Remembering God alone is good
Saint Agatha of Sicily (born: 231 AD - died: 251 AD) is a
Christian saint and virgin martyress. Her memorial is on 5 February. Agatha was born at Catania or Palermo,
Sicily, and she was martyred in approximately 251. She is one of seven women, who, along with
the Blessed Virgin Mary, are commemorated by name in the Canon of the
Mass. She is the patron saint of
Catania, Molise, Malta, San Marino and Zamarramala, a municipality of the
Province of Segovia in Spain. She is
also the patron saint of breast cancer patients, martyrs, wet nurses,
bell-founders, bakers, fire, earthquakes, and eruptions of Mount Etna.
We all
think we know what’s good. We know
what’s good for our children. We know
what’s good for our neighbors (don’t park in the grass). We definitely know what’s good for our
country, and can probably solve the problems of the whole world over a couple
of beers. But have you noticed how your
thinking of what’s good changes over time?
When we’re 5 we think legos are good.
When we’re 17 we think a Mustang GTO is good! When we’re 30 we think being CEO of our own
company is good! When we’re 45 we think
that Mustang GTO was really good! I told
a dear friend recently that having hair like Rob Lowe would be really
good! Remember the movie, “Rudy”? That young man is convinced that there’s
nothing in the world better than playing football for the Notre Dame Fighting
Irish. But a wise old priest tells him:
“Son, in 35 years of religious study, I have come up with only two hard, incontrovertible
facts: there is a God, and I’m not him.”
In other words, only God knows what’s good, our opinions change.
Today is
the Feast of St. Agatha. She lived in
Sicily in the 3rd century and at an early age dedicated herself to Jesus as her
Spouse and refused to marry anyone. When
a nobleman named Quintian wanted to marry her, she refused. She basically said: “There is a God and
you’re not him! Only God knows what is
good, and only God is goodness itself.
God is all I want.” Quintian
imprisoned and tortured Agatha to change her mind and finally killed her – he
wasn’t very romantic. The name “Agatha”
means “good” because Agath’s life bore testimony that God alone is good. C. S. Lewis said, “He who has God and
everything else, has no more than he who has God only” (The Weight of
Glory). In other words, all you really
need is God.
My friends, we all seek the good life, what the ancient
Greeks and Romans called the “Summum Bonum,” the highest good. As you continue your quest for the good life,
let me give you 3 pieces of advice.
First, have a healthy suspicion of your own opinions about what is
good. What you think is so “hot” today
may not be so “hot” in 10 more years.
Second, remember what the old priest said, “There is a God, and I’m not
him.” Only God knows what is good, so
try to figure out what he thinks. And
third, the highest good, the “summum bonum” may not be found in this life but
only in the next. And that Highest Good
might be SO good that it’s worth even being tortured, imprisoned and killed in
order to get it.
Praised be
Jesus Christ!
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