B
brb3
Guest
If so, — how ?
If not, — then by what non-meritorious way ?
If not, — then by what non-meritorious way ?
- Status
S
Sirach2
Guest
That’s a very strange question for a new Catholic to make. Were you catechised before becoming Catholic? What did you learn?
B
brb3
Guest
Nothing on this topic … please share your catechesis on subject.
D
dmar198
Guest
The section of the Catechism that talks about this is here: scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s1c3a2.htm#III
I recommend you read it in context: scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s1c3a2.htm
The portion about merit is quoted below, with some background from the context: I. JUSTIFICATION.
1989 The first work of the grace of the Holy Spirit is conversion, effecting justification in accordance with Jesus’ proclamation at the beginning of the Gospel: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."38 Moved by grace, man turns toward God and away from sin, thus accepting forgiveness and righteousness from on high. "Justification is not only the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior man.39
1990 Justification detaches man from sin which contradicts the love of God, and purifies his heart of sin. Justification follows upon God’s merciful initiative of offering forgiveness. It reconciles man with God. It frees from the enslavement to sin, and it heals.
1992 Justification has been merited for us by the Passion of Christ who offered himself on the cross as a living victim, holy and pleasing to God, and whose blood has become the instrument of atonement for the sins of all men. Justification is conferred in Baptism, the sacrament of faith.
1993 Justification establishes cooperation between God’s grace and man’s freedom. On man’s part it is expressed by the assent of faith to the Word of God, which invites him to conversion, and in the cooperation of charity with the prompting of the Holy Spirit who precedes and preserves his assent:
When God touches man’s heart through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, man himself is not inactive while receiving that inspiration, since he could reject it; and yet, without God’s grace, he cannot by his own free will move himself toward justice in God’s sight.
II. GRACE
1996 Our justification comes from the grace of God. Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life.46
2001 The preparation of man for the reception of grace is already a work of grace. This latter is needed to arouse and sustain our collaboration in justification through faith, and in sanctification through charity. God brings to completion in us what he has begun, "since he who completes his work by cooperating with our will began by working so that we might will it:"50
III. MERIT
You are glorified in the assembly of your Holy Ones, for in crowning their merits you are crowning your own gifts.59
2006 The term “merit” refers in general to the recompense owed by a community or a society for the action of one of its members, experienced either as beneficial or harmful, deserving reward or punishment. Merit is relative to the virtue of justice, in conformity with the principle of equality which governs it.
2007 With regard to God, there is no strict right to any merit on the part of man. Between God and us there is an immeasurable inequality, for we have received everything from him, our Creator.
2008 The merit of man before God in the Christian life arises from the fact that God has freely chosen to associate man with the work of his grace. The fatherly action of God is first on his own initiative, and then follows man’s free acting through his collaboration, so that the merit of good works is to be attributed in the first place to the grace of God, then to the faithful. Man’s merit, moreover, itself is due to God, for his good actions proceed in Christ, from the predispositions and assistance given by the Holy Spirit.
2009 Filial adoption, in making us partakers by grace in the divine nature, can bestow true merit on us as a result of God’s gratuitous justice. This is our right by grace, the full right of love, making us “co-heirs” with Christ and worthy of obtaining "the promised inheritance of eternal life."60 The merits of our good works are gifts of the divine goodness.61 "Grace has gone before us; now we are given what is due. . . . Our merits are God’s gifts."62
2010 Since the initiative belongs to God in the order of grace, no one can merit the initial grace of forgiveness and justification, at the beginning of conversion. Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification, for the increase of grace and charity, and for the attainment of eternal life. Even temporal goods like health and friendship can be merited in accordance with God’s wisdom. These graces and goods are the object of Christian prayer. Prayer attends to the grace we need for meritorious actions.
2011 The charity of Christ is the source in us of all our merits before God. Grace, by uniting us to Christ in active love, ensures the supernatural quality of our acts and consequently their merit before God and before men. The saints have always had a lively awareness that their merits were pure grace.
After earth’s exile, I hope to go and enjoy you in the fatherland, but I do not want to lay up merits for heaven. I want to work for your love alone. . . . In the evening of this life, I shall appear before you with empty hands, for I do not ask you, Lord, to count my works. All our justice is blemished in your eyes. I wish, then, to be clothed in your own justice and to receive from your love the eternal possession of yourself.63 I hope that helps. God bless!
S
Sirach2
Guest
With all of your questioning, it would help you to read the Catechism which will answer all of your doubts. In particular, this article pertains to your new question.
