V — INFINITE GOODNESS

Presence of God. — O my God, You who alone are good, deign to clothe me in your goodness.

Meditation

1 — When Moses asked God to show him his glory, God answered: “I will show you all good” (Ex. 33:19), as if to indicate that his glory is infinite goodness, the good that He possesses with such fullness that every good is in Him and no good exists independently of Him. God possesses good not because He has received it from anyone, but because He Himself is by nature the supreme Good, because his being is infinite goodness. If creatures are good, they are so only because God has communicated to them something of his goodness, but of itself the creature, just as it cannot exist, so can it have no goodness. This is why to the young man who had called Him “Good Master,” Jesus said: “Why do you call me good? None is good but God alone” (Mk. 10:18). Not even Jesus as man possessed goodness of Himself, but possessed it only because God, to whom He was hypostatically united, communicated it to Him. Only of God can it be said that He is good, in the sense that He is goodness itself, that goodness belongs to Him by nature, as divinity belongs to Him by nature. And just as it is impossible that his divinity fail, so it is impossible that his goodness fail. Heaven will pass away, earth will pass away, the ages will pass, but God’s goodness will never pass. The malice of men may heap sin upon sin, evil upon evil, but above them God’s goodness will remain immutable. The shadow of evil will never touch it. On the contrary, God, ever benign, will stoop over evil to reduce it to good, to draw from it a greater good. Thus infinite goodness stooped over sinful man and from Adam’s fall drew an immeasurably greater good: the redemption of the world by the incarnation of his Only-Begotten. This is the distinctive character of God’s goodness: to will good, only good, to the point of drawing good even from evil.

2 — God, supremely good in Himself, is good also in all his works. From Him, infinite goodness, only good works can proceed: “And God saw all his works, and they were exceedingly good,” thus Sacred Scripture ends the account of creation (Gen. 1:31). Everything that comes from God’s hands bears the imprint of his goodness. Good is the sun that illumines and warms the earth; good is the earth that produces flowers and fruits; good the sea, good the sky, good the stars: all is good because all is God’s work, essential, infinite, eternal goodness. But God willed that among his creatures there be some, like man, who, besides being good because He created them so, should be so also by adhering with their free will to that goodness He infused in them. Here is the great honor God has given man: He not only created him good, as He created heaven and earth good, but willed that he be good with the free concurrence of his will, as though making him master of that goodness which He placed in him. Precisely for this He gave him the great gift of freedom. See then how far you withdraw from goodness when you use your free will not to will good but to will evil. See the supreme distance between you and God: God is infinite goodness, to the point of drawing good even from evil; you are deep malice, such that even good you know how to turn into evil, using the good of your freedom to indulge your selfishness, your pride, your self-love. And yet, if you adhered to that interior impulse toward good that God has placed in you, if you let develop that goodness He has infused into your heart, it would not be difficult for you to be good. God made you good, He wants you good. True, your malice - consequence of sin - is great, but his infinite goodness surpasses it immeasurably and can well heal and destroy it to the bottom, provided that you will it and trust in it.

Colloquy

“In understanding your goodness, O God, the soul should be moved to act with every effort to correspond to this goodness; and should run swiftly to find You who go pursuing and pleading with it: ‘Open to me, my sister!’

“And what advantage does the soul gain from understanding your goodness? It is this: that it clothes itself in such goodness. Oh, if we opened our eyes and saw how great it is! But at times we are blind and do not see. Only the warm Blood of Christ is the eye-salve capable of opening not only the eyes but also the heart, to make souls understand the immensity of divine goodness... O my God, You show me your infinite goodness like a very great river pouring over the earth, and in whose waters all creatures are immersed and nourished as fish in the sea. Contemplating this river, I remain submerged in it; but turning and seeing human malice so contrary to your goodness, I grieve greatly for it. O infinite Goodness, my soul wants to honor You in two ways: first with praise, thanking and blessing You continually for all the gifts and graces You give it and narrating your greatnesses; and then with works, not spoiling in itself your image, but keeping itself pure and without stain as You created it from the beginning” (cf. St. Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi).

“O Lord, I want to trust in your goodness, which is greater than all the evil we can do. When we acknowledge our misery and wish to return to your friendship, You forget that we have been ungrateful to You. The graces with which You have filled us would in themselves be one more reason to punish us, because we have received them badly; but they, instead, incline You to forgive us more quickly, as people of your household who, as one says, have eaten the bread of your table. O Lord, this is what You have done with me: I grew weary first in offending You, not You in forgiving me. You never tire of giving, nor can your mercies be exhausted. Let us not grow tired of receiving them!” (cf. T.G. Vi. 19, 15).