Whoever Believes In Me Will Do The Works

Whoever Believes In Me Will Do The Works

May 3, 2012

Feast of Saint Philip and Saint James, Apostles

I am reminding you, brothers and sisters, of the Gospel I preached to you, which you indeed received and in which you also stand.  Through it you are also being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.  1 Corinthians 15:1-2

Jesus said to Thomas, "I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him."  John 14:6-7

Piety

Father, help us to get to know you through the works of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.  Jesus, send you spirit that we may have the experience of faith that your apostles have known.  Holy Spirit, reveal to us the way, the truth and the life so that we might have faith and do the works that faith demands.

Study

In our lives, we have no more seen the Father than has Thomas.  However, we also have not had the direct experience of knowing Jesus.  Instead, we must rely on His friendship that we can only experience through the spirit.

We find His "way" through Piety.

We learn His "truth" through our Study.

We live His "life" through our Action.

Our daily pursuit of the works that Jesus calls on us to do arises from our faith in the Lord.  This timeless debate is not an either-or interpretation of Faith over Works.  Rather it is a recognition that Faith is just the first steps.  Whoever believes in the Lord is compelled by that faith to perform the works we are commissioned to do through our baptism as priests, prophets and kings and queens.

Action

Last week, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) congratulated Connecticut Catholics and all advocates against the death penalty for their work to bring about the repeal of the death penalty in their home state.  When Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy signed the bill, it made Connecticut the seventeenth state to repeal the death penalty.

“As Catholics we are dedicated to promoting a consistent ethic of life, which values all human life as full of dignity and inherent worth – even those convicted of the worst crimes,” said Bishop Stephen E. Blaire, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development. “We welcome the courageous decision by the governor and the legislature to abolish the use of the death penalty in Connecticut. We stand in solidarity with all those who work for a just and safe society that protects its citizens and upholds the sanctity and dignity of all human life.”

Pope Benedict XVI  has called for the end of the use of the death penalty. In Virginia, we remain one of the states that uses the death penalty the most.  In light of the use of the death penalty on Jesus by the Roman state, consider studying Catholic Social Teaching that compels us to find options such as life in prison, rather than allowing the state to take away the gift of life from anyone be that an infant in the womb to a prisoner on death row or a frail elderly person.