Do the Works
Piety
Both Paul and
Barnabas spoke out boldly. Acts 13:46A
Do you not believe
that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you
I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe
me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of
the works themselves. Amen, amen, I say
to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater
ones than these, because I am going to the Father. John 14:10-12
Study
Today we have another “Flashback”
Good News. When Jesus spoke the Last
Supper Discourses (before his execution and Resurrection), the disciples left
scratching their heads, sleeping in the garden, denying, doubting, scattering,
and hiding.
In light of the seven
weeks of the Easter season, looking back on this sermon gives us a higher perspective.
Just like the Father
dwells in Jesus, the First Eucharist he blessed now means Jesus (and by
extension, the Father) now resides in each of us.
Years ago, I would often
discuss the “faith or good works” issue.
Justificatio sola fide (meaning justification by faith alone) is
a Christian theological doctrine that differentiates many Protestant
denominations from the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox
churches. It asserts that God forgives believers based on their faith, rather
than based on good works which they have done. This forgiveness is known as
"justification." In classical Lutheran and Reformed theologies, good
works are evidence of faith, but the good works themselves do not determine
salvation.
“Protestants believe in
faith alone, while Catholics believe in faith and works.” Protestants and
Catholics often say this. However, it’s
a misleading oversimplification. It is a
battle of slogans or bumper stickers. If
you tell a typical Evangelical, “You believe in faith alone, but we Catholics
believe in faith and works,” you will cause him to think that the Catholic
Church teaches something that, in fact, it says is false.[i]
To come to God, be
forgiven, and be declared righteous, you don’t need to do anything to earn your
place before God except have faith in Jesus Christ. Sounds simple enough.
Following the Protestant
Reformation, the Catholic Church held an ecumenical council in the Italian city
of Trent to deal with the theological questions. It was the 19th
such Ecumenical Council and it met 25 times over 18 years from 1545 until
1563. Among its work, the Council of
Trent issued the Decree on Justification (DJ), which set forth the Catholic
position on the subject.
Going through Trent’s
Decree on Justification, or the section on justification in the Catechism of
the Catholic Church (CCC 1987-1995), you won’t find the phrase “faith and
works.” And you won’t find the word works at all in the Catechism’s section on
justification. The Council of Trent
defined justification as “not only a remission of sins but also the
sanctification and renewal of the inner man” (DJ 7).
At the beginning of our Christian
life, God forgives our sins and gives us the gift of righteousness. It sounds like a very Protestant stand. Maybe it is authentically Christian. But for Catholics, our faith life does not
END there. It STARTS there. The disciples’
lives did not end at the Last Supper. It
may not have started until Jesus returned to the Upper Room.
God was not done with them
(yet). God wanted the disciples (and us)
s us to CONTINUE to grow throughout our life with Christ. When we cooperate with the grace that dwells
in us, we grow. We express that growth in
our three-legged tripod: “piety,” “study,” and “action (or “works.)”
“…whoever believes in me
will do the works that I do.”
God bestowed grace freely.
NOTHING we do can earn us any more or less of it. However, justification (for Catholics as I understand
it) isn’t something that happens just at our Baptism or Confirmation. It occurs
throughout our Christian life. Maybe
that’s why I think I am attracted to characters like Nicodemus, Peter, Thomas,
and Paul. They did not have all the right
answers. They had to grow through stages
to get to belief. Once they believed,
then they were called into action.
Action
As Melanie Rigney put it
on Tuesday, we must “show we are Christians.”[ii]
Kneeling in the pew meditating on the
Rosary is one part of that equation. However,
at the end of Mass, we get another commandment:
Go in Peace to Love AND Serve the Lord. The Council of Trent gets the Last Supper
Discourses correct. By good works, we
“increase in that justice received through the grace of Christ and are further
justified.”
Pope Benedict XVI
taught: “Luther’s phrase ‘faith alone’ is true, if it is not
opposed to faith in charity, in love. Faith is looking at Christ, entrusting
oneself to Christ, being united to Christ, conformed to Christ, to his life.
And the form, the life of Christ, is love; hence to believe is to conform to
Christ and to enter into his love. So it is that in the Letter to the Galatians
in which he primarily developed his teaching on justification St. Paul speaks
of faith that works through love” (General Audience, Nov. 19, 2008).
Today’s Gospel and much
of Catholic sacred tradition is not about an either-or” choice. It is BOTH-AND. Our faith brings us to Christ. When Christ dwells in us, He calls us to love
just like in the Last Supper Discourse. We
cannot live on the isolated Island of Christ.
Even when quarantined and ordered to stay at home, we can support
charities, support our family, and prepare for the day when we can once again,
Go in Peace to Love AND Serve the Lord.
Thanks be to God. Amen. Alleluia.
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