R
RemnantofZion
Guest
Are the sacraments and a sincere intention to avoid mortal sin the minimum requirements for salvation?
Blessed John Henry Newman wrote that the aim of most Christians is “not to please God, but to please self without displeasing God.” This is a very convicting statement. And in my own experience, it appears to be true. Most Christians I know (myself included) truly love God, but primarily seek to derive as much worldly comfort, ease and pleasure as possible without seriously displeasing God. Many of us avoid mortal sin but our obedience to Christ is not complete. I mean to emphasize not that we lack perfect holiness, but that we lack a wholehearted and sincere intention to pursue perfect holiness and union with Christ - by holding on to certain worldly attachments.
We give most of our lives to Christ. We may love him, have a devout prayer life, give to the poor and seek to raise our children to know and love God; yet we keep a portion of our hearts for ourselves. We seek out worldly comfort, ease and pleasure through deliberate venial sins. Some habitually seek comfort and pleasure in alcohol or food, not to the point of drunkenness or gluttony, but to the point that they have intentionally failed to practice healthy temperance. This is a practice they deliberately continue in and have no real intention of growing in the virtue of temperance, which would require them to mortify their desire for that worldly good which they have come to love. Similarly, Christians intemperately (but not gravely) indulge in shopping, gambling, social media use, television and video game consumption, etc.; and are unwilling to make any effort to mortify these worldly attachments. I know these things are not in and of themselves sinful. The quality of attachment I’m speaking of, is one in which the person has come to love the worldly good because of the comfort or pleasure they derive from it, and would find it particularly painful to give it up. They inordinately seek comfort or pleasure from it, when they should be pursuing a more true peace, joy and satisfaction in Christ. The problem is not that they have the attachment(s), it’s that they have no real intention of doing anything about it.
Is willfully remaining in this state going to cut it? Is 99% obedience, with a sincere intention to avoid mortal sin, enough? Must we have a firm, sincere, and COMPLETE intention to die to ourselves? Is any further self-mortification of our worldly desires beyond those that are mortally sinful necessary? Is the sincere pursuit of the quality of holiness the Saints attained to optional?
Blessed John Henry Newman wrote that the aim of most Christians is “not to please God, but to please self without displeasing God.” This is a very convicting statement. And in my own experience, it appears to be true. Most Christians I know (myself included) truly love God, but primarily seek to derive as much worldly comfort, ease and pleasure as possible without seriously displeasing God. Many of us avoid mortal sin but our obedience to Christ is not complete. I mean to emphasize not that we lack perfect holiness, but that we lack a wholehearted and sincere intention to pursue perfect holiness and union with Christ - by holding on to certain worldly attachments.
We give most of our lives to Christ. We may love him, have a devout prayer life, give to the poor and seek to raise our children to know and love God; yet we keep a portion of our hearts for ourselves. We seek out worldly comfort, ease and pleasure through deliberate venial sins. Some habitually seek comfort and pleasure in alcohol or food, not to the point of drunkenness or gluttony, but to the point that they have intentionally failed to practice healthy temperance. This is a practice they deliberately continue in and have no real intention of growing in the virtue of temperance, which would require them to mortify their desire for that worldly good which they have come to love. Similarly, Christians intemperately (but not gravely) indulge in shopping, gambling, social media use, television and video game consumption, etc.; and are unwilling to make any effort to mortify these worldly attachments. I know these things are not in and of themselves sinful. The quality of attachment I’m speaking of, is one in which the person has come to love the worldly good because of the comfort or pleasure they derive from it, and would find it particularly painful to give it up. They inordinately seek comfort or pleasure from it, when they should be pursuing a more true peace, joy and satisfaction in Christ. The problem is not that they have the attachment(s), it’s that they have no real intention of doing anything about it.
Is willfully remaining in this state going to cut it? Is 99% obedience, with a sincere intention to avoid mortal sin, enough? Must we have a firm, sincere, and COMPLETE intention to die to ourselves? Is any further self-mortification of our worldly desires beyond those that are mortally sinful necessary? Is the sincere pursuit of the quality of holiness the Saints attained to optional?