Affirm the Good

One

Do Not Prevent Him 

One time, during Our Lord’s public ministry, the apostles came to Him with a problem. And, very weirdly, their problem was that someone was doing something good.

They came to Jesus and said, “Master, we saw a man casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him, because he does not follow with us.” And Jesus answered, “Do not forbid him, for he that is not against you is for you.” (Luke 9:49-50). 

In other words, if you’ve found something good in someone, even someone who you don’t consider part of your group, be glad for it!  

So is that us? Do we celebrate it when there’s something good about a person outside our group? Or do we try to stamp on that good?  

Two

Objective Good is Good 

We’re not relativists, and neither was Jesus. The point of this story isn’t that everybody’s just as good as everybody else, or that every lifestyle’s just as legitimate as every other lifestyle, or that every community is just as good as every other community. In fact, we believe that, objectively speaking, the greatest people are the saints, the greatest lifestyle is a life that most perfectly conforms to the magisterial teaching on faith and morals, and that the greatest community is the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. 

So we can say that it would be better for everyone to be a saint, for everyone to conform to the teaching of the Magisterium, and for everyone to be a full member of the Catholic Church. That’s just what it means to believe in objective truth and in an objective scale of values. 

However, if we believe in objectivity, that means we believe in objective good, wherever we find it. Because all good comes from God. Just like that outsider’s ability to cast out demons in Jesus’ name was a good that came from God. And when we find an objective good, we know it comes from God. And we affirm it, because it comes from Him, glorifies Him, and can lead to Him.  

Three

Those Outside the Church 

So let’s make this very concrete. The fullness of truth, and the greatest possibility for intimacy with Christ, resides in the Catholic Church. So we don’t celebrate the fact that people are outside the Catholic Church, just like Jesus didn’t celebrate the fact that this man wasn’t following Him along with the apostles. But we do celebrate all the truth, the insight, and the heroism shown by those outside the Church, whether other Christians or adherents of other religions or even by those who aren’t religious at all.

We can’t deny, we mustn’t deny, that there are real points of goodness and even of systems outside the Church. And those goods, whether the insights of Confucius or the generosity of a secular doctor who volunteers to help in an impoverished country during some health crisis, these goods come from God. They lead to God.  

Which means that whenever a non-Catholic or a non-Christian manifests some virtue, then that is a part of that person which is for us, not against us. And it should be affirmed. 

Four

Affirm the Good of Those We Disagree With 

Apart from religious issues, this principle that we have to affirm the good applies to those we disagree with in other areas. 

For instance, are we unwilling to believe or accept any good report regarding any member of the opposite political party? That’s not okay. Or what if there’s a family, and we really disagree with their parenting style or their parenting choices. Do we instinctively disregard, or disbelieve, or undermine any of the good things that seem to be happening in that family? 

If so, we’re disregarding, disbelieving, and undermining something that comes from God. What is good in others is not something to fight. It’s something to celebrate, it’s something that works for us. 

Five

Whose Good Do You Need to Affirm? 

All good comes from God. All good is the stepping stone that leads to Him. All good, in itself, works for God, not against Him. 

So what people do you need to stop assuming the worst about? What person are you unable to recognize the good in? A president, or presidential candidate? A co-worker? A spouse, or an ex-spouse? A kid?  

As this rosary ends, think of something good you may know about this person. Thank God for it, and ask that God lead that person, by means of that good, to the fullness of faith and eternal life. Then you will be working for that person’s good, and not against it.