I was making a general statement that applies to the people that have the knowledge of Jesus…not the exceptions that are unable to obtain this knowledge. You are correct in everything you said.
My statement goes back to my first statement at the start of this forum. And you may not agree…but just because one goes to church, goes through the sacraments ect, does not mean you will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. The Word says if you claim to have Christ in you, then you will walk as He did. How does Christ know you? It is very possible to join a church, participate in the sacraments, traditions, ect… and not have an everyday personal relationship with Jesus. Jesus said that everyone that cries Lord Lord will not inherit the Kingdom…your heart can be far from Jesus and do all the above things.
Laudetur Iesus Christus.
Dear ServantofChrist:
I appreciate the distinction you are making. There is certainly a difference between being saved and reaching maturity in the Faith and taking up the work of the Church. The emphasis on “personal relationship” (whatever is meant by this) has a different aspect for me, as a person who was baptized about eight days after birth.
You are correct that many in the Church will not be saved. Christ and His Church have taught this from the beginning – the tares grow with the wheat, to be separated at the harvest. (Cf. Matthew 13:36 - 43.) The difference is that the sanctifying grace of the Sacraments saves one. One then has salvation to lose. The baptized who will not be saved will fail because they have sinned mortally. Hence, a baptized infant who dies is saved, because he never had the moral capacity to sin mortally. For a dying person who has the faith and capacity to accept the Last Rites, as St. James tells us, “the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up,” (James (RSV) 5:15).
The Sacraments allow us to do the work of Christ. After baptism, our damnation can only come from our laying that work down. It is a very generous offer.
The experience of “community” may be different inside and outside of the Catholic Church. In some communities outside the Catholic Church, one might fall into a habit of looking around and wondering, is that person enthusiastic enough, holy enough, or inspired enough to be saved? An observer of a similar disposition in a Catholic Church would have to look around and wonder, has that person sinned badly enough to be damned? Since one cannot know the answer to this rather depressing question without a special revelation in any given case, this habit of guessing is not a very tempting activity for thoughtful Catholics. A much more useful question is, what do we have to offer this week?
There is a great deal of truth to what you say about the vigor and quality with which we do the work. As we mature and our capacities for good increase, what is demanded of us increases. Hence, an adult who has been baptized may sin mortally, by deciding not to give what is reasonably expected of him in the service of the Kingdom of God. A sin of omission can be mortal.
On the other hand, as our capacities deminish, with age, illness, or injury, we become less and less active. Like votive candles, our lives burn as perpetual offerings in praise of God, so long as we do not become so bitter or ungrateful as to disavowel our intention to honor God. For some, with dementia for example, the moral capacity to sin mortally may be lost, and so their lives burn as pure offerings, so long as the grace offered by the Church is alive in them.
As I said, it is a very generous offer.
Pax Christi nobiscum.
John Hiner
PS It is important to distinguish between the Catholic Church (under the Roman Pontiff) and other bodies that call themselves “churches.” Everything I have said applies most directly to the Holy Roman Catholic Church; they also apply to those “true churches” who have valid apostolic succession but are not in full communion with Rome. The issues regarding various ecclesial communities, which have been founded by people other than the Apostles, are much more complex, some having valid baptism, but not all, some having valid matrimony, but not all, etc. Please do not generalize what I have said about the Sacraments to the practices of communities outside the Catholic Church, especially to those which have been founded since A.D. 1400.
However, we can receive God’s grace outside of Church. God gives us His grace and mercy in and out of Church.