We may need to forgive ourselves, and when we do so, that too may be part of God’s forgiveness for us. In those times, we are an instrument of peace unto ourselves, and able to connect and draw upon Jesus Christ, who promised us (John 14:27):16

Peace I leave with you;
my peace I give to you.
Not as the world gives do I give it to you.
Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.

I firmly believe that we can only bring peace to others when we have attained it for ourselves. That means you should never think that your own peace doesn’t matter. The peace of the world may depend upon your own peace with yourself, so take yourself seriously, and take good care of your own peace!

Forgiving or forgiven, you still might need to clean house!

Whether you are the forgiver or the forgiven, sometimes forgiveness just isn’t enough for a situation, especially what we can just call a “bad situation.” When you are the forgiver, you can forgive a person and still need to clean up all the wrongdoing they did and all the wrongs that are laying around in your life because of all that wrongdoing. If you are the forgiven person, you may have the same situation with needing to cleanup all the wrongdoings you did and all the wrongs that are laying around in your life.

Cleaning house in your life means removing the wrongs that got dropped into your life by wrongdoers and their wrongs once and for all. The things that need to be removed from your life can be physical objects tied to the wrongs in your life. Any item that reminds, repeats, restores, or reopens those wrongs in your life, or in any way reinstates their malevolent influence and impact on your life, need to be taken out to the garbage can. The things that need to be removed from your life can also be patterns of thinking or behavior that were being driven by the wrongs in your life. Again, any pattern of thought or behavior that reminds, repeats, restores, or reopens those wrongs in your life, or in any way reinstates their malevolent influence and impact on your life, need to be processed, packed up, and put away. Sometimes that can be done through resolve and prayer, and sometimes you may need professional help to get some deeply rooted malevolent ways of thinking and acting thoroughly and safely removed from your life. Simply said, if you need help, go get it!

After you take the garbage out, don’t bring it back in!

Here’s the most important thing: once you clean house, don’t let the garbage and grime back in! A “fresh start” does not mean a fresh start on letting wrongdoing and wrongs back into your life. That’s not the reward for deep and sometimes very difficult housecleaning that anyone wants. If you are not intentional and attentive, things can backslide and pretty soon you have the same bad situation you started out with. The best way to avoid this kind of catastrophe is to not only remove the physical objects, thoughts and behaviors that you had as a result of wrongs and wrongdoing in your life, but also intentionally and attentively replace them with right-doing and right things! Replace an object from your bad past with a healthy, beautiful, or inspiring object: e.g. healthy food, beautiful plants or pets, or an inspirational reminder hanging on your wall. Replace old bad and destructive thoughts with good thoughts that build and encourage. Replace behaviors you used to do as a result of wrongdoing and wrongs with new behaviors based on separating yourself from the malevolence of those things, and focused on making yor way toward blessed life. St. Paul wrote well about this kind of conversion to new ways of thinking and acting so you will have a blessed life (Philippians 4:4-9):17

Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Then the God of peace will be with you.

Fix the Beginning Cause of the Problem: The Word of Falsehood

Clearing wrongs and wrongdoing out of our lives goes a long way toward getting us back to a good life. However, as well as we cleaned house, the problem of a word of falsehood is still there. That word of falsehood has the continual ability to cause more wrongdoing and wrongs as long as it is allowed to remain in the heart. Removing the word of falsehood requires understanding what exactly it is, then using what it is not in order to remove it, and the process depends upon whether the word of falsehood resides in our own heart or in the heart of another person who has been the wrongdoer impacting our life.

The Word of Falsehood: What is it?

In the homily in which Franciscan Fr. Roberto Pasolini uses the phrase “word of falsehood,” he does not expand on what he exactly he means by the phrase. That said, I think I can lean a lot on my own experiences, and lean a little bit on Sacred Scripture, so as to be able to make my ow proposal for what the word of falsehood is.18,19

The word of falsehood is an active thought, belief, and worldview that, although fundamentally not the truth, nonetheless drives our words, actions, and reactions in our relationships with ourselves, with others, and with God. In its falsity, the word of falsehood is a contradiction that opposes what is actually the truth. The word of falsehood is essentially and fundamentally a deception, meaning that it presents and acts as if it is the truth, and we treat it and respond to it as if is the truth, even though it simply is not.

