By Paul Dion, STLLk 18:9-10: "Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else. "
This is a very powerful lesson from Jesus Himself. He has jumped into the argument two millennia before many of us have either heard it or used it ourselves. We usually hear it when someone says, "Lord, you can take me now, I'm ready." Or as I have heard a few times before in my life, "My father died suddenly but he told me that he was saved, so I don't worry about him." Lately we hear declarations like, "I'm glad that I am a Christian (Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, etc.) it sure is easier to get to heaven from here."
That is not the lesson that Jesus gives us in this Gospel story as told by St. Luke. The question is:
"Do we as Catholics believe that we can ever be sure that we are saved and therefore a lock to get to heaven?"
CLICK HERE to see the answer to this Burning Question.
In short, we can have a moral assurance of our salvation. In otherwords, insofar as I have confessed all my "mortal sins", which I am conscious of, and the confession was a valid sacramental confession, which includes the performance of the prescribed penance, then I am in a "state of [sanctifying] grace".
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do not have an infallible assurance that I am "saved", since this judgment is God's department, and not mine. It is a rather arrogant thing, in my opinion, for someone to think he/she knows how to do God's job better than He does. Nor do we believe that we can't lose our salvation. Since after confession, we may commit another mortal sin, or fail to do a good which was in our power to do (ommission), then we have thus "lost", or if you prefer forfeited, our salvation.
Don't despair, come back home to the Sacrament of Healing and be restored! As St. Paul stated, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
~Laurence Gonzaga
BTW - I loved your explanation... Just read it now... I also got the Jesus of Nazareth book by Pope Benedict and just finsihed reading the Intro... Maybe we can compare notes when we finish reading it? Great book so far...
ReplyDeleteAMDG,
Laurence