"Again you have heard that it was
said to your ancestors, 'Do not
take a false oath, but make good
to the Lord all that you vow.' But
I say to you, do not swear at all;
not by heaven, for it is God's
throne; nor by the earth, for it
is his footstool; nor by Jerusalem,
for it is the city of the great
King. Do not swear by your head,
for you cannot make a single hair
white or black. Let your 'Yes' mean
'Yes,' and your 'No' mean 'No.'
Anything more is from the evil one."
Matt. 5:33-37

Our modern society is built around the idea that a person's word is not to be trusted. Everything that we do requires a signature, a password, or some other assurance that we aren't pretending to be someone we're not or trying to do something that we shouldn't. How much better would our world be if every Christian took these words from the Gospel of Matthew to heart? Certainly it could serve as an opportunity for evangelization in a world that has forgotten how to trust. We always hear from non-believers about how they love Jesus but don't believe that the faithful actually live out his message. Can we deny that there are many cases in which their accusations are well-founded, that much of the time we do indeed fail to live as followers of Christ? If we actually listened to Christ and embraced honesty in our lives, perhaps those who ignore Jesus would see him in us and find the grace to accept him.