Salvation | Blogger Priest

Have You Accepted Jesus as Your Personal Lord & Savior?

Posted on December 6, 2025 by Father Joe

My evangelical friends delight in distributing pamphlets that urge all they meet to make “a saving faith profession in Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.” This usually comes along with a few essential questions posed to Catholics about their state of faith. The believer might answer that he is a baptized Catholic who partakes of the sacraments. Frequently this response is rebuffed because the non-Catholic questioner has little or no place in his faith system for sacraments. A follow-up query is, “If you were to die right now, where would you expect to spend eternity?” Learned Catholics might say “purgatory,” an answer sure to set the evangelical off because he already presumes Catholics are destined for hell and he can allow for no purification after death or prayer for the dead. His faith ignores the history or tradition of faith and any escape from stark individualism. His notion of “church” is one of fellowship but not of sanctification.

The heart of the Church are the sacraments instituted by Christ. These divine mysteries have undergone development but in one form or another were celebrated from the earliest days of the new dispensation. Indeed, the Mass is a command performance given to us by the Lord. The redemptive Cross and paschal mystery of Christ is remembered and made present. We find ourselves at the sacred oblation of Calvary where the Lord Jesus is substantially present and “really” active for our sake. He is the one high priest and the saving victim. Baptism as the gateway to the sacraments stems from the Lord’s demand to his apostles at the Great Commission.

Apologetics arguably would have the informed Catholic immediately assault the simplistic assumptions of the non-Catholic. Indeed, the fundamentalist missionary at this point often fully unveils his anti-Catholic posture. But given poor catechesis and lackluster devotion, most Catholics prove lacking in making any kind of suitable reply. Some will fall prey to the traps laid before them and accept the hollow and bigoted negative assessments of their holy faith. Those that will try to argue often run out of steam. They find themselves on the offensive but only armored with a faith based upon authority and not directly upon the truths of Scripture and Catechism.

As I said, the gullible might allow their faith to be errantly taught to them from a source hostile and bigoted to Roman Catholic. False teachings emerged either from outright ignorance or deception. I would urge those with a superficial faith-understanding not to engage such outreach ministers. Those trained to recruit Catholics are often given a series of religion questions to undermine the faith of those targeted. They have memorized biblical proof texts. Sadly, biblical quotes are taken out of context and are often misinterpreted. We must not relinquish the parameters of the discussion. Ideally, we should have the same stamina and desire to make converts as our challenger. How should we proceed in such situations if one is a knowledgeable Catholic?

First, realize that you and the fundamentalist speak a very different faith language. Do not surrender the upper ground. This is how I respond at the very top of the conversation: “Yes, I have accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior, not just personally but corporately within the context of the Church that Christ directly founded upon his rock Peter and given to the apostles.” Second, if they should ask about our eternal destiny, make it clear, “Trusting in Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior, I have every reason to HOPE for a share in eternal life with God in heaven.” Remember, even should we pass through purgatory, all the poor souls are destined for paradise.

Third, if they should emphasize the need for a verbal faith profession, explain that you affirm Christ and your belief in the Mass and in a weekly creedal profession. If they debate this, I would explain that “once saved, always saved” has been proven repeatedly to be false. Even Protestant ministers who claimed “Jesus” have fallen and committed the most devastating sins. While the faith of a few might have been counterfeit, we take them for their word that they believe in Jesus and his saving works. But real faith can die. One must remain steadfast in faith.

Fourth, I would ask the would-be missionary a question, “what is faith?” It is amazing how many people stumble on this matter. Faith is not magic. Too many regard it as did Martin Luther, simply as a juridical imputation. The argument is that we remain sinners, but that Jesus stands between us and God the Father. When the Father looks upon us, he only sees his Son and gives us a share in his Son’s reward. But Jesus speaks in the Bible of being born again— that repentance and conversion must be effective and genuine— that we must be changed. We must be holy as God is holy. A saving faith in Christ is transformative. We can still stumble but baptism has configured us to Christ. The sacrament (water baptism in the name of the Trinity) is essential. We are incorporated into the mystical body of Christ and into the family of faith. This is a royal family, and we enter the divine kingdom. Christ is King and Mary is our Queen Mother. We become adopted sons and daughters to the Father, children of Mary and kin to Christ. Sin is washed away, original and personal. We are granted sanctifying grace. Our Lord gives us the sacrament of penance so that we as sinners (who believe in Jesus) might become saints. The Bible makes the dynamics of faith quite clear. I would tell the missionary who targets Catholics, “We are saved as members of a new People of God, the Church. This personal and communal faith must be realized in loving obedience.” The two-fold commandment of love toward God and neighbor comes from the mouth of Jesus. The commandments given the first people called by God have not lost their binding force. We must realize or manifest a saving faith through works of charity. We cannot save ourselves. Works have value because “greater is he who lives in me than he who lives in the world.” If Christ is alive in us, then his works will always have saving or meritorious value. We must be transformed into the likeness of Christ. This is made possible by sanctifying grace. We are saved, not by faith alone but by grace alone.

