What is “good?” It is to “foster” the “new life” in Christ Jesus begun at Baptism (Epistle); “dead to sin” is its negative side; “alive to God” is its positive. To “protect” and to nourish this Life is the object of the Eucharist, which is its food. A hunger for the Divine Life and “Goodness” is universal to all times and places, as prefigured in the Gospel, “Can anyone fill them in the wilderness” of life, where the mind hungers for Truth, the will and heart hunger for Love? At the altar of sacrifice God will not “allow the hopes of anyone to be in vain” (Secret). Only at the altar of the Sacrament are we really “filled” (Postcommunion).
Today is Feast of St. Alexis C., of the IV Century, who gave up the wealth of his family, returned surreptitiously to the family home where he was a servant and slept under the family home. Although not commemorated in the Mass today, using the 1960 rubrics, pray to the Saint for his assistance as we progress through difficult economic times.