Grace saves not our works! no works no heaven?

[Tom]

Your sins are forgiven by the grace of the Sacraments

I dont understand this. What do you mean by grace of the sacraments?

Let’s just take one Sacrament, there are seven, but let’s just start with the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the physical presence, body, blood, soul, and divinity, of our Lord Jesus the Christ. When you properly receive the Eucharist you are receiving His physical presence into your body. You are receiving His grace in a physical medium. Can you understand by receiving His body, blood, soul, and divinity into your earthly body you’re receiving His grace?

 

[Prayer_Warrior]

What happens to a person if he or she was a believer in christ but commited more sins then they did good works at the end of their life? Would they go to heaven or hell?

The quantity of sins versus good works is completely irrelevant. It doesn’t matter if they sinned all their life and had no good works. If, before the end of their life, they repent their sins and turn to Jesus Christ they will be saved.

Regarding your other post about Catholics doing good works because we feel we have to, you need to go back to the source that lied to you about Catholic teaching and enlightening them. Catholics do good works as a part of their living faith. Those who do not do any good works with their faith have dead faith, which is useless. Is your faith living or is it dead?

 

[petra]

Ephesians 2:8-10
(8) For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (9) Not of works, lest any man should boast. Remember, “By grace are you saved,” .

If we look at this reading, and take others such as Jesus saying in a parable the same as Revelations says, "The goats came up to God and said Lord! Lord! we cast out demons in Your name we healed the sick in Your name…and Jesus said be gone from Me you evil doers?? The sheep came and Jesus said come to Me you who have done My Fathers will, and the sheep said, when did we do Your Fathers will? Jesus said when you did good to the least in My name giving to the poor visiting the ill, the imprisoned the infirmed, you did it to Me.

Now, the question: if it is not by our good works but by grace we are saved, then why does Jesus say to do good works to the poor the infirmed? When those (the goats) did what they thought was good works, and in Jesus name, they were hell bound. Why??? Seems contradidtory to me!

You forgot verse 10: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Ephesians 2:8-9 is not saying that works are not essential to salvation. It is saying that faith and works are a gift of God’s grace. We only have faith because God gives us the gift of faith. We can only do works of love, pleasing in Gods’ sight, because we are a workmanship in Christ. The glory is all His. Without Christ, we have nothing. With Christ, we have everything, yet nothing to boast in—neither our faith nor our works.

But any gift can be rejected. So while nothing apart from grace enables us to do good works, we have the ability to neglect and ignore that gift. At some point, our heart may be hardened to the point that the santifying grace of God has been rejected, to the peril of our soul.

 

[Tom]

Specifically, the forgiveness of sins see paragraph 1468 below, but understand this is one paragraph, without the accompanying paragraph for its proper context

http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc.htm:

1234 The meaning and grace of the sacrament of Baptism are clearly seen in the rites of its celebration. By following the gestures and words of this celebration with attentive participation, the faithful are initiated into the riches this sacrament signifies and actually brings about in each newly baptized person.

1316 Confirmation perfects Baptismal grace; it is the sacrament which gives the Holy Spirit in order to root us more deeply in the divine filiation, incorporate us more firmly into Christ, strengthen our bond with the Church, associate us more closely with her mission, and help us bear witness to the Christian faith in words accompanied by deeds.

1468 “The whole power of the sacrament of Penance consists in restoring us to God’s grace and joining us with him in an intimate friendship.” Reconciliation with God is thus the purpose and effect of this sacrament. For those who receive the sacrament of Penance with contrite heart and religious disposition, reconciliation “is usually followed by peace and serenity of conscience with strong spiritual consolation.” Indeed the sacrament of Reconciliation with God brings about a true “spiritual resurrection,” restoration of the dignity and blessings of the life of the children of God, of which the most precious is friendship with God.

1532 The special grace of the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick has as its effects:

• the uniting of the sick person to the passion of Christ, for his own good and that of the whole Church;
• the strengthening, peace, and courage to endure in a Christian manner the sufferings of illness or old age;
• the forgiveness of sins, if the sick person was not able to obtain it through the sacrament of Penance;
• the restoration of health, if it is conducive to the salvation of his soul;
• the preparation for passing over to eternal life.

2225 Through the grace of the sacrament of marriage, parents receive the responsibility and privilege of evangelizing their children. Parents should initiate their children at an early age into the mysteries of the faith of which they are the “first heralds” for their children. They should associate them from their tenderest years with the life of the Church. A wholesome family life can foster interior dispositions that are a genuine preparation for a living faith and remain a support for it throughout one’s life.

Each of the seven Sacraments imparts graces on you. I must add that (generally) no one recieves ALL seven Sacraments

 

[Prayer_Warrior]

Your sins are forgiven by the grace of the Sacraments

I dont understand this. What do you mean by grace of the sacraments?

It means the process in which Jesus grants forgiveness comes through the Sacraments. Sacraments are outward signs of inward grace instituted by Christ for our salvation. In Baptism, the Sacrament of Regeneration, our original sin is wiped away. The water is not magical, of course. But in the act of baptism the water acts as an outward sign. In reconcilliation (confession) Catholics are absolved from their sins by Christ acting through a priest. There are multiple parts of this sacrament. The penitent presents himself/herself and verbally confesses their sins, then Christ, working through the priest, absolves the sinner and satisfaction (penance) is pronounced.

I understand that the idea of Sacraments may not make sense to you. As far as I know, most non-Catholics do not believe the soul is actually purified by Christ but that Christ “cloaks” the sins of believers so that they may go to heaven. I just wanted to point this out because in Catholic teaching we believe the sins are actually wiped away by Christ, not covered up. I just wanted to point that out so you know where we are coming from…

 

[petra]

What happens to a person if he or she was a believer in christ but commited more sins then they did good works at the end of their life? Would they go to heaven or hell?

Salvation has nothing to do with the cumulative amount of good works or sins. We do not earn heaven, we are saved by grace when Christ’s sacrificial atonement is applied to us. Either we have it or we don’t. This is entirely consistent with Catholic theology.

 

[mikeledes]

Your sins are forgiven by the grace of the Sacraments

I dont understand this. What do you mean by grace of the sacraments?

God works through the sacrament of penance (i.e. confession) to forgive our sins.

John 20:22-23

"And when He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

So the forgiveness of sins originates from God, but He choses to use the agency of the sacrament of confession to apply that forgiveness to each individual soul that is truly repentant in his or her heart. The same way He used clay, water, oil, and handkerchiefs to heal people or deliver them from evil spirits (John 9:6-7, Acts 19:11-12, James 5:14-15, Mark 6:13).

God Bless,
Michael

 

[Maranatha]

The Lord’s Prayer says “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us”

Doesn’t this ask that our sins be forgiven in the same manner that we forgive? Isn’t forgiving others a “work?”