Faith in the Lord is everything. There is no such thing as a part time Christian. Ours is a jealous God. The posture of the creature to the Creator is one of humble submission and dependence. We must surrender ourselves to him and to his service. Prayer and the sacred liturgy allow us to join the angels of heaven in their celestial praise of God as Holy, Holy, Holy.

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Dealing with the Mystery of Death

Posted on March 19, 2024 by Father Joe

There is something about our nature that instinctively resists death and finds the notion repugnant. Many are fearful of death. Others forestall it through positive eating and drinking habits, exercise and medical intervention. Despite all the talk about quality of life and growing advocacy for euthanasia, we all know of heroic souls who cling at great physical and mental cost to every breath and heartbeat remaining to them. Indeed, although finding ourselves in a culture of death that excuses the termination of millions of unborn children, we are self-seeking and defiant in defending our own lives. Celebrities are infamous for plastic surgeries, hair dyes, and body augmentation— all to at least feign youthfulness and vigor. We appreciate all-to-well that we are on a trajectory with the Grim Reaper. Aging, ailment, and accident are the “Three A’s” about which we are wary. Advancing years bring us ever closer to our time of departure from this world. However, if a passage of the years offers a period of preparation for the inevitable; disease and accident are a lot less forgiving. Disease is the handmaid to aging. Accident is the worst as even the most robust and healthy can be quickly taken out— here one moment and suddenly gone the next. Modern people are very uncomfortable with death. Notice that we dress up and paint the dead in caskets as if they were alive. The preference for cremation removes the body entirely from the funeral scenario. The so-called ashes are a token of a life, remembered in photos, but increasingly even without a formal grave. Traditional Christian sensibilities insist upon a grave or place of internment for ashes— why? It is because we are a people of faith who employ sacraments and sacramentals. When we remember those who have passed, it is always with the accompanying hope that the beloved dead are alive in the Lord. The “sacramental” gives us something visible or tangible to grasp for that, which is in truth, unseen and beyond our senses. It is no denial of reality or an escape into the fanciful. But we prefer to believe that we exist for a reason and that we do not live and die in vain. Those who deny the existence of God and life after death can only find comfort in a nostalgic remembrance. It is sad because the person recalled is no more. When the few remaining who know the deceased should die or suffer from Alzheimer’s, then the remnants of the dead become no more than tattered photographs of ghosts without names or stories. The Gospel looks to Jesus and how he transforms the mystery of death. Indeed, at Mass we remember Christ in an “anamnesis” that makes present the one remembered. We are to similarly ponder the dead but remembering them as alive and as still loving and praying for us. The gravity moves from “us remembering” to the fact that “God remembers” and never forgets us.

We often weep when friends and families die. We are touched by death while still living in this world because the deceased remain a part of us. Our stories are interwoven and there are ties that remain unbroken, even by death. Often, we hear mourners cry things like, “Why O Lord, why did he have to die? Lord, could you not have taken me, instead? How could you have let this happen?” The question, “Why do human beings die?” is an important one. We want to live. We might not want to be vampires, but the prospect of eternal life is appealing. Those who study history often wish they could have lived in the past. Those who delight in science fiction want to see the future. Many in their preoccupation with collecting things and advancing their wealth live as if they will be around forever. But such is a lie.

Then he told them a parable. “There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. He asked himself, ‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?’ And he said, ‘This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!”’ But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’ Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God.” (Luke 12:16-21)

As in the parable, when death comes, to whom will their piled-up bounty go?

Despite the harsh reality of death as the great equalizer, coming to the rich and poor alike, we have an intuition that dying has been interjected into the human equation. It is not the way things are supposed to be. The serpent in Genesis 2:17 urges disobedience to God, discounting the consequence of death for forbidden knowledge. This so-called knowledge is “to know sin” and such changes the agent, clipping the relationship with God and a vital connection with the one who is the source of life. Why do all men die? The answer is simple and terrible— despite our abhorrence of death, we have chosen it. Not long after the fall, one brother would kill another. Rebellion against God brings about death, indeed, more than this, it invites murder. The sin of Adam and Even was the signing of warrants against them. A bounty was placed upon their heads and those of their children. We are all murderers. This truth is fully realized in the passion and death of Christ. We all have blood on our hands. And yet, the bounty is paid not by our deaths but by the sacrifice of our Lord.

Sin and death enter the world through Adam. The new Adam or Christ brings forth grace and life.

For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead came also through a human being. For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life . . . (1 Corinthians 15: 21-22).

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