The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-09-28
THE GOODNESS OF GOD.

The Psalmist, although he must
have seen enough of that which is
evil, emphasized the goodness of God
in an optimistic strain. "The earth is
full of the goodness of the Lord" he
insisted. He believed that good has
the right of way. This is Gods world
and not Satan's. 1t belongs to good
and not to evil. Therefore in his
gratitude he forgot to be dissatisfied.
He contemplated the loneliness of
nature around him, the star-gemmed
canopy of heaven above him and the
peace of God within him. His heart
thereupon melted with love and
thanksgiving, and his poetic soul sang
to the Most High song of devotion
and praise.
There is something noble in thus
emphasizing the good and ignoring
the evil. 1t does not mean that he is
ignorant, for then were he no true
optimist, but it does mean that he has
such an overpowering sense of the
good that he can afford to disregard
evil. There is evil. enough, but the
good is so much greater and mightier
that the evil is not worthy to be COM
pared with the good. For | reckon"
said the Apostle Paul, ''that the suf-
ferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory
which shall be revealed to u.s." Some
may reckon that evil is of no account
as compared with good. "The earth
is full of the goodness of the Lord"
1t is true that there are times when
we seem to have right to feel de-
pressed, or, rather, times when we
cannot help it. Those are times when
the soul loses grip upon itself, wearied
and weakened as it becomes by some
struggle or disappointment, when
things go wrong, when ambitions fail
us, when men deceive us, when the
sky is dark above us, when sickness
and death afflict us, when we can see
neither the way before us nor Gods
clear light about us. But if we only
knew it, the very shadows are full Of
the goodness of God. He is with us
even in our trials and our troubles.
In times of sorrow and afflictions
there is for us sweeter message than
ever the Psalmist heard-"Blessed are
they that mourn: for they shall be
comforted."
There are those, too, who seldom
if ever see the fairest portions OF
Gods earth. They never have a
chance to see Gods world at it's best.
~ vile Of n
than they see of the goodness of God.
About all of nature they see are occa-
sional patches of blue sky between
buildings, and beautiful sunsets they
may see perchance only over the
hideous red roofs of houses, while, on
the other hand, are the cherries
homes and the crowded streets, the
noisy factory and the selfishness OF
man, This is the lot of thousands,
and it is no wonder if the brain be-
comes dull, the heart faint and the
soul torpid. So the world is evil
enough in places; but that is not
Gods fault. 1t is man who has brought
upon himself the noise and the dirt,
the fret and the worry. Take the
earth as it is and man as he ought to
be, if he would but conform to Gods
will, and we should have Heaven
right here and now. But man will not
conform to those laws which make
Heaven; hence in some parts of the
earth we have hell instead. Alas, that
the righteous must suffer with the
guilty! But then, too, the righteous
suffer for the guilty, for it is Gods
will that the righteous shall help to
redeem the earth and make more and
more evident the goodness of God.