Memorial of St. Agatha, virgin and
martyr
Tuesday
of the 4th Week
“Agatha means good”
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1.
Heb 12: 18 – 19. 21-24
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Psalm
47: 2-4.9-11
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3.
Mk 6: 7-13
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Today we are
celebrating the memorial of St. Agatha. “Good is the force and meaning of her
name, Agatha in Greek, for she has been granted us, given as a gift, by God
himself, the very fount of goodness...Agatha, her goodness fits both her name
and her reality. Agatha who has won her good name by her noble deeds, and in
that very name proves that her deeds were noble. Agatha, who even by her name
so draws men, too, by her example, so strive with her without delay towards the
true Good, who is God alone.” Agatha was a good woman. She shared in the
goodness of God. She is good to us. The word good means: morally excellent;
exemplary; upright; obedient; humane; admirable; commendable; virtuous,
righteous, pious; well-behaved; hounourable; compentent and skillful. We can
rightly say: a good name; a good manager, a good man; a good woman, a good
girl; a good boy.
In being good
remember these principles. The first principle is the golden mean: virtue is in
the middle. Virtue is a mean between the defect and the excess. This view is partly
captured by the Haitian proverb: “The man who is too good is a fool.” The
golden mean is again enshrined in the following proverb: “The man who is all
honey flies will eat him.” To cite an example generosity is a mean between
extravagance and selfishness.
The second
principle is the principle of the “Other.” Your goodness is not for yourself
but for the other. “To the good I would be good; to the not-good I would also
be good, in order to make them good,” said Lao-tzu. If there is the “I” there is the “Other.”
The third
principle is the principle of visibility. “In a place where good is done, bad
deeds are seen at once” (Swahili proverb). Be good.
Prayer:
God help me to
hate the bad that I may not be bad. Help me to do the good that the good may
follow me. In short, help me to be good.
Amen!