The Word of Falsehood: What does it do?

The word of falsehood does three things in our thoughts, beliefs, worldview, and the feelings we have as result of those. First the word of falsehood deceives us in ways that have us regarding it as the truth, and even protect it from being seen as deception and removed from our heart. Second the the word of falsehood is generative, in that it actually makes thoughts, feelings, and actions happen. The word of falsehood continually tells us to think something, believe something, feel something, and do something. Because the world exists on the basis of truth is and ordered to be good in truth, the word of falsehood is opposed to that order and goodness. The word of falsehood is aimed at distraction from the good, derailment from the good and even destruction of the good. In short, the word of falsehood is malevolent and dangerous in our hearts and lives. So dangerous that when the word of falsehood finds a place in our heart, we are not only dangerous to ourselves, but dangerous to others around us through the words we use and actions we take in our relationships.

The Word of Falsehood: Where did it come from?

Understanding where the word of falsehood came from can help us understand how to remove it from the heart. There are at least a couple different ways to explain the origins of a word of falsehood. We can answer it biblically by referring to the first book of the Bible that narrates humanity’s earliest events. We can also explain it in terms of human development and life experiences for a person. Let’s take a look at both.

The First Word of Falsehood in Human History

The first word of falsehood in this history is to be found in Gensis 3:1-6, in which the serpent tells Eve that if she eats the fruit of the the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, “You certainly will not die! God knows well that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, who know good and evil.”20 This is actually a very good example of a word of falsehood, because it is truly deceptive. It twists words and leaves out important facts.

Next the word of falsehood finds a place in Eve’s heart because the ideas in it appeal to her: it’s safe to eat from the tree, it’s going to make her more perceptive, she will gain godly superpowers, and she will be able to make super smart decisions and have more control because she’ll know a good thing from a bad thing. Of course that last point is “off the scale” ironic, because after eating the fruit she has the ability to see that she and Adam have done a very bad thing. When the word of falsehood finds a place in Eve’s heart, it changes her view, including how she sees the tree: “The woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and the tree was desirable for gaining wisdom.” Now there is perception, pleasure, desire and gain involved — you can already see where this is headed, right?

The tree was in the veritable center of the Garden of Eden the whole time, but with the word of falsehood in the heart, all of the sudden it literally looks different and has a different value for desire, pleasure, and gain. We know that the word of falsehood generates action based on the false beliefs and thoughts at work in it, and the next line in the story renders it simply: “So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” Yes, that’s how it works. And in this case, the word of falsehood came from a suggestive deceptive serpent. By the way, the rest of the story makes it sound like the suggestive deceptive serpent is still with us today.

Use the original untruth to get to the eternal truth!

Understanding the ancient narrated origins of the word of falsehood (or “words” plural) in Genesis can help us understand that it has been with us and a problem for us for a very long time. As a matter of fact, humanity has been struggling with the word of falsehood for so long that the struggle practically defines what it is to be human: to be human is to struggle with the word of falsehood, to wish always to be free of it and its evil, and to seek for the truth we need in order to dispel it. That last part is an important clue for what is needed to put some distance between us and the word of falsehood — we need the truth. And once we know that for ourselves, we yearn for it. Thankfully, the word of falsehood has been a problem for so long that people have had a long time to work on it and solve it as a problem, and they have given us a high-quality large deposit that we can draw upon. As a matter of fact, it’s literally called the depositum fidei! Let’s keep that in mind and keep going!

