Gary K
an old small town kid
- Aug 23, 2002
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How can you say that miracles have no bearing on our salvation?I understand what you are saying, but we need not expect a grand work to come to our lives. It has no bearing on our salvation
Consider God’s word
I desire obedience rather than sacrifice
The story of the widow that gave two pennies. Jesus praised her action rather than the earthly effect of her work.
There will be many people at the throne of grace that say they have done many wonderful works but God will say I never knew you.
This is what it means to say we are not saved by works, but we still must cooperate with grace.
Jesus never tells us to just believe in Him and do nothing, but strive for obedience and not to be seen of men.
Prayer Fasting and almsgiving are works that the Catholic Church tells us to do. They are works that we use to discipline our flesh, and Jesus told us how to do them. When you pray, pray in secret, when you fast do what you can to not let others know you are fasting, when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Your Father in heaven who sees in secret will reward you openly.
Those that pray, fast and give alms to be seen of men and receive their respect have already received their reward. If we are not to do works as Christians why would Jesus distinguish how we should do them?
The other scripture that may cause confusion in some is let your light shine before men, and they will see the good that you do and give glory to God. These are not works that earn the praise of men, but cause them to wonder. These are acts of obedience.
I used to think this meant give verbal testimony and lead others to Jesus. Nope, that work falls under the first category. If people see you as a man that talks a good game and convinces many people to come to a verbal pronouncement of Jesus, you have received your reward.
The Catholic Church teaches that the works to be seen before men are acts of obedience. Love your enemies and pray for those that persecute you. Be as a little child and learn the faith, think not that you are good enough on your own, but take the counsel of those that have gone before you. Do we obey Jesus in what He says?
He says deny yourself and take up your cross. Do we deny our fleshly appetites and follow His commands regarding them? Do we take counsel from the early Church and keep Christianity as a consistent Gospel? Or are we too cool for school and think we know better because we are modern? Do we mortify our flesh and take the path of poverty, contempt, and humility, or would we rather have wealth, vain glory, and pride?
Answers to these questions tell us if we are one the path to life, waiting for a grand gesture or an amazing work that may come, but we have to not let it distract us from what we should be doing.
The Catholic Church teaches discipline in these works. Prayer is important and a daily prayer life is essential for the Christian. Some accuse us of repetitive prayers and vain speaking, but this would only be true if we were looking for the praise of men, or we thought God does not hear us so we have to repeat ourselves. That is not the case. We use repetitive prayer as a form of discipline, the way a body builder uses repetitive motion to strengthen his muscles. God knows what we need before we ask, but our flesh is weak. So we use repetitive prayer to remind us of what God has done and meditate on His wondrous deeds. It gets the focus off of ourselves and on the Lord. A prayer life gets us a chance to meditate on the Lord and the repetition disciplines our body to say holy things instead of vanity. The Rosary is a common repetitive prayer I which we contemplate 20 mysteries of our salvation along with Scriptural and catechetical references of each. It is not a magic spell, though some may say it that way, just as some may rub weights on their skin and not grow strong. The Rosary is ineffective unless used properly
We discipline our bodies to take our hearts off of the things of this world, and focus on obeying God. That is more useful than hoping for a grand plan. Just as marriage is a sacrifice as one spouse gives themselves to the other, it gets quite boring at times, but if we stick with it we are rewarded with a family and we pass from this world surrounded by loved ones. Those that pursue pleasure frequently have no one after a while and die alone. Repetitive prayer is boring just like lifting weights is boring and marriage is boring, but if we sacrifice our time to do it, we are rewarded with a deeper relationship with God in obedience than if we wile away the hours waiting for a grand gesture that may or may never come.
That is Christian teaching. Paul knew that the Christian life is hard when we sacrifice and boring when we don’t make these grand gestures and get amazed by our work for the Lord. That is why he said, if Christ be not raised we are among men most miserable. We sacrifice our flesh to the Lord in this world in order to have eternal joy with the Lord in heaven
Hebrews 11: 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Miracles help build our faith in God as it is a positive way He builds our trust in Him. I know the miracles He performed in my life have a lot to do with my faith in Him as they demonstrate how much He loves all of us as He performed a lot of miracles even when I was rebelling against Him. Don't the miracles Jesus performed build our faith in Jesus as the Son of God?
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