Augustine, De gratia st libero arbitrio, PL 44, ] Indeed we also work, but we are only collaborating with God who works, for his mercy has gone before us. It has gone before us so that we may be healed, and follows us so that once healed, we may be given life; it goes before us so that we may be called, and follows us so that we may be glorified; it goes before us so that we may live devoutly, and follows us so that we may always live with God: for without him we can do nothing.
Augustine, De natura et gratia, PL 44, ]. The soul only enters freely into the communion of love. God immediately touches and directly moves the heart of man. He has placed in man a longing for truth and goodness that only he can satisfy. If at the end of your very good works.
Augustine, Conf. Gen ]. But grace also includes the gifts that the Spirit grants us to associate us with his work, to enable us to collaborate in the salvation of others and in the growth of the Body of Christ, the Church. There are sacramental graces , gifts proper to the different sacraments. There are furthermore special graces , also called charisms after the Greek term used by St. They are at the service of charity which builds up the Church. We cannot therefore rely on our feelings or our works to conclude that we are justified and saved.
A pleasing illustration of this attitude is found in the reply of St. Joan of Arc]. You are glorified in the assembly of your Holy Ones, for in crowning their merits you are crowning your own gifts. Augustine, En. In Ps. Merit is relative to the virtue of justice, in conformity with the principle of equality which governs it.
Between God and us there is an immeasurable inequality, for we have received everything from him, our Creator. Augustine, Sermo , PL 38,] Since the initiative belongs to God in the order of grace, no one can merit the initial grace of forgiveness and justification, at the beginning of conversion.
Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification, for the increase of grace and charity, and for the attainment of eternal life.
These graces and goods are the object of Christian prayer. Prayer attends to the grace we need for meritorious actions. Grace, by uniting us to Christ in active love, ensures the supernatural quality of our acts and consequently their merit before God and before men.
And what does Catholic theology say about those to whom the gospel has not been proclaimed? The Catholic Bible, however, does not agree with this view. It teaches that faith alone in the death of Christ brings salvation. In John 3, Jesus explains to Nicodemus what it means to be born again. In doing so, our Lord refers to an Old Testament event in which the Israelites 1 sinned against God, 2 were punished by God with poisonous snakes, 3 repented, and 4 were told to look on an uplifted bronze snake and they would live Numbers —9.
Likewise, what brings eternal life to people today is personal trust in the One who was lifted up on the cross for our sins.
How carefully must we approach the Word of God! We must approach it humbly, not insisting that it means what we come to it thinking it ought to mean. We must study it thoroughly. And we must be attentive to the teachings of the Church, to whom alone the Sacred Scriptures have been entrusted. In doing this last, we will find keys in Magisterial teaching for understanding difficult and sometimes apparently contradictory texts, such as in this case the teachings of Pope Pius XII in Mystici Corporis Christi , the Second Vatican Council in Lumen Gentium , and Pope John Paul II in Redemptoris Missio , all of which develop our understanding of how salvation works, and so make it easier to keep up with St.
Paul in his earlier explanation of the same thing. It also goes without saying, or so I hope, that we do well to reflect on what the Church teaches about the ways in which we can ultimately be separated from Christ, even though we retain a formal membership in His Church.
Truly, we must all work out our salvation in fear and trembling, freely allowing God to work in us, for His good pleasure. In this focused view, the two meanings of the word salvation merge. Jeffrey Mirus holds a Ph. A co-founder of Christendom College, he also pioneered Catholic Internet services. He is the founder of Trinity Communications and CatholicCulture.
See full bio. All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a current donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work , and Sound Off! Augustine, no stranger to the concept of grace: "Outside of the Catholic Church one can have everything except salvation. One can have honor, one can have the sacraments, one can sing the alleluia, one can answer Amen, one can have the Gospel, one can have faith in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Sometimes we Catholics are prone to obsess about the particulars- indulgences, sacramentals, daily Mass attendance etc.
Protestants speak of a "personal relationship" with Our Lord; and while many saints were elevated to great levels in this regard by cooperation with God's love, often we prove lacking in our comportment despite meeting or exceeding our participation requirements.
I hope the point is not ill-taken. Essential to continue in Your gift will be matched! What Does it Mean to Be Saved? Read more Next post ».
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