If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and no food for the day and you say to them, "Good-by and good luck! Keep warm and well fed," but do not meet their bodily needs, what good is that?
The example above is part of James 2:12-17, where he is illustrating what faith should look like. This is near and dear to my heart as a Franciscan because Francis encouraged people to always preach the gospel and use words if necessary. We shouldn't be the kind of Christians that only give lip service to our faith by going to church on Sunday and then feeling like there is nothing more we need to do to be saved. We will only be saved by the grace and mercy of God and we never reach a stage in this life where we do not need to do more. We should always be striving for a greater level of perfection that only comes through a greater intimacy with God.
Fortunately, there is more than one path to Heaven, in part because God has given us different gifts relative to the part of the mystical body of Christ that He wants us to play. We all have to do something with our gifts, and prayer certainly counts as doing something if you don't have the means to provide the clothes and food for a brother and sister in need - but prayer alone would not excuse you from providing for a brother and sister if you did. You don't own anything. It's all on loan from God, so we should use our talents and treasures the way Jesus would - WWJD for those of you who remember that fad from my childhood.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Mortal Sin
Here is the final question waiting to be addressed from readers. I expect a new quote from the day's readings will be presented again tomorrow.
Q. In response to purgatory, first, what is a mortal sin? I thought the bible said there is only one sin that is unforgivable and that is renouncing God. Are you saying there are more? I believe when we die, we go straight to judgement with God. Even we, as Christians, are sinning all the time and if we unexpectedly died, we are still in the Book of Life and go to see Jesus. We are either sanctified by Jesus, or we aren't. I have a hard time understanding why I, as a follower of Jesus Christ, need to rely on other sinners still on this Earth to get me to heaven. What are your personal thoughts?
A. I usually put sins into one of two categories, mortal and venial. Both of these are forgivable. However, a mortal sin is more serious for at least three reasons I can think of. First, it concerns grave matter like pushing someone off a cliff and not less serious offenses like pushing in the lunch line. Second, the person has to have known it was wrong and made a conscious decision to sin anyway like premeditated murder vs. an instinctive reaction. Third, they must have done so freely and not have been threatened with harm if they didn’t do it. So if someone does something that meets all three criteria and feels sorry for it afterwards, they ask God for forgiveness and are forgiven. If they die without regretting it, they condemn themselves. So renouncing God would be unforgivable because you have to accept God’s forgiveness that he offers everyone, but these guidelines are for us to judge ourselves and not others because so much of the criteria lies within a person, which only God can know. As for all of those venial sins of commission or omission that we are all guilty of, none of them would condemn us.
Q. In response to purgatory, first, what is a mortal sin? I thought the bible said there is only one sin that is unforgivable and that is renouncing God. Are you saying there are more? I believe when we die, we go straight to judgement with God. Even we, as Christians, are sinning all the time and if we unexpectedly died, we are still in the Book of Life and go to see Jesus. We are either sanctified by Jesus, or we aren't. I have a hard time understanding why I, as a follower of Jesus Christ, need to rely on other sinners still on this Earth to get me to heaven. What are your personal thoughts?
A. I usually put sins into one of two categories, mortal and venial. Both of these are forgivable. However, a mortal sin is more serious for at least three reasons I can think of. First, it concerns grave matter like pushing someone off a cliff and not less serious offenses like pushing in the lunch line. Second, the person has to have known it was wrong and made a conscious decision to sin anyway like premeditated murder vs. an instinctive reaction. Third, they must have done so freely and not have been threatened with harm if they didn’t do it. So if someone does something that meets all three criteria and feels sorry for it afterwards, they ask God for forgiveness and are forgiven. If they die without regretting it, they condemn themselves. So renouncing God would be unforgivable because you have to accept God’s forgiveness that he offers everyone, but these guidelines are for us to judge ourselves and not others because so much of the criteria lies within a person, which only God can know. As for all of those venial sins of commission or omission that we are all guilty of, none of them would condemn us.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Original Sin and Mary
Based on discussions from the July 26th and 28th postings, another question has arisen that can be found below. The questions concerning Purgatory will be addressed tomorrow.
Q. What about the prospect that since Jesus was man but also God, he had to come from both a sinner (Mary) and God (the Holy Spirit)? God can still fill Mary with grace but does that then mean she's no longer a sinner? Jesus still had the same thoughts, feelings, and desires as humans since he came from one. Thoughts?
A. You bring up a good point again. Jesus was both fully human and fully God, which would mean 100% human and 100% God, which is mathematically impossible, which is why it's a mystery to our human mind and its limitations. And now my stereotypical Catholic side of being unable to accurately quote the Bible presents itself, but somewhere in the Bible I recall it saying something like Jesus was human in all things, but sin. Perhaps Jesus was human in the same way Adam and Eve were human, free from orginal sin. In His case, he would have been free from original sin because He, as the Word, existed before the original sin was committed and wasn't "made" when he was conceived as a human in Mary's womb, but simply "begotten" as God's only begotten son. He would have had the some thoughts, feelings, and desires as humans - be tempted to sin - but would not have fallen into sin since somewhere else in the Bible it refers to Jesus as He who knew no sin was made sin for us to redeem us from our sins.
As for Mary, since she was declared full of grace before she accepted Jesus into her womb, that's the argument for her having been conceived without original sin as a free gift from God to her to have someone worthy to carry His son, almost more of a gift to His son (who never knew sin even in a past tense sense through his mother) than to her really since she hadn't done anything to merit that gift. Since I believe God is the greatest good, I am always comfortable interpreting scripture as in giving God the benefit of my doubt and having Him perform the greatest good like conceiving Mary without sin, even though cleansing her from sin before Jesus was begotten in her womb may have still been good enough. Others can become full of grace after having sinned by emptying themselves to make room for God's grace.
