God, the giver of every good gift, is a truth the Church continually impresses upon us, as we are reminded in the Collect of today’s Mass. The prayer affirms that God, the source of all goodness, will provide for all our needs. In this way, the Church serves as a beacon, guiding us to the understanding that God is a good Father.

In our First Reading, God questions Adam and Eve for their disobedience. After explaining that the serpent tricked Eve into eating the fruit, God makes way for redemption by putting enmity between the snake and the woman, which is a foreshadowing of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s role as the obedient servant who will crush the head of the serpent.

The psalmist’s words echo through the ages, reminding us that even in the depths of our despair, God is not only present but attentive to our cries. The psalmist assures us that God’s kindness is boundless, and with Him, there is abundant redemption, offering us solace and hope in our darkest moments. God not only rescues us, he fills us with his goodness as the psalmist says, “All of these look to you to give them their food in due season. You give it, they gather it up, you open your hand, they have their fill” (Psalm 145:15).

Jesus reminds us that it is not enough to know that God is good. Jesus calls us to do the Father’s will. When we are faithful to God’s will, we live out our most authentic identity as siblings of Jesus, who said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” To do God’s will is not something we need to muster up on our own. Jesus feeds us by giving himself in the Eucharist; Jesus’ tender healing mercy is poured out on the Church in abundance in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We have the lives of the saints who remind us that the way to life is paved by living in communion with Christ in his Church. Let the words of the prophet Micah resound poetically in the ears of our hearts, “You have been told, O mortal, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: Only to do justice and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God” (6:8).

At the start of this week, may we strive to do God’s will. To do God’s will is primarily an act of listening. Saint Benedict reminds us of the importance of listening with the ears of our hearts. We can labor in obedience and battle for the true King when we listen. As we listen to the voice of God, we say yes to God’s will, and we say no to sin! In saying yes to God, we open our hands to receive all that is good from a loving and compassionate God who is not the figment of our imagination but the one proclaimed at the heart of the Church.