July 12, 2025

Good for you!  Good night!  Good job!  We use the word “good” in a variety of ways throughout a given day.  Sometimes it’s just a throw-away word, “I’m doing pretty good,” while other times it’s purely utilitarian, “It’s not good for me!”  The Christian tradition, nevertheless, invites us to a more critical reflection: the Good Samaritan, for instance, takes a detour in order to help the man beaten up on the side of the road; the Good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep; the Good News is preached unto martyrdom; Good Friday commemorates the suffering and death that bore our salvation; and, from the beginning, in the garden, knowledge of what is good is only ever paired with the weight of having to reject what is evil. The enduring good of this life is not some thing, a commodity, but rather a sacrificial action.  We must learn to go beyond the comfort of symbolic goods and take a spiritual risk on the one who is goodness itself (Mk 10:18).  In doing so, we shall taste and see the goodness of the Lord (Ps 34:8) and celebrate the fact that everything is actually good and has been so all along (Gen 1:31).  Ave Crux, Spes Unica.