Today is the eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time. It is also Father’s Day.
Today’s second reading, from second Corinthians caught my attention. It contains the famous line that “we walk by faith, not by sight” but later refers to the judgment where “each may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil.” It sounds like St. Paul is saying yes to both.
We need to separate our belief in salvation, which is by faith only, from our ultimate judgment, which will include our actions, or what many refer to as works. We also need to remember that works, as used in Scripture also refers to works of the Law, from the Old Testament. That is not always the same as works in our modern world, for Christians at least.
Salvation is a free gift offered to us undeserving as we are, pure grace, from God. That gift, if accepted, requires faith. There is a lot of Scriptural evidence of this. Jn 3:16 may be the most famous. We all know that “God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son“, but we need to remember the rest of that passage, “that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” In other words, faith is required.
That’s not the end of it though. We are called to act in a certain way. Jesus commanded us to love one another, forgive one another, etc. He told us that loving God and loving each other (neighbor) were the greatest of the OT laws but He updated our understanding of them and made it clear (see Mt 25, the judging of the nations) that actions were required from those who claimed to be His followers. In fact, you might argue that claiming to be a follower of Jesus and then doing nothing to indicate love of God and neighbor is taking the Lord’s name in vain. That’s not the typical understanding of that phrase but I think my example fits too.
In any event, our life is not only about faith. If we have faith it must be evidenced by actions. Obviously different people have different capabilities and resources that may affect what actions they can take. But we all are required to do something.
Last night (Wednesday) I was involved in a discussion at church with some new Catholics and the question of Martha and Mary came up. The question is what is the better part, service or contemplation? For Martha, in Jesus story, He said that Mary had chosen the better part but we can’t take that as the answer for all people and all times. Where would we be without the Marthas of the world? In fact, that function I attended had pizza and cookies and refreshments. Without the “Martha” who organized all that we would have been worse off.
My point is that it is a false dichotomy for most of us to ask about the need for service (works) or contemplation (prayer) the answer for us, at least most of the time, is yes. So it is with faith and works. Faith absolutely; that is the starting point. But works are required as well. The trick is to keep these things properly ordered. Service without faith is not a bad thing but it isn’t what Christians are called to. Service that flows from our faith is the literal call to action for us.
A special shout out to all the fathers for all you do and for your leadership in your family. A special thanks to Fr. Jeff and the other spiritual fathers who do so much to guide us along the way to heaven. We’re grateful for you every day but especially today.
That’s it for now. Thanks for reading.
I hope you have a great week.
Peace, Bob
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