state of my being.

How does one really define himself as being good? I mean, I do good deeds for people, I feel like a good person, but does that really make me good? I don’t think I’d ever give up all I own and live with the poor, however, and that disappoints me. It doesn’t seem enough that I shed a tear from my pedestal whenever I see them. It’s just rain to them. I hate myself for that.

What’s the answer?

hm…

I know what you mean. And no, I don’t think any amount of good deeds will, by themselves, make us good. (That’s no reason to stop doing them, of course!) It is God who is making us good by communicating His life to us – through prayer, through the sacraments, and through those very good deeds. But the goodness in the deeds does not come ultimately from us, but from HIM. We are His instruments.

No good work can succeed without God. I agree that just shedding tears from the pedestal isn’t enough. But don’t despair or hate yourself. Keep working with God and growing in His love. We weren’t made to become saints in a day, at any rate most of us. We are being *trained* in righteousness. The key is to keep plugging away, to ask for grace and to do our best.

Recall that when someone called Jesus “good teacher” he responded, “Why do you call me ‘good’? Nobody is good but God alone.”