Now there was a man full of leprosy in one of the towns where he was; and when he saw Jesus, he fell prostrate, pleaded with him, and said, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I do will it. Be made clean.” And the leprosy left him immediately. Then he ordered him not to tell anyone, but “Go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.” 

In a magnificent soliloquy at the end of the movie "Ratatouille," culinary critic Anton Ego extols the artistry of Remy, the culinary genius rat who had taken over the cooking at Chef Gusteau's restaurant. Ego did something that few critics do: he admitted that he was wrong. Finally recognizing what he had missed, he stated the truth that "not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere." He recognized the importance of "discovery" and the "defense of the new." Stating that the world is often unkind to new talent, he told his readers that he had experienced the "new" and it was nothing less than genius.

One of our problems is that we often never search for good in places where we do not expect the good. Lepers, for example, at the time of Jesus, were recognized to be people who for all practical purposes, had ceased to exist. There was nothing good about them; in the mind of many, they were diseased people whom God had condemned to be outcasts. It was not Jesus' feeling, however. Jesus looked on lepers and saw rejected people, hurting people who were good, people who needed help, people who could live a happy life. He treated them with respect.

Transcending the fact that "Ratatouille" is an animated movie that is mere fantasy, the words of Anton Ego can easily teach the real world of the twenty-first century. There is good in everything, whether we think that it is possible or not. There may be some fundamentally evil situations in the world in which we live, but even in those cases, there is something good if one studies it long enough.

Admittedly, people have caused evil situations in our world, but even with them, we must keep guard over our thinking. We make judgments about situations, about people, about the actions of others, about what they say, about what we think they think. Much of those actions are based merely on what we guess without considering the merits of the situation. We simply judge that nothing good can be present in certain cases. It is the Christian belief that there is good in everything, and if we are trying to find it, we will, and our lives will be better for it.                   

THOUGHT
 
PRAYER

Good and gracious God, you have created everything good. Our problem is that often we do not recognize it. Give us the grace that your Son possessed and let us see the good that is always present in our world. Be with us, we pray. 

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©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America