3/5-6/11 @ St. Michael’s
When it comes to understanding the meaning of any scripture passage, several factors have to be taken into account. First and foremost is context. It can be very misleading, and spiritually dangerous to lift a scripture passage out of context and take it literally and at face value. Today’s’ readings bring up one of the oldest arguments between Catholics and our Protestant brothers. Protestants profess salvation by faith; and this is not wrong —— just incomplete, and very misleading. How many of you have ever been asked by a protestant friend or coworker “Are you saved?”; like it’s a one-time event? As Catholics, we profess salvation through faith — made real in action and works. I’ll get back to that question in a little bit but for now let me get back to the Gospel and the context. Today’s Gospel comes from the last lines of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount which we’ve heard in the Gospel readings over the past month. In the “Sermon on the Mount” Jesus teaches us the basic rules of life; how to live as his disciples. He begins with the Beatitudes, and then he tells us we are the “light of the world” and “the salt of the earth”. In “The Sermon on the Mount” Jesus teaches us “The Lord’s Prayer” and “The Golden Rule”. And today we heard the ending of the sermon where he gives us a stern warning: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven.” He tells us we must act on his words. If we only listen to his words and do not act, we are building our lives on sand, only to have them collapse during storms & tribulations in our life.
In the Sermon on the Mount immediately before today’s Gospel reading starts, Jesus warns his disciples, “Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them.” The world is full of false prophets; those who claim to preach in God’s name but fail to act upon those words and also lead many others to destruction. Christ warns them in today’s Gospel that on their judgment day he will declare “I never knew you. Depart from me.”
In the 1st reading we hear Moses tell the people “I set before you this day, a blessing and a curse; a blessing for obeying the commandments of the Lord; a curse if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord. Be careful to observe all the statutes and decrees that I set before you today.”
Today’s 2nd reading from St. Paul to the Romans must be read very carefully and put into context; if read at face value it seems to contradict both Moses in the first reading and Christ’s teaching in the Gospel. Paul writes,” We consider that a person is justified by faith, apart from works of the law.” We must remember Paul’s audience. Paul was called the apostle to the gentiles; and he taught that they were all sinners, Jews and Gentiles alike. We all fall short of the glory of God, but we are justified freely by God’s Grace. In Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians, he explains that the Grace that justifies us is the Grace we receive freely through our baptism; but we must maintain our baptismal promise; that doesn’t free us from the responsibility of following the law. A few verses after today’s 2nd reading stops, Paul goes on to say, “Are we then annulling the law by this faith? Of course not! On the contrary, we are supporting the law.”
The letter of James chapter two tells us “Faith without works is dead. The letter of James explains however, that when one is justified through Christ, both faith and works are present and the two cannot be separated; but if one claims to be saved and does not display any good works, he cannot be saved.
So that brings me back to the question, “Are you saved?” most of us have been asked it at some time in our life. And what is our good Catholic response? ————- YES!!! If the person asking you knows you are Catholic, that will probably catch them by surprise; and then continue on and say “And tomorrow I’ll be saved again; and only through the Grace of God I’ll be saved again, every day of my life.”———— Or, depending on your conscience, you could say, “Not yet, but I’m on my way to receive the sacrament of reconciliation”; because, as Catholics, we know that a simple proclamation doesn’t put us in a perfect state of Grace, never to sin again. Has anyone here reached that point yet? I didn’t think so. We’re all human. We’re imperfect. We’re weak. And we are sinners. We’re in constant need of that flow of God’s Grace. We receive that grace through the sacraments. We receive God’s Grace when we come here on Sundays, listen to God’s Word and then come forward making our statement of faith by saying “Amen!” Yes, I believe, when we’re presented with Christ’s Body & Blood. And then we’re called, at the end of Mass, to go forth and put our faith into action. None of us want to hear those words from Christ, “I never knew you.”
Speaking of putting our faith into action; I’d like to recognize & commend our youth for their involvement in this evenings Mass. May God continue to Bless them as they continue to build their lives on a foundation of rock.