Do We Understand How We Are Saved?

by Letters Editor · November 3, 2014

John Lee, Johannesburg – Pope Francis and his predecessors as far back as Pope Paul VI have all been stressing the urgent need for Catholics to evangelise, that is, to have an ongoing personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the only saviour of mankind, empowered by the Holy Spirit and for all the baptised, not only priests and religious,to spread the good news of the gospel to all mankind (Mt 28:19-20).

There are many reasons why we Catholics are weak at spreading the Good News. In the past some have picked up the heresy be good and God will love you. Others seem to believe in a sort of Pelagianism – salvation by your own efforts.

In the past, the faith was even sometimes conveyed to us as a sort of philosophical system of forbidding do’s and dont’s.

We are adept at preaching only an aspect of the Gospel, such as the evil of abortion, to the world out there, who will perceive it as yet another law, for the world has no understanding or context for grace.

It is as futile as expecting an apple tree to produce grapes.

What is needed is the preaching of the full Gospel with Jesus at the centre. But how are we to do that if we are not cognisant of the kerygama, the basic Gospel message that we achieve justification by faith in Jesus Christ and by his grace, working in love (Gal 5:6)?

The graced works do not save us: they show that our faith is alive and authentic, and they also give us an increase in grace (James 2:17). Many Catholics fail to understand the role of good works in our salvation.

Once we get the basic message right, we will spread this Good News to all we meet. Many of us are like pagans, standing with arms outstretched towards heaven (Pope Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi).

Holiness is given to us (in baptism) before it is demanded of us, for you cannot give what you do not experience. Often the gift of faith received in baptism is kept wrapped up in us, even after confirmation.

It can be wonderfully released in us through a Life in the Spirit seminar of Catholic Charismatic Renewal. I can testify to the change in my own life in this regard over the last 40 years.

We need to be true evangelisers with a clear and unequivocal proclamation of the Lord Jesus Christ, and with a clear testimony born from the heart of daily life. For woe is me if I do not preach the Gospel (1 Cor 9:16).