The Word of Falsehood Enters in Life Vulnerabilities

Within our own lifetime, the word of falsehood can originate in what we are taught by others as we grow and mature when that teaching is itself dysfunctional or malevolent. It is possible for a growing and maturing young person to trust an adult who themself has the word of falsehood already in their heart and teaches its untrue beliefs and thoughts to that young person. Jesus makes a point about this danger in the Gospel of Luke (11:11-12): “What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?”21

The word of falsehood can also originate from ourselves, in our interpretations of and mental responses to our own experiences, when our interpretations and responses are mistaken, or the experience itself is contradictory to the world’s natural order toward good, or even malevolent and we don’t have the ability to see it as such (we may regard it as normal or even righteous). In the worst cases, we may experience something disordered and develop a mistaken interpretation of the event and mental response on top of that. In this way, we are vulnerable to the word of falsehood when we don’t know how to correctly interpret to or respond to an event, especially a significant event. Disordered and malevolent events so easily lead to mistaken interpretations and mental responses that they too render us very vulnerable to the word of falsehood.

You’re right to think that the word of falsehood may enter the heart through the really significant dysfunctional teaching relationships, mistakes of interpretation and mental responses, and disordered and malevolent events. While that is true, it is important to also recognize that numerous small events over time may also add up and make us vulnerable to the word of falsehood. To go back to Genesis, we can recognize that one thing a serpent does is travel through small openings and live for small opportunities.

Use past wrong learning to get to the right learning for you!

Understanding that the word of falsehood may enter our heart as a result of something we were taught, possibly at a young age, or at any time by misinterpreting and responding to an experience, or experiencing a disordered or malevolent event, we know that we can use life memories to locate the time when a word of falsehood entered the heart. When we know that, we can also see what the word of falsehood is, and how it has generated beliefs, thoughts and actions since then. When we know that the word of falsehood depends upon our belief of something we are taught in the wrong way or for the wrong reasons, or arises from a mistake we make in interpreting and responding to events in our life, we know that we can change our hearts by doing things the right way, i.e. by listening to and believing in something true that we are taught in the right way and for the right reasons, and in turn by then correctly understanding events in our lives and making the right choices in responding to them. That’s a game changer. Let’s keep this in mind too, and keep going!

How to Remove the Word of Falsehood from a Heart

Now we come to he good news and the best part! “Can the word of falsehood be removed from a heart?” — Yes it can, and here’s how!

In philosophy, there is a principle called the Law of Non-Contradiction. It basically says that a thing cannot both be one way and not that way, in the same respect and at the same time. When it come to something being true, it cannot be both true and not true at the same time — it has to be one or the other. We human beings can have a real resistance to this idea about truth, and sometimes it is convenient for us to remain open to an impossible possibility that something can be true and not true at the same time. While it is very possible for two different things to be true at the same time, today we are going to stick to the Law of Non-Contradiction and use it to remove the word of falsehood from a heart.

Because the Law of Non-Contradiction is universal, and says that for anything in the universe, the true and the untrue cannot occupy the same position for something, we can use it as a lever to remove the word of falsehood and replace it with the word of truth. We can only have one or the other, and a process of identifying the word of falsehood in ourselves gives us the opportunity to replace it with its contradictory and opposing word of truth. In many cases, what we are doing might actually be restoring the word of truth to its rightful place after we lost it to a word of falsehood in a misinterpretation of a life event or a malevolent life event

Word of Truth vs. Word of Falsehood: Only one can win!

Here is a list I made of the most common examples of the word of truth, and the corresponding contradictory and opposing word of falsehood. In each case, it is possible to go from left to right, when you never received the word of truth oto begin with, or you did but had a life event that moved a person from the word of truth in their heart over to having a word of falsehood in their heart. With the Law of Non-Contradiction, it is also possible to move from right to left, from a word of falsehood back over to the word of truth.

WORD OF TRUTH 22,23WORD OF FALSEHOOD
You are created in God’s image.

People are created in God’s image.

Genesis 1:27		You are born to be a generic faceless person, just another one among many.

