We all desire a “good” life, a life full of richness, even if not necessarily material riches. That is the nature of the human person. We seek goodness, we long for it from the depths of our being. That is because it is what we are made for. We are made for God – for perfect union with God – who is perfect goodness and perfect love. So with our every act, we try to grasp that for which we are made.
The problem is that we often don’t know how to find what we long for. We grasp at things we think are worthy, but sometimes they are not the best choices possible. Sometimes they are far from it. Sometimes they are not, in truth, beneficial at all.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives us an answer. Listening to the voice of God is like building our life upon a rock. This foundation can carry us through the complexities of choosing the good, true and beautiful in a world full of so many voices drawing us to idols that cannot ultimately satisfy.
The idolatry of things, of busyness, of accomplishment, and of human recognition is strong because it seems to offer happiness. Some of what tempts us may even be wonderful and great, but none of it is infinitely so. Only God is the true, infinite good that we are made for and long for. Only by listening to the voice of Christ, and acting upon it, can we bear good fruit and point our lives in the direction of eternal beatitude – blessedness – with God.
Like begets like. Good trees bear good fruit. Good people produce goodness of the heart. Christ’s grace transforms us into the good trees, the good people who will then, in turn, transform the world.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator