When I first sat down with our readings for today, I was stumped. After a tumultuous election season here in the US, I really did not want to engage Christ as a King, but on my third or fourth time reading through, I was struck by these words that Jesus says to Pilate in the Gospel: "Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice." If you’re listening to this homily, you, like me, probably are compelled by Christian truths. Truths about Jesus, God, the Spirit, Justice, but I’m curious. To what other truths do you belong?

November is National Adoption Month and, as an adoptee, belonging is something I think about quite a bit. My birthday is coming up this week, and each year, around this time, I really enjoy revisiting my family’s home movies. I love that they are our documentary history, and the one I love most is the video of my family on the day they adopted me.

When the video begins, my dad is filming my brother who is seven years old proclaiming “here we come!” and then a door opens. My mom makes her way across the room and picks me up out of the bassinet and we lock eyes. Not that I really know what I was thinking, but I like to think I knew she was my mother, I knew I was her daughter, I knew we were a family, I knew they loved me, and I knew that I would love them - it was just right, it was our shared truth to which we all belonged.

The video continues with my mom and the woman who took care of me, Maybel, exchanging pleasantries while my brother held me for the first time. I was adopted at three weeks old, so with one week until Christmas my brother tells me in the video: “Olivia, it’s almost Christmas, you’ll like this song,” and then proceeds to sing Jingle Bells to me. For whatever reason, I always watched that exchange as an essential moment of welcome. “You’re in this family now, Liv, and we sing Christmas songs.” - another shared truth.  

On that same disc, there’s a clip from 10 months later where my parents, brother, and I appear before a judge who signs off on my adoption. The judge sees us all together and does not think twice before confirming I was my parents’ daughter and my brother’s sister. With that paper, he says that we are officially a family (even though we had been for some time at that point) and encourages us to celebrate that we belong to each other with a special dinner at a favorite restaurant. Celebration around the table - shared truth.

Not on video are the conversations between me and my mom as I got older and had lots of questions: Why am I not like other people? Where are my birth parents? Why did they leave me? Why didn’t they want me? I don’t feel like I am really a part of this family. We don’t look anything alike.

When those emotional thoughts came up, both of my parents were quick to share words of encouragement about belonging, but always held space for the curiosity and frustration that came with being an adopted child. Feeling your feelings and growing from them - shared truth.

And, even in my mid-twenties, I look to these videos and memories as proof of my family’s ultimate shared truth - It is not blood or genetics that make us a family, it’s authentic and steadfast love.

Shared truths are stories that act as threads, weaving connections that bind us to one another in deep and meaningful ways. We truly belong when we are seen, heard, and accepted without reservation or conditions. Belonging happens when we are free to make mistakes, to ask honest questions, to learn and grow together, and to simply be together in our shared humanity. Our connection is not held together by lofty ideals or rigid rules, but rather by the unique, intimate moments we share—moments of joy, sorrow, laughter, lament, anger, hope, and everything in between that remind us we are not alone.

When Jesus says, “everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice,” I think he’s asking for more than simple obedience and piety. He’s inviting us to create spaces of true belonging by connecting through shared stories and experiences. I believe he’s calling us, not just to spread his message through words, but to embody and live out his teachings in our actions and relationships. To belong to the truth is to form genuine connections, where love, empathy, and understanding bring the Gospel message to life in a way that reaches others deeply and meaningfully.

For me, this is best exemplified through the story of my adoption, but I wonder where this may come up for you.  

What are your shared truths of belonging? And whom do you share them with?