People are born to be anonymous unknown masses, they’re just people.
You can be the light and leaven of the world.

People can be the light and leaven of their world.

Matthew 5:14-16 and 13:33
You can only be as good or helpful as the world and other people decide you are.

People can only be as good or helpful as the world decides they are.
You are worthy and God cares about you.

People are worthy and God cares about them.

Matthew 10:29-31
Luke 12:6-7		You are worthless and no one cares about you.
People are worthless and no one cares.
You can be forgiven, and God wants to forgive you whenever you need it.

People can be forgiven, and God wants to forgive them whenever they need it.

Mark 3:28
Matthew 12:31
Luke12:10

“Let us not forget this word: God never ever tires of forgiving us!” — Pope Francis24

“…no human being is defined only by his or her actions…” — Pope Leo XIV25		You are what you do and if you do bad things then you are a bad person and that’s what you were and that’s all you’ll ever be.

People are what they do and if they do bad things then they are bad people and that’s what they were and that’s all they’ll ever be.
You and your life are meant for true love and true freedom.

People and their lives are meant for true love and true freedom.

Romans 13:8-10
Galatians 5:6
Galatians 5:13
2 Corinthians 3:17		You are an object and need to beg and borrow, sell and steal, struggle and suffer, for anything good I want in this world like everyone else – that’s just how it is.

People are objects and everyone needs to beg and borrow, sell and steal, struggle and suffer for anything good they want in this world – that’s just how it is.
Luke 6:20-23
Luke 16:9-31
Luke 18:9-14
Matthew 25:31-46
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 604 & 605		You are rightfully better than some other people and I deserve more respect than they do.

Some people are rightfully better than other people and they deserve more respect than other people do.
You will be happiest by giving and receiving real love with God and other people, and fulfilling God’s plan of goodness for you.

People will be happiest by giving and receiving real love with God and other people, and fulfilling God’s plan of goodness for them.

Psalms 16:11
Matthew 5:3-12
1 Peter 1:8
Romans 14:17
Catechism of the Catholic Church, para. 1		You will be happiest by having one pleasurable or entertaining experience after another and keeping that merry-go-round going for you!

People will be happiest by having one pleasurable or entertaining experience after another and keeping that merry-go-round going for them!

You can use this list to think about whether a word of falsehood has entered your heart, or possibly someone else. These examples are not a complete list all of of the possibilities for a word of falsehood, but hopefully provides a good start. In scanning the listed possibilities of a word of falsehood, also know that sometimes the word of falsehood is obvious and its manipulation of life very clear, but also bear n mind that the word of falsehood can also be very subtle, hidden, or even disguised as a different belief that might be true. The word of falsehood in many cases may be something understood to be normal, and longstanding from childhood experiences, and not seen for the fundamental untruth that it is. The word of falsehood may also be mistaken as a real condition for a person to be acceptable to others, able to be loved by others, or even cared for by oneself.

The Word of Truth: “Instructions for Assembly and Installation”

In the Franciscan tradition, we credit St. Francis of Assisi as having said, “A single beam of sunlight drives away many shadows.” We can apply this universal principle to removing the word of falsehood with the word of truth. Like the relationship of sunlight to shadows, falsehood always gives up its ground to truth. It is unable to remain in any place where truth steps. For us, this means that the solution to the word of falsehood is always to oppose it and contradict it with the truth.

You can use the chart to methodically identify a word of falsehood that is involved in a person or situation, and locate its corresponding word of truth that can be used to contradict and oppose the word of falsehood. Once you find it, then its simply a matter of building faith in the word of truth that will unseat the word of falsehood. The more faith in the word of truth that a person has, the more completely and permanently is the word of falsehood unseated and removed from the heart. Going back to St. Francis of Assisi and the power of sunbeams over shadows, what we are talking about in this process is a real “Ex umbris et imaginibus in veritatem,” from shadows and imaginings into the truth.26

In general, the process is always to:

  • Clearly identify an involved word of falsehood.
  • Locate its contradicting word of truth in Sacred Scripture.
  • Cultivate trust if not deep belief in the word of truth.
  • Revisit the word of truth over and over again by reading it and thinking of it.
  • Adopt an intention to live by it in your thoughts, feelings, and actions.
  • Daily view your life events, make decisions, and take actions based on the word of truth.

