Are we doing enough?

[Nelka]

I am a Roman Catholic but I spend most of my time with the children or at work, I am not using those as excuses but I do not have the time to feed the hungry and visit the sick.

Am I and Catholics like me doing enough to enter Heaven?

Should I/we be doing more?

Apart from praying for the living and the dead I don’t appear to be doing anything else for anyone.

Am I walking a tightrope?

Thanks.

 

[bisco]

you can’t earn your way into heaven, either you believe that Jesus is the son of God, or you don’t. salvation is a gratuitous gift from God, so that none may claim they deserve it by their deeds. you’re raising children, that’s your first priority. you support your parish, that’s number two. you follow the precepts of the church, relax, and bask in God’s love!

 

[chataranga]

Greetings,
Praying and meditating are powerful things to do in my opinion. Raising kids to be loving and caring members of society is powerful and needed. Being kind and compassionate to co-workers also needed. I believe we all do enough no matter how much or little we can do. I think the story of the widow’s might or is it mite speaks to this and isn’t only about monetary giving. All that you do if offered to god is enough. Think of the ancient hermits and sages-didn’t raise kids but stayed in caves, ashrams, hermitages etc much of their lives. simply praying and doing chores. How much less valuable are our prayers and meditations if offered to the divine for the benefit of others. Blessings and be well.

 

[edarlitrix]

I think raising a family is a vocation… just like Mother Teresa decided to spend her life caring for the poor, some are called to do the same. But not all are called to do so. For if everyone said, “I must spend all of time around the poor, the hungry and sick and therefore cannot raise children” all life would come to an end eventually as no one would have children.

We each have a different call… your family are human beings just like the poor.

In fact, I daresay your children are often hungry and sick… and you care for them. “Do good to all as you have opportunity.” (gal. 6.10). And 1 Tim 5.8-9: “But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years of age, having been the wife of one husband, and having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work.” Caring for children is a good work.

If you do not have opportunity to care for the hungry and sick like Mother Teresa, then that is not your fault. Perhaps the most you can do for now is donate money to charities who are doing that work that you are unable to do.

 

[ChikaisHis]

you can’t earn your way into heaven, either you believe that Jesus is the son of God, or you don’t. salvation is a gratuitous gift from God, so that none may claim they deserve it by their deeds. you’re raising children, that’s your first priority. you support your parish, that’s number two. you follow the precepts of the church, relax, and bask in God’s love!

God calls us each to do different things- whether we should be doing more is between us and God. But Jesus did everything for us to enter heaven

 

[crumblymunky]

Remember these two thoughts: I am saved, and I cannot be saved.

Both lead to Hell. The former is prideful and causes you to not strive to imitate Christ. The second is despairing, and is a false statement of Satan, also causing you not to strive to imitate Christ.

Simply try to be a Christian day by day, with the choices you can make in your situation. This is the path of salvation for you.

(This wisdom isn’t my own, thank some pious monk!)

 

[WilT]

I am a Roman Catholic but I spend most of my time with the children or at work, I am not using those as excuses but I do not have the time to feed the hungry and visit the sick.

Am I and Catholics like me doing enough to enter Heaven?

Should I/we be doing more?

Apart from praying for the living and the dead I don’t appear to be doing anything else for anyone.

Am I walking a tightrope?

Thanks.

Pray for Grace to do God’s Will and He will have the answer for you. God Bless

 

[ready]

Pray well and do all your duties according to your state in life well, and obey the 10 Commandments and 6 Precepts of the Catholic Church. God will be very pleased by this. God bless you.

 

[eschator83]

Have you noticed the teaching of CS Lewis–renowned British professor and Evangelist? “I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare.” (from Mere Christianity) I think this applies well not just to almsgiving, but also to Christian service, to Worship, and to general compassion.

 

[ready]

Pray well and do all your duties according to your state in life well, and obey the 10 Commandments and 6 Precepts of the Catholic Church. God will be very pleased by this. God bless you.

I want to add this to the above: Acts of Mercy are part of your daily duties. You are praying for the living and the dead, which is good. Do more works of mercy if you feel you are not doing enough. God bless you.

 

[CradleJourney]

I am a Roman Catholic but** I spend most of my time with the **children or at work, I am not using those as excuses but I do not have the time to feed the hungry and visit the sick.

Am I and Catholics like me doing enough to enter Heaven?

Should I/we be doing more?

Apart from praying for the living and the dead I don’t appear to be doing anything else for anyone.

Am I walking a tightrope?

Thanks.

Bold mine.

Are not your children “anyone”? I am sure you do a great deal for them. Why would service done for your children not be just as worthy as service done for any other person?

