Allow Yourself to be... Good

So many men and women today think they are evil. Excepting the narcissists who believe they can do no wrong, the majority of people today seem to have this idea that they inherently bad, and the good acts they do are inconsequential to who they are as individuals. An anecdotal example, I heard a story recently of a talk being given in a church (by a priest, pastor, speaker, doesn't matter who) and the speaker asked the question to those gathered "Do you think that God likes you? Raise your hand if you do." Out of a few hundred gathered, only a few raised their hands. Are we Catholics suddenly Calvinists? Do we believe we are simply tolerated by the Almighty?

I wonder, why do we think that we are so bad? Why do we think that God has no affection for us? Where do we get this notion that we are evil beings who happen to do good things? It's not from Scripture - yes, the Scripture does say things such as "The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse— who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9) but does this mean by nature we are evil? No. By nature we are good, since that is how God created us, but by corruption we stray from good to evil. The heart is evil not because the heart is evil in itself but because it has been blackened and hardened, it has been wounded and so has fallen from grace. Just as a car that needs its wheels realigned it needs help in going straight and towards its destination or else it will fall off the path; we need this same help, because although the car is meant to drive you to your destination it will lead you off the road unless you are fixed. We are created good, and we are corrupted into evil.

Even though many of those I've spoken to would not say "people are evil by nature" they still act as if this is true. Whether it be through self-loathing, total redirection of compliments away from yourself, scrupulosity, overemphasis on fasting, and so forth. We do not say that we are each an evil being, but we act as if we are.

Here is where I make a charge to you. Allow yourself to be a good man, allow yourself to be a good woman. Allow yourself to be, simply, good. Stop fighting against this, let God's glory shine through you. St. John Chrysostom said "If you denigrate the gifts God gives you, that gives Him no glory". There is a difference when responding to a compliment or affirmation between "I am a sinner, the good I do comes from God" and "Glory to God". The first one rejects any idea that you had influence in the justice or mercy brought about, as if you were a puppet being used by God. Yes you are a sinner, but do you think a father wants to constantly hear his children speak of themselves in this way? Greater even our Father in Heaven, how He must be saddened by our self-loathing.

Yes, all good things come from God, and yet we are not simple evil tools which God has to bend into doing good things. Our goodness comes from our Father, but follow me for a moment in this line of thought. We get our bodies from our parents, yes? From them we get the "formula" at birth which often determines the deficiencies our bodies will have, the level of intellect we can achieve, our height, and so on. Also from them do we (to a degree) gain our personality and interests due to how they choose to raise us. If we do well in a sport do we give thanks to our parents for the body we have? Intellect is fostered by a pursuit of learning, but there's also a genetic aspect in how the brain is formed which determines the "heights" we can reach in intelligence - so do we say "thanks Dad and Mom for giving me a good brain"? For both of these examples we don't do this, it's a foreign idea. What we do and should thank our parents for are the active virtues which were given to us when they raised us; active virtues being, sharing, fortitude, prudence, discernment, applicable skills, discerning wisdom, and so on. "Thanks for a strong set of legs" doesn't sound right, really.

We should thank our parents for the active virtues which they gave to us, and we should acknowledge and thank God for the passive virtues of goodness which He is constantly giving to us. "Thank you God for guiding me in that decision", "thank you for this passion", "thank you for protecting me from this thing which would cause me harm", and so on. There is nothing wrong with acknowledging your faults - in 1 Timothy 1:15 Paul says that Christ came to save sinners, "of whom I am the first", and this is something which Byzantine Catholics repeat every Sunday at our Liturgy - we should recognize our faults, but no parent wants their child to refuse compliments for the good they have done. Our Heavenly Father is a good father, He loves to see us succeed.

Sometimes these habits of redirecting praise to God come from the pursuit of humility, desiring to foster this virtue. But, something which people miss is that humility is not an act, it is a fruit which comes from other things. Apples do not appear out of the ground, they grow from a strong, healthy tree. That tree is taking in nutrients, is receptive to the one who tends it, grows roots deep in the ground to keep it secure, and when it is mature enough it begins to produce fruit. Humility is not the tree, it is the fruit. If you resist your gardener, the great Lord of the Harvest Himself, if you resist the water and nutrients given to you, then the fruit which you attempt to force out of you will be lackluster and disappointing. From good comes good, allowing good in should, if you allow it, send good out of you as well.

Written for VME Catholic, by Ethan Hall