January 2017
Reflections of God's Goodness
God is so good, God is so good, and God is so good, He’s so good to me.
These words to an old song might have been written by St. Julie herself! Of course they weren’t, but I can’t help but imagine how much she would like them. Her famous expression, “How good is the good God” is the hallmark of Notre Dame spirituality.
This year, we invite you to reflect with us on the many facets of God’s goodness. Each month, we will reflect on the ways that God’s goodness draws us to Him in the midst of our daily lives.
We humans are a forgetful people, often enjoying God’s goodness toward us today and totally forgetting it tomorrow. We spend months in preparation for Christmas yet once the manger is packed away, we tend to go back to life as usual. Christmas calls us to do more.
God has a new year invitation for each of us. He says,
Come close to me and I will come close to you. Wash your hands…purify your hearts…for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.
Isn’t that what we are looking for—this closeness to God, this awareness of His presence with us? God’s word points us to ways we can experience His goodness.
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is Good.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise! For the Lord is good and His love is eternal, and His faithfulness endures to all generations.
We live in a noisy, busy, sometimes confusing world, and it is easy to be distracted from the most important things. God’s love for us is never ending. If we remember nothing else in the new year, let us remember everyday:
…that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.
Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love…
This knowledge of God’s goodness toward us can transform every blessing and every hardship. May the good God delight in our thanks and praise in the new year, and may we remember His love and faithfulness is forever.
Blessings,
Sister Mary Ann Barnhorn
Director of Development
