Let’s take a multiple choice test. The test has two questions. First, what is most important to you? 1. Your health. 2. Your wealth. 3. The health and welfare of your family and friends. 4. Your eternal salvation. E. None of the above.

Your eternal salvation must be the most important thing to you. Everything else in your life must be secondary.

My second question for you is, “How is a person saved?” A. Through God’s grace alone. B. Through our faith alone. C. Through our good works alone. D. Through our faith working through charity alone. E. None of the above.

Of the five choices there is only answer that demonstrates God’s complete love for us. Every man, woman, and child is saved through God’s grace alone. Without God’s grace---His free and undeserved gift---no one would enter heaven.

Let’s review three important terms: justification, sanctification, and merit. All three are critical in understanding the Catholic view of how we are saved.

Justification is a gracious act of God. It is the process by which a sinner is made right, pure, and holy in the sight of God. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) says that it is not only the remission of a man’s sins but the sanctification and renewal of the interior man. Saint Paul says in Rom 3:23-24, “Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.” The grace of the Holy Spirit has the power to justify us, to fill our soul with grace; but justification is not a one time event. It is an ongoing process. You can be justified today and have your name written into the Book of Life. Yet, tomorrow you can fall into mortal sin, lose your justification, and have your name removed from the Book of Life.

Sanctification flows from a man’s justification and a man’s justification flows from the grace of God. Sanctification, like justification, is an ongoing process. Through this process man grows in holiness as he opens his entire being to the grace of God and conforms his will to the will of Jesus Christ. Sanctification occurs through God’s infusion of sanctifying grace into a man’s soul. This infusion flows from the seven Sacraments and enables each of us to become a friend of God.

Merit is a man’s reward from God for loving Him and for using God’s grace to perform good works. The CCC states, emphatically, “One cannot ‘merit’ justification or eternal life. They are free gifts from God. The source of any merit we have before God is due to the grace of Christ in us.”

Man cannot earn his salvation. He could rescue twenty children from a burning building, he could care for a sick daughter, son, or spouse for forty years, he could give fifty percent of his weekly income to charity; yet, he would not earn his salvation. I am not down playing the role of faith and good works in a person’s salvation. Both faith in Jesus Christ and our good works are important in the process of justification and sanctification. They help us to grow in holiness and to deepen our love for God; but our faith and good works alone do not earn our salvation. Salvation comes only from the grace of God. The grace of God leads a man into a burning building to risk his own life and to rescue others. The grace of God helps a woman to care for her loved one for years. The grace of God opens a person’s purse to charity.

CCC 1994 tells us that “Justification is the most excellent work of God’s love made manifest in Christ Jesus and granted by the Holy Spirit.” It was the opinion of Saint Augustine that “the justification of the wicked is a greater work than the creation of heaven and earth.” No man or woman has the ability or power to create something as awesome as heaven or earth; but God does. Likewise, only God has the ability and power to bring about the salvation of a sinner.

If I were asked to identify one Bible passage that best summaries the Catholic view of salvation, I would quote Gal 5:4-6, “You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any avail, but faith working through love. [Emphasis added.] Eph 2:8-10 also provides excellent insight into the Catholic view of salvation.

I invite you to our first “Souper Wednesday,” this coming Wednesday, February 23. In Church at 7:00 PM, I will speak clearly, honestly, and aggressively on the Catholic view of salvation. My favorite saint, John the Apostle and Evangelist, wrote this verse near the end of the Book of Revelation, “Anyone whose name was not found in the Book of Life was thrown into the pool of fire.” Let’s come together to talk about our salvation and our names in the Book of Life. Join me next Wednesday evening at 7:00 PM in the presence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Bring your family and friends, both Catholic and non-Catholic. Bring your questions, curiosities, and fears. Nothing in your earthly life is more important than your salvation; and always remember, salvation comes from God alone. I’ll see you on Wednesday. Until then, allow God’s grace to guide you.

For more insight read CCC paragraphs 1987-96, 2006-11, 2018-20. Also, pull out your “Catholic” Bible and reference Mal 3:16; Mt 5:16; Lk 10:20; Acts 15:11; Rom 3:21-31; 1 Cor 13:2, 13; Phil 4:3, 13; Heb 12:14; Rev 3:5: 20:12-13; 21:22-27.