Sem. Joseph Mikhail J. Casidsid
St. Vincent Ferrer Seminary
AB Philosophy IV
Political Philosophy
What is goodness? What does it mean to be good? To answer these questions, let me apply this topic of goodness in the basis of the Scriptures so that I may not only unveil its philosophical underpinning, but also its theological or ecclesiastical implications. Thus, let me apply goodness in this certain context with reference to an excerpt from the Gospel according to Mark:
“As Jesus was setting out in a journey, a man ran up and knelt down before him, and asked him, ‘Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone’...”
In this bible passage, there was a man who asked Jesus on how to possess eternal life. He addressed Jesus as the Good teacher, but Jesus asked him back, “Why do you call me good?” It is such a powerful question that somehow reflects back to the man who approached Jesus as well as to us readers who are pondering Jesus’ words. Indeed, I was reflecting that much of what Jesus really mean with this question. With this, let us go back to the source who asked Jesus. Why did the man call Jesus good? How can he say that Jesus is good? What makes him qualify Jesus good? And for us, how can we say a person is good? It goes with the question what does goodness really mean? What does it mean to be good? How can we know and say that the persons we label “good” are really good? These are such questions that are very complicated to answer one by one due to their categoral complexities and subjective dimensions. Therefore, let me offer a certain context that will give us an awakening perspective of what goodness really mean.
As we read the gospel excerpt between its lines, the man was asking Jesus on how to inherit and possess eternal life. He was after of the eternal life. In a sense, the man is after of how to possess such life. It is always good and admirable to seek eternal life. But the problem is that the young man is in the mode and manner of possessing and of possession. He is in the problem of how can he possess and own “more”, more than his riches and wealth. He was all the way pre-occupied of owning and possessing more and more to the extent that he cannot let go and leave his possessions. No wonder that he walked away after approaching the Good teacher. It is because he knows that he cannot detach his own self from what he possesses and owns. Obviously, he went away sad for he cannot let go of his material wealth. Thus, he was not able to have the “life” he was seeking to possess since then. He realized that the life he wants to possess was after all a life of letting go and sacrifice. With this, let us reflect with rich young man who failed to see what eternal life or let’s say good life really is.
The young man was asked to detach himself from what he has, but he was not able to do it. What the Good teacher really means is that to have eternal life (that is by starting a good life) is living a life of giving, not of gaining or possessing. This is what eternal life means. It is all about good life – living a life of goodness. And good life means giving and sharing, rather than receiving and seeking for more. Thus, goodness is all about giving and contributing. This is what Jesus wants us to discover and realize. It is that goodness is spelled by how much do we give and share to others, for the verification of our goodness is also the repay of goodness coming back from others – that is what we will receive more after the act of giving. Goodness is hence giving and offering. This does not mean only of material possessions and excesses. Essentially, it is the sharing and giving of one’s self. That’s why goodness is alterable to the word generosity because they are in the same essence and spirit of giving. Generosity is giving more than what one could give, as my professor of this subject would say to us. Indeed, good persons in real life are those who can share and give themselves. It is not literally of physical and material means, but it is the spirit and essence of their giving and letting go. A good person does not seek for owning and possessing more than what he needs, rather he is on the search of what he can give and offer more to others. That’s why Jesus is called Good teacher because people around him see his life as a life of giving and offering. Truly, he fed the famous five thousand people, healed the paralytic and the sick, resurrected dead persons, shared His presence with the prostitutes and tax collectors, forgave sinners, and most of all, offered His life on the cross for our salvation. This is what goodness mean. This is what good life all about. It is life of giving, sharing, touching people’s lives and offering one’s self for the good of others. This is the life what the Good teacher would try to show and offer to the rich young man and to us whom He ransomed from death and sin. Goodness is giving as well as letting go. It is not selfishness and greediness. It is always ready to give, let go and detach from something. Goodness is generosity. Now, what is its implication in our Church and society today? How can we apply goodness in this context?
Goodness is giving and not gaining. Therefore, goodness encompasses the spirit of service, sacrifice and sharing. Therefore, there is a challenge to our Church with her confronting and real issues of today. As priests and priests in the making, goodness should be necessary to us in our persons. Goodness is a necessity in the priesthood. Why? As Jesus, the Good teacher, lived a life of goodness, then it is a call and a challenge for us to be like Him, to be Sicut Christus (Like Christ). Yes, we can never be an Alter Christus in the strictest sense since there is only one Christ and we can never be the other Christ in the totality of our actuality as priests and priests in the making (seminarians). But we can always follow Him and be like Him – to be like Christ. Hence, His goodness should be our motivation and inspiration. As Jesus showed us the life of goodness, thus we need to live like Him also. Goodness should be essential and a necessity in our priesthood. What can we give to our people if we don’t have goodness within us at the first place, since goodness is all about giving and sharing something? Moreover, it is a challenge in the real situation of our Church today because many of our Church figures and authorities have lost what goodness is all about. Most of them today are after of gaining, possessing and owning more and more especially material and worldly possessions. There were issues of corruption, abusive power to cover anomalies, political attachment to politicians where SUV’s are asked and given and so on. Where is the life of giving, sharing and letting go? Where is the spirit of poverty and detachment that Christ taught us? Life of goodness is not a “pangabuhi-an” or job for profit and salary, but it is a life of service without counting, giving without gaining and sacrificing without expecting returns. This is what goodness mean. This is how Jesus showed goodness. This is a challenge for us to be good priests in the future since goodness must be and is ought to be in us. There is the need of goodness within us. To our society today, most politicians don’t know what life of giving, service and letting go means. All they know is how to possess power, influence and money. This is so obvious in the present situation that is very hard to deny. They seek to own more and have more. Greediness and selfishness have controlled and overpowered their life. There is no more giving and sharing of the society’s substance, only excesses that they thought invaluable anymore. There is supposed to be hundreds of millions to be provided for the needs and welfare of our people, but all of them were directed to the pockets and banks of those greedy public officials, and only coins have landed in our part. Where is goodness there? Where is generosity there? Are these faces of politicians today is the concrete face of the rich young man who failed to follow Jesus and recognize what goodness really mean? Beware and be aware.
To conclude this, goodness is a need for the priesthood since goodness is all about giving and sharing one’s life – who we are and what do we have. It is not a need only for the Church, but to all people living. Without goodness, how can a person give and show goodness to others. Since goodness means giving what we can give and more than we can give, then goodness and generosity should teach us how to let go and detach from what is hindering us to grow to become good persons and to be like Christ. To be a priest should not be a life of selfish gaining and possessing, but a life of the Good teacher who lives a life of service, sacrifice and offering. Let goodness be in ourselves as it is need for us. Let us share goodness to others. Let us give! Let us be generous! Let us be good!