“Eager to Do What Is Good” by Melanie Rigney

“Eager to Do What Is Good” by Melanie Rigney 

Memorial of Saint Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church

For the grace of God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age, as we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of the great God and of our savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people as his own, eager to do what is good. (Titus 2:11-14) 

The salvation of the just comes from the Lord. (Psalm 37:39a)

“When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’” (Luke 17:10) 

Piety

Jesus, help me put my prejudices and jealousies and desire for earthly pride aside and do in Your name what is good.

Study

Doing what is good can be hard. Being eager to do it, almost impossible at times. 

We take the five minutes to talk or walk with an acquaintance who seems starved for human contact when what we really want to do is get home, put up our feet, and read a good book.

We congratulate the person who got the job we wanted when we really wanted to be by ourselves and self-medicate with chocolate. 

We send that $25 or $50 or $100 to a charity that’s on the edge of survival when what we really want to do is order another hoodie or a couple more pairs of sweats or maybe a nice bottle of wine.

But here’s the thing about doing good. As Jesus says in today’s Gospel reading, we may start out doing it because it is what we are obliged to do. But like any other habit, the more we do good, the more it becomes our default, and the more we become eager to do it. For the closer we drag ourselves to the Light, the more the Light embraces, feeds, consumers, and cleanses us. When we become one with the Light, we become one with all that is good.

Action

Do something good, grudgingly, or otherwise.

Image credit is Marys_fotos via Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/photos/sun-dawn-nature-bright-light-3130638/