IF WE Catholics are asked, “Are you saved?” Our answer should be we are being saved. Our sins are being healed. Our spiritual life is being restored. We are being drawn more deeply into full communion with God in Christ. We Catholics view salvation as a process rather than a one-shot deal. And if we are asked when did that process start? We can reply that it started in baptism.
Our
salvation is both active and passive. Passive salvation or justification
means Christ’s suffering and death on the cross was for the satisfaction or
payment for the sins of men. “For even the Son of Man did not come
to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark
10:45) And active salvation means we still have to apply to ourselves, the
graces that Christ gained for us in his suffering and
death. “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and
trembling.” (Philippians 2:12) In other words, our salvation is always a
combination of God’s grace and our cooperation to those graces worked out in
our lifetime. As St. Augustine would say, “God will not save us without
us (or without our cooperation)”.
The process of salvation means healing us from our sinfulness so as to gain the divine life of God. Sinfulness is like being a faulty appliance or a faulty car and salvation is getting repaired and restored again. Sinfulness is being imprisoned and salvation is being set free. Sinfulness is being in the dark and salvation is light. “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’” (John 8:12)
Sinfulness is losing one’s way from the right path much like our
first parents being banished from the Garden of Eden or the prodigal son who
found himself outside of his father’s home. (Luke 15:11-32) Christ
who gives salvation, is the one who heals us, repairs us and brings us back to
the right path and the right place in life. Salvation is being brought
into Christ and being “Christified” so to speak, to become like
Christ. “So, whoever is in Christ is a new
creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have
come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
We
achieve our salvation through prayer, good works and reception of the
sacraments. Sacraments are rites instituted by Christ to give grace and
acquire the divine life. Sins, especially mortal sins, kill the divine
life in us. The Sacrament of Confession restores that divine life.
The Holy Eucharist feeds the divine life. The Sacrament of Confirmation
strengthens the divine life. The Sacraments of Matrimony and Holy Orders
give direction to our divine life. The Sacrament of Baptism gives birth
to our divine life and the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick strengthens our
divine life as we transition to the next life. There is a sacrament for
all our spiritual needs from womb to tomb.
Prayer
and good works or virtues completes the salvation picture. Prayer is
indispensable since we need to develop an intimate relationship with God and
relationships can only grow through communication and bonding between two
parties. And of course, virtues or good works since faith without
good works is dead. “As the body without the spirit is dead, so
faith without deeds is dead.” (James 2:26) Good works simply embodies the
saying, “Action speaks louder than words”.
Christianity
is a religion of salvation. The main mission of the Catholic Church
is the salvation of all souls. It therefore presupposes that we are
all broken and in need of healing. The Church is a hospital for
sinners and the doctor is Christ. We are all in the process of
healing until we die. Those who have been fully healed of their sins
go to Heaven. Those who have not been fully healed after death go to
Purgatory. And those who don’t want to be healed and remain in their
sins go to Hell.
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