Two more words of advice. Be patient with yourself in this process, it’s OK to stumble as you work on it. Just don’t give up. In addition, At every step, use prayer, and strengthen yourself with Sacraments and Sacramentals of the Church.

The Wisdom Tradition of Contradiction: Word Against Word

The method of contradiction that I have shared with you is not an innovation in spirituality and spiritual warfare that I can take any credit for. This method dates all the way back to the episode of Jesus in the desert, in which the devil proposes a word of falsehood, and Jesus opposes and rejects that word of falsehood with the contradictory word of truth (Matthew 4:1-11).27 For example:

Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, and he said to him, “All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.”

At this, Jesus said to him, “Get away, Satan! It is written: ‘The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.’”

Then the devil left him and, behold, angels came and ministered to him.

The use of a word of truth from Sacred Scripture to contradict a word of falsehood is an effective method handed to us by Jesus Christ. A desert recluse named Evagrius of Pontus made it into a full-on wisdom tradition.

Evagrius of Pontus (346-399 A.D.) was an early Christain monastic living in the Egyptian desert. He wrote down his experiences, including a discipline he adopted of “consciously using good thoughts drawn from the Bible to cut off bad ones.”28 Evagrius drew upon the earlier work of St. Athanasius (296-373 A.D.) who himself had concluded that “the Lord is in the words pf the Scriptures” and could be used to remove malevolent forces in one’s life. He also drew upon the experience of St. Anthony of the Desert (251-356 A.D.) who in dispelling malevolent forces “made use of biblical verses, especially Psalms, his most favorite spiritual weapons.” In recent years, this method of using contradictory and opposing Sacred Scripture against temptation and spiritual falsehood has been termed “talking back” for its dynamic of responding to a word of falsehood with a word of truth.

Understanding the Theology of the Word of Truth in Order to Use It

Theologically, we should understand that a word of truth drawn from Sacred Scripture has power to dispel the word of falsehood because God is ultimate truth, and God dwells in Sacred Scripture. This explains the ability of the Sacred Scriptures to act as God himself in our lives, dispelling falsehood and malevolence with truth. We understand from John 1:1 and 1:14:29

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God…
And the Word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us,
and we saw his glory,
the glory as of the Father’s only Son,
full of grace and truth.

The whole of the Gospel narrates Jesus Christ as “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), and through Sacred Scripture, Jesus Christ has takes the same action in our own lives.30

Putting into Practice the Contradictory Word of Truth Against Falsehood

Practically, we should understand two things:

  • We can rid ourselves of a word of falsehood by reading and believing the word of truth in Sacred Scripture that contradicts and opposes that word of falsehood.
  • By frequently reading and believing the word of truth in Sacred Scripture, we can prevent the word of falsehood from ever finding a vulnerability or foothold in our hearts to start with, or ever again.

Basically … read and put your belief into the Bible! A lot! As much as you can! These two very practical tips are of immeasurable value, and a great legacy handed to us by Jesus Christ and the early Christian monastics. All it takes is a Bible and an affordable amount of daily time! Why not do it when its that easy and the benefits are life-changing?

How to Help Someone Remove the Word of Falsehood

So far, what I have shared with you explains that evil acts have their origin in a word of falsehood that cab be removed with a word of truth from Sacred Scripture. Practically speaking, those are easy connections to make if you yourself have been the bad actor, can see how your actions are driven by your own word of falsehood, and can remove that word of falsehood from your heart with a word of truth. But what if you are not the bad actor? What if you have been the victim, or know someone else who you see is being driven by a word of falsehood? We can understand that it comes down to whether or not we can get that person to read and believe the contradictory and opposing word of truth that they need from Sacred Scripture for their particular word of falsehood.

