• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

  • About
  • Symposium
  • Hymnal
  • Jogues Missal
  • Site Map
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

The “Basically Good Person”

Fr. David Friel · March 24, 2013

AVE YOU EVER HEARD someone say, “I’m a basically good person”? I hear it all the time. In fact, people probably tell me that exact thing (or something similar) a few times a week. Other times, it is a family member at a funeral who describes the deceased as a “basically good person.” These claims are made with such frequency that they have caused me to think a great deal about them. Would you consider it an overreaction if I suggested that such a way of thinking is the work of the devil?

The statement, itself, is actually true. We are “basically good,” as the story of creation in Genesis teaches us (Genesis 1:31). The mindset behind the statement, however, is what I find unsettling. When someone says, “I’m a basically good person,” it is a sort of gentle admission of imperfection coupled with an aggressive form of sloth. The unspoken premise underlying such a statement is that one need not bother to improve. The improvement of our lives, though—indeed, the changing of our hearts—is central to the Gospel message, which eschews complacency.

The greatest saints are always those who are most aware that they are great sinners. Read the spiritual works of Teresa of Avila. Crack open the autobiography of Ignatius of Loyola. Get to know the sermons of Jean-Marie Vianney. Dust of your copy of the Little Flower’s Story of A Soul. Remember that Blessed John Paul II would often confess daily. When St. Paul wrote about “sinners, of whom I am the worst,” he was not bloviating with false humility. These saints were all keenly aware of their powerlessness over concupiscence and their need for redemption.

This can be a great litmus test for us: if we can’t think of what we should confess, we probably need to spend more time in prayer and self-reflection. This is the practical wisdom of the Delphic oracle, “Know thyself”; knowledge of self is a pre-requisite for knowledge of God. Corollary to that, it is always and everywhere true that the less aware we are of our sinfulness the farther we are from sanctity.

Saint John said it this way: “If we say, ‘We are free of the guilt of sin,’ we deceive ourselves; the truth is not to be found in us” (1 John 1:8). In this modern age we so often speak not of sin, but of “mistakes that were made.” Rather than accuse ourselves of guilt, we prefer simply to admit that we’re not perfect. We view ourselves not as poor sinners, but as “basically good” people.

I propose that the enemy is pleased with these positions.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe to the CCW Mailing List

About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served as Parochial Vicar at Saint Anselm Church in Northeast Philly before earning a doctorate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America. He presently serves as Vocation Director for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.—(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

14 May 2022 • “Pure” Vatican Edition

As readers know, my choir has been singing from the “pure” Editio Vaticana. That is to say, the official rhythm which—technically—is the only rhythm allowed by the Church. I haven’t figured out how I want the scores to look, so in the meantime we’ve been using temporary scores that look like this. Stay tuned!

—Jeff Ostrowski
14 May 2022 • Gorgeous Book

If there is a more beautiful book than Abbat Pothier’s 1888 Processionale Monasticum, I don’t know what it might be. This gorgeous tome was today added to the Saint John Lalande Online Library. I wish I owned a physical copy.

—Jeff Ostrowski
Sound Familiar?

1 June 1579: “The chapter passes a rule that anyone ascending to the new organ without official permission shall be fined a month’s pay.”

26 October 1579: “The altar boys remain always separate and distinct from choirboys—the one group learning only plainchant and assisting at the altar, the other living with the chapel-master and studying counterpoint and polyphony as well. Father Francisco Guerrero postpones his departure for Rome and instead spends the entire year in Seville making ready for the trip. In the meantime he neglects his choirboys. On 16 November, after considerable complaint against their unruliness and ignorance, he engages an assistant, Bartolomé Farfán.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

[Speaking about the Silent Canon, with audible “per ómnia”] — “So in all such cases it is usual for the otherwise silent celebrant occasionally to sing a clause aloud, to show how far he has arrived.”

— Father Fortescue (pages 313-314) • “A Study of the Roman Liturgy”

Recent Posts

  • Prayer of Abandonment,  Saint Charles de Foucauld
  • Worst Chanting I’ve Ever Heard
  • 14 May 2022 • “Pure” Vatican Edition
  • 14 May 2022 • Gorgeous Book
  • Musician-Saints Throughout the Ages

Copyright © 2022 Corpus Christi Watershed · Gabriel Lalemant on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.