Q. What about the prospect that since Jesus was man but also God, he had to come from both a sinner (Mary) and God (the Holy Spirit)? God can still fill Mary with grace but does that then mean she's no longer a sinner? Jesus still had the same thoughts, feelings, and desires as humans since he came from one. Thoughts?
A. You bring up a good point again. Jesus was both fully human and fully God, which would mean 100% human and 100% God, which is mathematically impossible, which is why it's a mystery to our human mind and its limitations. And now my stereotypical Catholic side of being unable to accurately quote the Bible presents itself, but somewhere in the Bible I recall it saying something like Jesus was human in all things, but sin. Perhaps Jesus was human in the same way Adam and Eve were human, free from orginal sin. In His case, he would have been free from original sin because He, as the Word, existed before the original sin was committed and wasn't "made" when he was conceived as a human in Mary's womb, but simply "begotten" as God's only begotten son. He would have had the some thoughts, feelings, and desires as humans - be tempted to sin - but would not have fallen into sin since somewhere else in the Bible it refers to Jesus as He who knew no sin was made sin for us to redeem us from our sins.
As for Mary, since she was declared full of grace before she accepted Jesus into her womb, that's the argument for her having been conceived without original sin as a free gift from God to her to have someone worthy to carry His son, almost more of a gift to His son (who never knew sin even in a past tense sense through his mother) than to her really since she hadn't done anything to merit that gift. Since I believe God is the greatest good, I am always comfortable interpreting scripture as in giving God the benefit of my doubt and having Him perform the greatest good like conceiving Mary without sin, even though cleansing her from sin before Jesus was begotten in her womb may have still been good enough. Others can become full of grace after having sinned by emptying themselves to make room for God's grace.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Bible Thumping
"I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for fighting," from Psalm 120 reflects a little bit of what I am feeling when a Facebook friend's status criticizes those who are "Bible thumping," which admittedly I am not sure what that means exactly, but given the context that I also link these posts to my Facebook account, I think it means me. So it's sometimes lonely being a Christian in a world where so many have not been taught the faith or simply reject it. Fortunately, I believe God would give me the strength to persevere on my own if I had to, but I am thankful that so many brothers and sisters in Christ are open to God's calling and continue to give me my strength through their encouragement when He urges them to. My greatest supporter is my wife Nancy, of course, but my children also provide a lot of intrinsic motivation because I want to do what's best for them and make them proud.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Fountain of salvation
Yesterday, when I was thinking about life-giving water, I was thinking about when it was discussed in the gospels like John 7:37, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink."
I had forgotten that it was foretold in Isaiah 12:1-6, "With joy you will drink water at the fountain of salvation."
Individually, both of these clearly speak to the spiritual and few would confuse it with literal water. Together, they also point to the fulfillment of the old testament in the new testament and not the replacement of the old with the new. Some truths are eternal, and even though times change, the spirit of truth does not. It does take prayer to and the guidance from the Holy Spirit to see how the truth expressed in biblical times applies in today's context, but it's always applicable, never able to be dismissed. In raising children, the context that they are growing up in is different than the world we grew up and it takes prayer and silence on our part to ask and listen to how the Holy Spirit wants us to answer today's calling for our children. Likewise, the way we applied the truth as single individuals may differ from the way we express it as a married person, but it's the still the same truth that God wants expressed in all walks of life and as our path changes, our expression of His truth should as well.
I had forgotten that it was foretold in Isaiah 12:1-6, "With joy you will drink water at the fountain of salvation."
Individually, both of these clearly speak to the spiritual and few would confuse it with literal water. Together, they also point to the fulfillment of the old testament in the new testament and not the replacement of the old with the new. Some truths are eternal, and even though times change, the spirit of truth does not. It does take prayer to and the guidance from the Holy Spirit to see how the truth expressed in biblical times applies in today's context, but it's always applicable, never able to be dismissed. In raising children, the context that they are growing up in is different than the world we grew up and it takes prayer and silence on our part to ask and listen to how the Holy Spirit wants us to answer today's calling for our children. Likewise, the way we applied the truth as single individuals may differ from the way we express it as a married person, but it's the still the same truth that God wants expressed in all walks of life and as our path changes, our expression of His truth should as well.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Good things
"He has filled the hungry with good things," quoting Mary from Luke (1:52-53) naturally makes one thing of food since Mary used the word "hungry" first. But when I look at the words "good things" in isolation, spiritual gifts come to mind. With that understanding, if I paraphrased her statement as, "He gives good things to the hungry," it suggests that our hearts should be hungry for spiritual gifts and not just that God will provide the faithful with good food if our stomachs are growling. Then obvious connections to the gospel's life-giving water or the teaching of seek and you will find are rekindled are in our hearts and provide light to our lives and those around us. As a father, I naturally provide my children with the food they need like carrots and sometimes even the food they want like M & M's (and I don't get any endorsment money for that), but providing a living example of our faith is a much better gift - whether they realize they are hungry for it or not.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Sin is increasing
I realize that the good old days weren't entirely good, though it certainly seems like our culture is worse now than it used to be in some ways in terms of fidelity, even though there was infidelity in the past. But perhaps it is better in other ways in terms of racism, even though racism still exists too. If you feel like sin has increased in the world, no matter how you may define that, you can take solace from from Paul who tells the Romans, "Sin has increased but grace has far surpassed it" (5:20). God's grace is always capable of overcoming evil for those open to God's grace and I suspect that anyone who is coming back to this simple blog periodically is the kind of person that is open to God's grace and will be instrumental in overcoming evil in their world.
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