B
brb3
Guest
So, according to the CCC … all our ‘merit’ is a grace, a gift from God. So, we don’t possess any ‘merit’ of our own … apart from ‘merits’ of Christ.
J
JamesCaruso
Guest
You’re slipping, brb3. Nobody’s taking the bait. 
j/k
It’s a difficult subject because of so many scriptures that alone point may one way, but taken as a whole point another way. The Bible has to be understood as a whole. The above links and quotes from the catechism were a good idea. It’s easy to get twisted around trying to take one bible verse or concept at a time. Only a comprehensive treatment avoids this dilemma. Kudos to dmar198!
j/kIt’s a difficult subject because of so many scriptures that alone point may one way, but taken as a whole point another way. The Bible has to be understood as a whole. The above links and quotes from the catechism were a good idea. It’s easy to get twisted around trying to take one bible verse or concept at a time. Only a comprehensive treatment avoids this dilemma. Kudos to dmar198!
D
dmar198
Guest
That’s correct. And yet the merits of Christ are something we really participate in, thus they really become our merits, in Him. Mark Shea had a really good article on this that makes it all very palatable and easy to understand. If you’d like to read it, it’s called “What the Church Means by Merit” and it can be accessed here: mark-shea.com/merit.html
S
Sirach2
Guest
Bait, indeed, James. She was active in this thread called “Meriting eternal life?” and posted a knowledgable reply here. It gets rather old to keep answering these incessant questions.You’re slipping, brb3. Nobody’s taking the bait.
B
brb3
Guest
I slip and fall ! When I do … its best for me to go back to what I didn’t learn well. Back to the basics. And, the CCC and Sacred Scripture is best … for explanations.You’re slipping, brb3. Nobody’s taking the bait.
It’s a difficult subject because of so many scriptures that alone point may one way, but taken as a whole point another way. The Bible has to be understood as a whole. The above links and quotes from the catechism were a good idea. It’s easy to get twisted around trying to take one bible verse or concept at a time. Only a comprehensive treatment avoids this dilemma. Kudos to dmar198!
Thanks to dmar198 … for citing us the key CCC #'s !!
B
brb3
Guest
That was 4 months ago … !! And, my answer didn’t use word ‘merit/merits’.
I’m revisiting the concept of ‘merit’ … because I never fully felt comfortable with the way most Catholics use it. As if we ‘work’ to ‘earn’ our ‘merits’ … that get us into heaven.
But, I like what the CCC says on ‘merit’. It clearly attributes all ‘merit’ to God. We don’t earn them. So, IMO … we can’t merit heaven. It must start with God, and we just respond.
S
Sirach2
Guest
Even if you do not own a CCC, the questions you raise are fully explained in the online version. I really wonder why you don’t use this reference? If after reading it, you still have questions, then feel free to raise the part that is unclear.
F
FCEGM
Guest
M
mattelliott
Guest
A lot of protestants never seem to understand the subtlety of this doctrine. Now, um, as a Anglican hoping to enter the Catholic Church, let me see if I understand it: all our good works are the work of Christ in us, so they are not entirely ours but not entirely not ours, because we who are in Christ act as one body with him. We neither perform good works on our own nor as passive puppets of Christ, but in concert with him-- as Thomas Merton says, two freedoms together, freely choosing. So his merit becomes our merit, when we keep his commandments. But we do not snatch it from him or receive it like a paycheck for services rendered… he shares it with us by virtue of our union with him. Our actions in him are both ours and his, but by his power, not ours. Please correct me if I’m wrong on this score.
The irony of “faith alone” is that few Protestants actually act on it-- if they did, they’d just “believe” and never bother trying to change their lives to conform closer to Christ. According to this doctrine, all you have to do is internally think Christianity is true-- it doesn’t matter if you’re a hypocrite or not in your behavior. Few protestants, I think, actually believe this, and yet they verbally object to the idea that works matter. But a sincere faith is inherently productive of good works, because good works are simply faith manifested externally. This is how I perceived it, anyway: true faith and true works are just internal and external versions of the same thing: submission of the intellect and will, respectively. But I might be wrong?
The irony of “faith alone” is that few Protestants actually act on it-- if they did, they’d just “believe” and never bother trying to change their lives to conform closer to Christ. According to this doctrine, all you have to do is internally think Christianity is true-- it doesn’t matter if you’re a hypocrite or not in your behavior. Few protestants, I think, actually believe this, and yet they verbally object to the idea that works matter. But a sincere faith is inherently productive of good works, because good works are simply faith manifested externally. This is how I perceived it, anyway: true faith and true works are just internal and external versions of the same thing: submission of the intellect and will, respectively. But I might be wrong?
