Works/Obedience/Charity question

[Montgomeryatty]

Accepting as true the Catholic position on justification and the faith/works debate, I have a slightly deeper question:

Catholics believe that faith, formed by and manifested in love/charity/etc., is the faith necessary for salvation. But during moments when we’re not charitable, by perhaps passing the beggar without offering up some change or buying him a meal, by choosing to satisfy our own desire (say, watching a movie) rather than kindly loving a neighbor in need (say, taking a meal to a neighbor fresh from a difficult hospital stay), by living out moments where our faith is somewhat undermined by our lack of charity/love, what impact does this have on our salvation? Even though we shouldn’t be trying to “keep score,” in reality is this sort of debit/credit approach how the Church teaches we achieve salvation? Do more unloving moments outweighing more loving moments mean we lack a “saving faith” (as a Protestant might call it)? Would these uncharitable moments be considered venial sins, mortal sins, or simply a weak faith? What effect do the sacraments have on this “equation?” I’m uncertain what the Church teaches with regard to this . . . Thanks!

 

[Mintaka]

If you think you’re going to find some sort of equation, which will tell you exactly how God will judge what sins in what quantity… you won’t. That’s God’s business, not ours.

Our job is to love God and our neighbor, and because of that, to do what good we can, in whatever way God calls us to help. If we do that, we will learn to be more loving than not, yes. (And if we don’t love and don’t do anything even spiritually to help others, we should be worried about the state of our souls, yes.)

But although we are supposed to be becoming more like Christ through His grace, we are never going to do enough good to explain us being saved, or enough bad to definitely put us out of reach of salvation. That’s just not how God is. He gives us a zillion ways to transform our lives, and a zillion chances to call upon His mercy at the hour of death.

The parable of the workers and how they got paid for their time is useful here.

 

[briang72]

I like Mintaka’s response, but I also wanted to suggest reading the parable of the lost son (Luke 15:11-32). Certainly the lost son had a chance to be a charitable man with the riches that his father gave him, but he ran away from his family and wasted all of his inheritance. He decided to return to his father, and he was welcomed with a feast.

 

[Todd_Easton]

As I understand things…
When a person is baptized, his past sins are forgiven and he enters what Catholics call a state of grace. The only way a Christian can lose the state of grace is through mortal sin. For a sin to be mortal it must be a serious matter, done with full knowledge and free consent of the will. If a Christian dies in a state of grace, he goes to heaven, via purgatory if necessary. If a Christian dies unrepentant in mortal sin, he goes to hell.

Theoretically, a Christian can live a long and virtuous life but commit a single mortal sin on his deathbed and, if he dies unrepentant, go to hell. Similarly, a Christian can live a long and wicked life but repent on his deathbed and die in the state of grace and go to heaven. However, I have heard that such deathbed conversions are extremely rare.

See Ezechiel 33:10-20.

Venial sins do not cause a Christian to lose the state of grace and so will not send him to hell.