Salvation: Not really a single act of faith
Salvation involves continuing cooperation with God's plan & sharing the good news
Faith is a divine gift, and no human being can earn his salvation. Faith requires our free-will response shown through good works. The Church rejects the notion of predestination without free will, while affirming that God desires all to be saved.
Feast of Saint Andrew, Apostle
Romans 10:9-18
Matthew 4:18-22
In our first reading from St Paul's letter to the Romans, he is writing to Jews in Rome and Roman Christians. Two things we know from studying the New Testament:
1) Both the Jews and Christians claim to be the way to salvation, and
2) The Christians claim to be the fulfillment of the Mosaic Covenant and believe that all people must adhere to the New Covenant in Jesus Christ.
St Paul emphasizes the importance of confessing Jesus as Lord and believing in His resurrection for salvation. As Catholic Christians we believe that salvation is not guaranteed by a single act of faith rather, salvation involves continuing cooperation with God's plan of salvation through obeying His commandments and receiving His sacraments.
Image by Luisella Planeta
The Church also teaches, Faith is a divine gift, and no human being can earn his salvation. Faith requires our free-will response shown through good works. The Church rejects the notion of predestination without free will, while affirming that God desires all to be saved. Thus, salvation is a journey of faith, repentance, love and surrender.
The first half of this reading is an Into or better yet a Promo for the second half where St Paul is in a sense recruiting, "And how can they hear without someone to preach? And how can people preach unless they are sent?" It all boils down to St Paul unfolding God's plan for our salvation. "Faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ." St Paul quotes Is 52:7, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news!" In essence this is a charge to all believers to "Share the Good News" of Jesus Christ.
For those of us that were able to attend the Inferno Men's Conference a couple of weeks ago, we heard the charge to evangelize and share our Faith with others over and over. Just the titles of many of the talks address this:
Overcoming FEAR & Sharing FAITH
Heroic Missionary Discipleship
Culture is the Key to Evangelization
New Evangelization
Apostolate of Friendship
Our opening song this morning, "Your Words Are Spirit and Life" by Bernadette Farrell is a perfect reflection on our Responsorial Psalm.
Your words are spirit and life, O Lord
Richer than gold, stronger than death
Your words are spirit and life, O Lord
Life everlasting
God's law is perfect, refreshing the soul
Reviving the weary spirit
God's rule can be trusted: bringing us wisdom
Bringing God's wisdom to birth
Psalm 19 invites us to recognize God's Words in both the natural world and His divine law, encouraging us to live in accordance with His will, while giving us many opportunities to, "Share the Good News."
Today's Gospel reading from Matthew brings many questions, such as, "Why did Jesus choose fishermen, common men, instead of religious leaders, like Pharisees, Sadducees or Temple Priests?" One answer we have is from St. Paul in 1Cor 1:27, 29: "God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong; so that no human being may boast before God."
The fact that he didn't choose them is also an answer. That's not who he wanted. I have my own reason. I think his catch phrase had something to do with it, "You catch ‘em, I'll clean ‘em" That should work. After all, who likes to clean fish? Granted not all of the men he called were fishermen by trade but he promised to make all of them "Fishers of men."
My next question is, "What was there about Jesus, what power did Jesus exhibit, to encourage these men to leave everything, and follow him. James and John even left their father Zebedee immediately and followed Jesus. He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men." He speaks, and it is done!
This calling from Jesus is a huge decision in their lives as they are being asked to leave behind their current way of life and follow him. This calling represents a transformation from being ordinary fishermen to becoming devoted followers of Jesus, disciples who would "Share the Good News."
It is hard for me to imagine how Jesus approaches Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John as they are busy with their work. They are given a choice — to continue their familiar routine or to follow on a new journey with Jesus. The act of following Jesus would take a lot of trust and commitment, and they probably had very little idea of what they were actually getting into.
Reflecting on this verse, encourages us to consider our response to Jesus' call in our lives. Are we willing to leave behind our comfort zones and follow him? Like these disciples, we are invited to step out in faith, and trust that following Jesus will lead us to a life filled with purpose and meaning. We must face the fact that answering the call to follow Jesus requires courage, faith, and a willingness to let go of the familiar to embrace the life of a disciple sharing our Faith.
In reading stories of the lives of the Saints I occasionally discover similar powerful calls to follow Jesus, radical transformations. My wife, Becky, was Coordinator of Vocations for the Diocese of Dodge City for 12 years. She organized many gatherings for young men that had an interest in a vocation to the Priesthood or someone recommended them to discern a possible vocation to the Priesthood.
Often existing Priests or even Bishops were invited to share their stories of being called to the Priesthood. Although varied, many of them have answered in some way similar calls as the Disciples did. In the Dodge City Diocese, our Bishop was a Math and Physics teacher when he received the call. We have a priest that was a Commercial Airline pilot, and one was a Cattle truck driver. Another was a Butcher at a grocery store. All answered their call to follow Jesus.
I want to commend everyone in the Old Men's Group. You all join in and share during our discussions. In that respect you have answered your call to be Disciples Sharing the Good News.
One last thought, don't we all share the goal, the desire to have the prefix of "Saint" in front of our names someday?