Try to Get a Gospel Foot in the Door

Getting someone to read and believe the word of truth in Sacred Scripture is a process — specifically an evangelical process. It probably will not work to sneak up on the person with a Bible and try to hijack them with an urgent “You need to read and believe this and you need to do it right now!” The Franciscan tradition teaches us a gentle, nonconfrontational and gradually inviting way to connect people with the Gospel. The saying is, “Preach the Gospel, use words if you have to.” It means that we can expose and invite people into the Gospel by being living actors of that Gospel. When we do that, people can connect with the Gospel through us and begin the process of believing the word of truth in Sacred Scripture. This approach works best in combination with another Franciscan tradition, and that is the offer of caring companionship, even to the roughest and toughest person. So often the real “hard cases” also suffer from terrible fear, loneliness, and despair in the deepest part of themselves. Offering caring companionship despite their rough edges gets the Gospel a proverbial “foot in the door” that over time can become more openness to the word of truth that the person needs. In doing this we do the opposite of judgement and rejection, and instead work for Jesus Christ, who clarifies: “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners” (Luke 5:27-32).31

Stay Away from Dangerous People

It is important to recognize a situation where a connection between yourself and someone with a word of falsehood in their heart is just too dangerous to your own safety. In those cases, you cannot be around the person because they have a history of manipulation, abuse, or violence that makes it just plain dangerous to be around them for any amount of time. In those situations, you must steer clear of that person for your won good, and for their good too because a perpetrator of manipulation, abuse, or violence does not benefit from more practice of that manipulation, abuse, or violence — it just makes things worse for everyone!

In these situations, there is still something yo can do to try and help that person remove the word of falsehood from their hearts and replace it with the word of truth — pray for them…a lot! It does not need to be a particular prayer or have special words in it. You can simply express to God your hope that the person gets the help that they need, and that is enough.

I also want you to know that our Church takes very seriously the plight of victims of abuse and violence and wants to provide pastoral care and even a blessing. You can read about the Order for the Blessing of a Victim of Crime or Oppression and connect with your parish pastor. Many dioceses and archdioceses have specially appointed staff who are available to victims of crimes — check out that possibility if that is the right option for you. In all cases, I want to recommend and heartily encourage any victim of abuse or violence to connect with their parish pastor and access the healing that our Catholic Church can offer. Don’t get stuck, give God a chance, and make the connection you need to so tjat you can get some help.

Please share these words with someone who needs them today!

This text is an original work of its author Tom Delaney and was entirely composed without the use of artificial intelligence (AI).

If your parish or faith community is seeking a deeper experience of forgiveness, healing, mercy, and spiritual renewal, Live and Forgive is here to help. To begin the conversation, email Live and Forgive presenter and facilitator Tom Delaney at tom@liveandforgive.com — he will be glad to connect with you for a conversation. Please type in your email and click “Subscribe” below to stay connected and get Live and Forgive articles delivered to you.

