Good grief! Today, I was praying outside of the Planned Parenthood in Washington, DC (we pray there every Saturday morning for an end to abortion), and a thought hit me about everyone who says that they don't need to go to a place of worship (or in this case death) and pray because they can always pray at home.
Normally to combat this subtle apathy, I make the conversation comparison. Think about it this way: you can talk to your friend no matter where they are. If he is across the world, you can e-mail him and talk to him about anything. If he is across the country, you can call him and talk to him. If he is in the room next door, you can yell through the wall to talk to him. But, if he is in the room, you can talk to him face to face. Now which of these is preferable (based on the fact that the two of you are on good terms)? Obviously: face-to-face. So I usually argue this point when trying to get people to go to adoration, Mass, or something in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.
But, today brought about another thought. While at the abortion mill, I realized that for Catholics who are apathetic in their actions, they are suffering from the cultures view that we don't need works, just faith. Martin Luther is still corrupting society by influencing people to think that their beliefs are theirs, and they can't even talk about them to others because that might infringe on their freedom of religion. Firstly, that's a bunch of garbage. You do not infringe on someone's right by voicing your opinions. Secondly, Martin Luther is much more guilty than the medieval Popes realized. He is still infecting society with his sola fide approach to faith. This "only faith" (being faith only, not works) misunderstanding of the Gospel can now be seen as affecting Catholics who think that they can pray for the women at the mill when they are at home. While this is true, it lacks sooooo much. Yes, you can pray for their conversion in the comfort of your own home, but religion is not supposed to be comfortable. We are called to pick up our cross and carry it to our death. So, for all you Catholics out there who are sleeping in on Saturday morning, stop! Get up and go pray outside at the abortion mill or something. Do something with your faith. Perform some works and stop being so apathetically "Protestant."
Apologies to all Protestants reading this, but if you are one of those sola fide Protestants, please reread your Bible. Read the Letter of Saint James. Martin Luther hated this Epistle and almost threw it out. Nowhere in the Bible does anyone say anything about faith only. All those quotes from St. Paul are firstly misunderstood and secondly refuted by St. Paul himself when he says that we need works AND faith. The Bible CANNOT contradict itself because it IS the Word of God, and God CANNOT contradict Himself. So if were offended by my comment above, please understand that I am not blasting you, but rather your faith which was flawed from the beginning. Just look into it, you'll realize that the true faith of Christ is in the Catholic Church, and He wants you to come back. Just ask Him.
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2 comments:
I'm really not sure Luther is the bad guy here. His theology is that we can't work our way into heaven--that faith in Christ is the ticket, and that's it. As I understand it, that's pretty orthodox Christian teaching. But what he's definitely not saying is that it only takes faith to grow, to reap the benefits of grace, to know God, or to bless the world. Actions matter for Luther. They're just not the way into the Kingdom.
I guess it might have been an overstatment to blame it on Luther. Although I will still hold to my guns that Luther and Calvin did much if not a majority of the work to cause this problem of faith vs. works. The idea of sola fide itself mixed with Protestantism brought about the modern world's relativism. If neither Luther nor Calvin had broken away from the Church and started their own relativistic faiths, then we wouldn't have the problem today that we are dealing with. Not to say that they were that relativistic themselves, but it was their actions that led their followers to continue to make more and more changes to the new religions they had founded. Luther and Calvin cannot escape the blame here because their actions of separation have continued to this day to hold the separation of Protestantism and Catholicism. And as we all know, it is sola fide that is one of the two Protestant pillars. And, even if today's sola fide is different than Luther's, it had to start somewhere, and he is where the buck lies.
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