You are standing before the
judgment seat of God and He asks you the question” Why should I let you into My
heaven?” What are you going to say? Take
a minute and think about your answer. Got it? OK, just keep it in the back of
your mind. In looking at the judgment Jesus doesn’t say “You didn’t do enough of
this or too little of that.” But, He will say to some, “Depart from Me. I never knew you”. This reveals an all
important point: that salvation is extremely personal. So how do you get to
heaven: pray the right prayers? Do more good things than bad? Be sincere? The
Bible is pretty clear that it involves faith in Jesus Christ. I hope that was
at least part of your answer. Faith is a tricky thing, however.
First, saving faith is not only an
agreement with church teachings. You need orthodoxy to lay a firm foundation
for faith. It is absolutely essential, but just agreeing with a creed or
catechism isn’t enough. You can tell by the people who come to church every
Sunday and drone through the Mass, while others seem to have an extra dimension.
We can assume that everyone there has faith. There is head faith but no heart
faith. How do you become a Catholic that “gets it”? Let’s look at the sacraments
to start.
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There are three things needed for a
sacrament to be valid: elements, word
and faith. When we baptize an infant there is the element: water; the words: “I
baptize you” and faith? Since the baby has no faith at this point the faith of
the Church stands in for the infant until some future time when the child will
come to faith in Jesus. So, after learning the teachings of the Church; this
person must apply the truths learned to have a “Come to Jesus” moment or Second
Conversion (CCC 1427-1430). I think this
occurs in the spiritual part of ourselves and can be demonstrated by our
response to the sacraments.
The first sacrament of faith in our
spiritual selves is Matrimony not Baptism. Jesus comes to us and asks “Will you
marry me? I offer you suffering, sacrifice, a cross and death, but also eternal
life and glory. Will you marry me”? You
say, “Yes. Yes, Jesus, I will marry you”. Then you two come before the Father
and become one in eternal marriage. Since you are now bound to Christ, all that
is His is yours and all that is yours becomes His; including your sin.
Now the Eucharist comes into play
when Jesus takes all of your sins upon Himself physically upon the cross, but
you also in a spiritual sense die with Him. The two have become one. What happens
to Him happens to you. You both die because the penalty of sin is death. Since
Jesus was successful in His mission to pay for our sins, a just God can now
offer you reconciliation and forgiveness: the third sacrament.
The evidence that Jesus was
successful in paying for our sins is His resurrection to new life on Easter
Sunday. We too then rise with Him to new life by the washing of regeneration
and the power of the Spirit. God, Himself, baptizes us. The Holy Spirit
indwells us also at this time to give us the ability to live this life in
Christ. We are born again of water and of Spirit in our spiritual selves. Baptism
and Confirmation take place here in the spiritual realm and our heart faith
becomes complete, without which there can be no salvation. Baptism and
Confirmation are the last sacraments in the spiritual dimension, but the first
in the physical dimension.
All the sacraments in the physical
world have validity because they have already occurred in the spiritual world
of faith. Our infant baptism now becomes personal at our Second Conversion and
is the sacrament of testimony of our new birth, which allows initiation into
the Mystical Church. Confirmation is also personal and active as the Holy
Spirit moves in our lives here on earth to change us into the image of Jesus.
As we grow in our Christian life we have the sacrament of Reconciliation to
keep us on the road of grace and the Eucharist to renew our souls in the
journey. There is a new life of joy and peace.
All of our sacrifices and works are done out of love of God not to get
to heaven. But because our heart faith is real, we are on our way to heaven.
When this world ends the marriage is completed in every sense at the marriage
supper of the Lamb and we will live forever with the One Whom we love.
Salvation is extremely personal. So
where are you? Do you have the heart faith or just head faith? Do the things of
God excite you: prayer, worship, meditation, Bible study or are they boring? Do
you want to go to heaven and be with this God or do you just want to avoid
hell? Not sure? Then pray. Seek God like
a lover and you will find Him; any that come to Him He will in no way cast
aside.
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