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Notes

  1. Vatican News. (2025). Advent 2025 – The Parousia of the Lord: An expectation without hesitation [PDF]. Vatican News. https://www.vaticannews.va/content/dam/vaticannews/meditazioni/casa-pontificia/doc/ADVENT-2025—1.-The-Parousia-of-the-Lord.pdf.
  2. VanderWeele, T. J. (2017). On the promotion of human flourishing. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 114(31), 8148–8156. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1702996114.
  3. Dulles, A. (1990). From images to truth: Newman on revelation and faith. Theological Studies, 51(2), 199–220: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/004056399005100204.
  4. See paras. 383, 401, and 1606 in United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (n.d.). Catechism of the Catholic Church. USCCB. https://www.usccb.org/catechism.
  5. See para. 1718 in United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (n.d.). Catechism of the Catholic Church. USCCB. https://www.usccb.org/catechism.
  6. See paras. 2464 and 2475-2487 in United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (n.d.). Catechism of the Catholic Church. USCCB. https://www.usccb.org/catechism.
  7. VanderWeele, T. J. (2017). On the promotion of human flourishing. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 114(31), 8148–8156. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1702996114.
  8. VanderWeele, T. J., & Lee, M. T.(2025). Love and human flourishing. InternationalJournal of Wellbeing, 15(4), 4663, 1-31. https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v15i4.4663: https://internationaljournalofwellbeing.org/index.php/ijow/article/view/4663/1281.
  9. VanderWeele, T.J., Long, K. and Balboni, M.J. On tradition-specific measures of spiritual well-being. In: M. Lee, L.D. Kubzansky, and T.J. VanderWeele (Eds.). Measuring Well-Being: Interdisciplinary Perspectives from the Social Sciences and the Humanities. Oxford University Press: https://content.sph.harvard.edu/wwwhsph/sites/603/2020/01/SpiritualWellBeingChapter.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com.
  10. See paras. 1 and 2465-2466 in United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (n.d.). Catechism of the Catholic Church. USCCB. https://www.usccb.org/catechism.
  11. See paras. 1114-1116, 2470, and 2517-2527 in in United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (n.d.). Catechism of the Catholic Church. USCCB. https://www.usccb.org/catechism.
  12. à Kempis, T. (1940). The imitation of Christ (A. Crofton and H. Bolton, Trans.). Bruce Publishing Company.
  13. See para. 2500 in United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (n.d.). Catechism of the Catholic Church. USCCB. https://www.usccb.org/catechism.
  14. See John 14:6 in United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (n.d.). New American Bible, Revised Edition. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/.
  15. See para. 2465 in United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (n.d.). Catechism of the Catholic Church. USCCB. https://www.usccb.org/catechism.
  16. See John 14:27 in United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (n.d.). New American Bible, Revised Edition. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/.
  17. See Philippians 4:4-9 in United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (n.d.). New American Bible, Revised Edition. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/.
  18. See Psalm 119 in United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (n.d.). New American Bible, Revised Edition. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/.
  19. See 1 John 4:6 in United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (n.d.). New American Bible, Revised Edition. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/.
  20. See Genesis 3:1-6 in United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (n.d.). New American Bible, Revised Edition. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/.
  21. See Luke 11:11-12 in United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (n.d.). New American Bible, Revised Edition. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/.
  22. See the noted Bible verses in United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (n.d.). New American Bible, Revised Edition. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/.
  23. See related sections in United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (n.d.). Catechism of the Catholic Church. USCCB. https://www.usccb.org/catechism.
  24. Francis, P. (2013, March 17). Angelus: Saint Peter’s Square, Sunday, 17 March 2013. The Holy See. https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/angelus/2013/documents/papa-francesco_angelus_20130317.htmlvatican.va.
  25. Leo XIV. (2025, December 14). Holy Mass on the occasion of the Jubilee of Prisoners [Homily]. The Holy See. https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/homilies/2025/documents/20251214-giubileo-detenuti.html.
  26. Dulles, A. (1990). From images to truth: Newman on revelation and faith. Theological Studies, 51, 225–[page]. The article notes that John Henry Newman requested the words Ex umbris et imaginibus in veritatem be inscribed on his tombstone, summarizing his lifelong theological journey: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/004056399005100204.
  27. See Matthew 4:1-11 in United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (n.d.). New American Bible, Revised Edition. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/.
  28. Evagrius of Pontus. (2009). Talking back: A monastic handbook for combating demons (D. Brakke, Trans.). Liturgical Press.
  29. See John 1:1 and 1:14 in United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (n.d.). New American Bible, Revised Edition. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/.
  30. See John 14:6 in United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (n.d.). New American Bible, Revised Edition. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/.
  31. See Luke 5:27-32 in United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (n.d.). New American Bible, Revised Edition. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/.

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