On Being A Good Person: On Being A Good Person

On Being A Good Person: On Being A Good Person: Being a good person can mean so many different things to people. Some may consider helping people as being most important. It does not ...

On Being A Good Person

Being a good person can mean so many different things to people. Some may consider helping people as being most important. It does not matter what the nature of help is. It could be bringing a friend a meal when he is sick, or giving a glass of water to a thirsty beggar. On the other hand, a person's motives for doing such acts are important. Is someone doing such service to be praised? Is he going to pat himself on his back declaring what a wonderful guy am I?

There are some persons that consider themselves good because they give willingly to charitable organizations e.g., Salvation Army, cancer society, mental health, diabetes, Alzheimer or cystic fibrosis. Others participate in "walkatons" to find a cure and raise money for the benefit of an organization. Such benefactors are considered good people by our society.

It is one thing to be helpful but another to be trustworthy. Are you reliable? Do you go that extra mile to help someone instead of giving from your abundance? Some persons devote themselves completely to a cause or causes. They give their all. Do you participate in feeding the poor? How often do you take time out to distribute food at your local foodbank? Or, do volunteer work at church, hospital or the library?

Many will agree these are things that good people do. But are you honest? Do you cheat on your income taxes? It is known that some persons inflate their numbers when it comes to making charitable donations. It may be that they allow things to slip and not have kept adequate records of their giving. Persons even fudge on their medical expenses. How do you see yourself in this regard? Are you still as good and dependable as you thought? Are you like a rock to others or merely shifting sand?

Goodness And Holiness Go Together

In scripture we learn that we all have faults. Yes, we are all sinners. Some of the greatest saints have had a tarnished background. For example, think about the life of St. Augustine (A.D. 354-430) – one of the fathers of the Catholic church. He lived a rather rambunctious life in his youth - no doubt about it. For years he was wild, although he was learned and an intellectual. In his very moving book, Confessions - the first spiritual autobiography ever written, he extrapolated on his deeds that he later regretted so much. Yet he was forgiven by God, and much of the theology of Catholic church was shaped through his inspiration.

A saint of exceptional holiness was 18^th century's Therese of Lisieux that died at the age of 24.  She embraced suffering for redemptive purposes, wrote the Story of a Soul and as a Carmelite nun was steadfast in her faith.  St. Therese because of her dedication to “the small way,” viewing us as being like “little children,” thought that this was how a person would enter the Kingdom of God. As the second female doctor of the universal church, she saw that through goodness, there would grow innocence and faithfulness.

To be a good person is not always how well-liked a person is, but how genuine he is in the eyes of God. It is a state of being good, beneficial and committed. With such generosity and moral excellence we have always to accept God in the picture. This is piety and virtue at their best. Accepting Jesus Christ is believing in Agathism – that all things incline towards good. We will be Agathists, where our actions are well-intentioned and such virtuosity will well lead to social reform.