Obviously if you can - you should. But there have been times when raising my children, I have NOT had time, and had to remind myself that they, too, deserve to be feed, to be clothed, to be “visited”, to be instructed - and that it is my duty to do so. And if there is nothing left over (time/money) after that, then so be it.

Every parent faces a different situation - no one else has your exact number of children with their exact needs and your exact resources. So there cannot be one measuring stick to say whether someone is giving sufficiently above what their children require. Imho - that has to be figure out between you and God - and it will change regularly as their needs fluctuate.

Hugs & Prayers for you and your family.

 

[Mintaka]

Aside from caring for her son Jesus Christ and her husband Joseph, and working around the house, and pointing out a wine shortage at a wedding (and saying Yes to God and being the first human to choose not sinning)…

What did Our Lady do? Wasn’t she a slacker compared to St. Catherine of Siena?

Mary didn’t run a multi-national charity organization.

Mary didn’t send letters to the Sanhedrin to give them the what-for.

And then there’s the other Mary. Letting Martha do all the work again. She couldn’t possibly have been doing her assigned task for God just by sitting around listening to Jesus… except that Jesus said she was…

Seriously, sometimes we have to draw a line between doing what God has assigned us, and stuff that God lets us do as extra stuff if there’s time. If time opens up and it’s not going to take away from the family, then sure, do charity stuff. Let the kids help, or use it as your break (ie, “doing different work”). But don’t kick yourself for taking care of your family, when that IS the job God has assigned you right now!

 

[awke]

I am a Roman Catholic but I spend most of my time with the children or at work, I am not using those as excuses but I do not have the time to feed the hungry and visit the sick.

Am I and Catholics like me doing enough to enter Heaven?

Should I/we be doing more?

Apart from praying for the living and the dead I don’t appear to be doing anything else for anyone.

Am I walking a tightrope?

Thanks.

My suggestion is to re-read Matthew 25: 31 - 46.

Jesus makes it pretty clear that helping others is not optional. It is what we will be judged on. Our salvation will be based on this. (Much more so than attending daily mass, number of rosaries prayed, having 100% correct theology, etc.) Yes, I will probably get eaten alive by members of this forum for saying that; but I think Jesus makes things pretty darn clear.

How harshly will God judge us? Are you walking on a tightrope? I don’t know. Nobody here does. I certainly hope He is merciful, because God knows that I certainly don’t do enough.

If you’re worried about your salvation (which I do all the time), working to help others more is probably the best thing that you can do.

One other thought, though: don’t dismiss the importance being a good parent. Feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, comforting the afflicted all sound like things that a good parent does on a regular basis.

 

[Mystical_Seeker]

I am a Roman Catholic but I spend most of my time with the children or at work, I am not using those as excuses but I do not have the time to feed the hungry and visit the sick.

Am I and Catholics like me doing enough to enter Heaven?

Should I/we be doing more?

Apart from praying for the living and the dead I don’t appear to be doing anything else for anyone.

Am I walking a tightrope?

Thanks.

Heaven is not accessible because of what we do, but how we are made in the image of God, and who we are. For some reason we have turned Christianity into what Jesus died to save us from – cheap behavior contests.

What we do can both indicate and shape what is in our heart, so don’t mistake me for saying that it doesn’t matter what you do. Just that these are not the things that make us right; these are outward indicators which could be deceptive signs of inward turmoil disguised as righteousness.

Matt 23:23-24
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You pay tithes[a] of mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and fidelity. [But] these you should have done, without neglecting the others. 24 **Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!

The key to following Jesus and getting into the kingdom, is to attain the loving and forgiving and non-judgmental state of mind that affords us the peace Jesus gave us by His example, for those who follow His example and not by imitating what He does but empathizing with Him and becoming like Him in our hearts.

We have made our faith into rules and behavior; just like they had before Jesus. He needn’t not have bothered since His work didn’t save us from the fear of judgment.

With Jesus we learn that it’s about an inward transformation. We chatter and bloviate and pray all the time and loudly in groups and in public, but what it going on inside our hearts?

If my religion doesn’t transform me down to the core, then it’s no better than the law and it cannot bring salvation.

So what to do? For starters, how about this book about prayer life? Written by a Jesuit, it’s being used for beginning prayer classes at some seminaries. It it easy to read, realistic and not idealistic about actually praying, and covers contemplative prayer which the CCC says we SHOULD advance into by few Catholics even know about it and those who do some of them fight over what form of sitting quietly is licit. There is a “look inside” on Amazon:

Armchair Mystic: Easing into Contemplative Prayer**