S
snarflemike
Guest
brb3, let me ask a question. Does the answer to this question change the way you would live your life as a Catholic? I have seen these discussions for years and years and years, and they seem quite irrelevant to actually living out a Catholic or a non-Catholic Christian life.
F
fisherman_carl
Guest
I would say we can’t earn salvation by doing good works. How would you know how many works are enough or what kind of works that could possibly merit salvation?
It is the blood of Christ that saves us. The works are the result of the Holy Spirit working in us but do not earn salvation because apart from Christ we can do nothing. Besides how you earn eternal life? What can you give in exchange for it? That is why it has to be a gift. We can choose to reject that gift through serious sin or apostasy, but if we receive it we can not help but be changed by it through grace.
Besides, doing works out of fear does not work. We can’t do anything until we have been healed ourselves. This is why it is a process. Certainly works can have merit in God’s eyes and thus rewards. That is he regards them as good and a necessary part of our growth and sanctification. But I think these works flow out of our relationship with the Lord and the grace he give us, and not from us striving on our own.
God’s good works flow out of his nature, his goodness. We are new creatures in Christ.
It is the blood of Christ that saves us. The works are the result of the Holy Spirit working in us but do not earn salvation because apart from Christ we can do nothing. Besides how you earn eternal life? What can you give in exchange for it? That is why it has to be a gift. We can choose to reject that gift through serious sin or apostasy, but if we receive it we can not help but be changed by it through grace.
Besides, doing works out of fear does not work. We can’t do anything until we have been healed ourselves. This is why it is a process. Certainly works can have merit in God’s eyes and thus rewards. That is he regards them as good and a necessary part of our growth and sanctification. But I think these works flow out of our relationship with the Lord and the grace he give us, and not from us striving on our own.
God’s good works flow out of his nature, his goodness. We are new creatures in Christ.
J
JamesCaruso
Guest
And if they are not flowing out all over the place there is probably something wrong with our relationship, don’t you think? If we just go to church once a week, and do a good deed now and then, I think that may be evidence of something out of whack. I do believe that performing your station in life to the best of your ability is part of what God wants us to do, but if we don’t see ourselves doing more, a lot more, I believe we need to reexamine our relationship with God. Maybe we are taking him for granted as a lot of us do with our spouses. Maybe we are not as close to God as we want to think we are. We should all ask ourselves, “What is the evidence of my faith. Where are the works.”
Guilt trip not intended.
Just a little soul searching.
F
fisherman_carl
Guest
I think we can not judge others. We just need to be faithful to God and what he is calling us to do. We don’t need to worry about how many works or what others think. We can not be the judge of someone else’s relationship with the Lord or even ourselves. We don’t know what they are capable of or what healing they need. And I think we are all in different stages of our walk with God. It is a process. Wasn’t it the one in the bible who knew he was a sinner and not good enough more justified than the one who thought he was better than the other and tithed?And if they are not flowing out all over the place there is probably something wrong with our relationship, don’t you think? If we just go to church once a week, and do a good deed now and then, I think that may be evidence of something out of whack. I do believe that performing your station in life to the best of your ability is part of what God wants us to do, but if we don’t see ourselves doing more, a lot more, I believe we need to reexamine our relationship with God. Maybe we are taking him for granted as a lot of us do with our spouses. Maybe we are not as close to God as we want to think we are. We should all ask ourselves, “What is the evidence of my faith. Where are the works.”
Guilt trip not intended.
F
fisherman_carl
Guest
I don’t think God requires us to be workaholics.
G
guanophore
Guest
Greetings brb3! I have been off the fora for a while.
I am glad you are still asking these kinds of questions, and learning more about your faith. I think it is much easier for those who have been taught Protestant, and especially Calvanistic ideas about salvation to understand the word “merit” as the same as “worthy”. This answers most of the concerns, since we know that, of ourselves, we are not “worthy” (deserving) of salvation.
Rom 7:18
18 For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh.
Since we are born into original sin, we are separated from the holiness without which no one will see God.
The major difference between what the Apostles taught, and what the Reformers taught, is what grace does to human nature. The Apostles taught that we are transformed by it, and made “worthy” (holy) and “deserving” to enter heaven. The Reformers taught that this did not happen.
You are right, it is all grace, but that grace takes what God has made in human nature, and transforms it into HIs desire.
2 Cor 3:18-4:1
18 And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.
- Status