How Does God Reveal Himself? (Part 3/4)

Bulletin Column – August 18, 2019

            British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge was an unlikely candidate for the assignment. The internationally-known reporter had spent copious amounts of time in Asia, sure – reporting on life in Stalin’s Russia, the famines in Ukraine, and teaching in India. But he was also a skeptic, a cynic, a man who had only derisive things to say about religion and the charlatans who practiced it.

            So when, in 1968, he conducted an interview and a video about an obscure Albanian nun who was doing some work in Calcutta, it seemed like an unlikely partnership. But this friendship between St. Teresa of Calcutta and Malcolm Muggeridge began to grow and blossom, until it led to St. Teresa’s international renown – and Malcolm’s conversion.

            Both didn’t occur overnight. Slowly but surely Mother Teresa was becoming more and more know, and slowly but surely Malcolm was being influenced by the future saint. Having been steeped in the vapidity of the ‘60s, Malcolm – by his own admission – had a lot to unlearn in the presence of one of the greatest saints of the twentieth century.

            But finally, by 1982, Malcolm – the self-proclaimed skeptic, the intellectual, the agnostic – was completely won over by the holiness of his devout and diminutive friend. That year, he converted to Catholicism, which he continued to practice until his death in 1990.

            Thus we come to the third transcendental way in which God reaches out to souls – the way of goodness. It was through the goodness and holiness of Mother Teresa that this hardened soul was softened so that grace could penetrate.

            One who is attracted to God’s goodness often has an intense desire for holiness, and a delight in holy people. The saints will be especially important as reflections of God’s goodness in the world (I once heard a quote that always stuck with me – “The difference between the Gospel and the lives of the Saints is like the difference between music written and music sung.” The saints are a living reflection of Jesus and His Gospel!).

            Goodness can be so refreshing and bring so many souls to Christ, because it is rare to find true holiness in the world. Yes, all of us are capable of small acts of kindness, which are beautiful and important and help bring civility and love to the world. But to meet someone who is not just nice but supernaturally good – loving as Christ loved – is rare. And in a real way, in the modern world where so many people are duplicitous and treat others as mere objects for use, living examples of goodness – or even the idea that holiness is possible – can be a powerful way in which God reaches out to souls to draw them to Him.

            The world itself is radiant with the goodness of God (after all, when He created it, didn’t He call it “good”?). Consider the way in which rain falls on crops, causing delicious food to spring out of the ground for our delight. Or watching the tenderness of a mother with her child. All of this goodness is a reflection of His goodness to us.

            So, the third path to God, according to Fr. Benedict Groeschel, is the path of goodness. Some people are more naturally drawn to the Lord through the way of goodness: considering the goodness of the saints, the call to holiness, the desire for justice, the goodness of His creation. What a beautiful way in which God continues to win over our souls!