“It's not enough to be good; you need to show it,” (Furrow, 735).
I have been thinking about what it is to be good.
I have a very dear friend. Two of her children have autism. And this affects how she speaks to them. The other day when I saw this friend and her children I saw that one of her children had done something well and I said – out of habit, “Good Boy.”
My friend stopped me and clarified for her son, saying instead, “Good job in holding hands while we cross the road.”
You see, for that child, because of his condition, he is unable to understand what “good boy” means. Instead, he needs to understand what is good about the behaviour that he has engaged in.
And I have been thinking about this as I have been thinking about what it is to be good.
You see, it is one thing to say that I am a good person, but quite another thing to show that goodness…
Saint Josemaria wrote in “Furrow” at 730, “It's not enough to be good; you need to show it. What would you say of a rose bush which produced only thorns?”
And I have been thinking about that rosebush… If we have a friend, how do we know that they are our friend. Is it enough for me to say that I am a friend to be called a friend? Of course not. A friend is someone who cares about another person. A friend is someone who spends time with another person. A friend is someone who helps another person. And a friend does all these things because they are happy in the company of the other person.
And so, when I use the word friend, it is more than a word – it is a set of actions and behaviours that indicate friendship…
And I have been thinking about that today, because a friend is not passive. And neither is goodness…
While Evil is defined as a absence of good, the good is action! The Good is a movement towards God and His Holy Will. Without the Good, there is only passivity, which is a lack or an absence, and is – in fact – no better than the evil itself…
This evil, which is the passive unwillingness to put action to the Will of God is as bad as simply ignoring His Holy Will… And when I think about what is at stake when I simply chose to ignore the will of God, I shudder… For God made the world and He made it GOOD. And that means that everything in creation is designed to align with God’s plan. And God’s plan and His Will are Holy.
Today, when I think of that holiness, I look around and see that I am standing still. And today, that really does not seem like enough… Not enough at all…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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