To Be Good

A priest in charge of a diocesan youth retreat had picked his teenage speakers very carefully. He pondered what he knew about them, and was also very careful in the topics he assigned to them for his weekend retreat. For one particular talk, entitled, ―Me and My Faith,‖ he chose Beth Ann, a 17-year-old who was outstanding in her Christian witness. Even her teenage peers recognized her goodness. The priest knew that her talk would be outstanding! Thus, he was totally unprepared for what she actually said! ―I hate being good! I hate my faith! It’s too much of a burden! Everybody thinks that because I try to do right that I would be bad to have around. No one ever asks me out to the parties that our parents don’t know about. No one includes me when they cut classes or sneak off campus at lunch- time. No one ever confides in me concerning what goes on over the weekends. Being good and living my faith makes me lonely, and I can’t stand it!‖ This is a true story, and we should recognize it as true because many who do try and have tried to live as Christ have had the same thoughts. We do avoid good people sometimes. We do not want them to remind us that what we are doing is wrong or, at the very least, questionable. Rather than trying to improve our behavior, we choose to bring them down. In our Gospel for this weekend, Jesus counseled his disciples that true wisdom and, therefore, true goodness is best reflected in those who are the most innocent among us. When his followers failed to comprehend the wisdom of God’s saving plan, that is, that it would involve the suffering and death of Jesus, and when they argued over who was the most important among them, Jesus offered them the example of a little child. Jesus said, ―Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me!‖ Guileless and totally lacking in self-importance, the trusting innocence of a child’s heart is the place where believers can truly meet God. It is there that the docile will experience the power and presence of God. It is there that would-be disciples will learn what it really means to be good, to do good and to persevere in goodness in spite of the hostility of those less responsive to God! Think about it!!