“What good is it, my brothers and sisters,

if someone says he has faith but does not have works? 

Can that faith save him? 

If a brother or sister has nothing to wear

and has no food for the day,

and one of you says to them,

‘Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,’

but you do not give them the necessities of the body,

what good is it? 

So also faith of itself,

if it does not have works, is dead.

Indeed someone might say,

‘You have faith and I have works.’

Demonstrate your faith to me without works,

and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works.”

In college and while in the Air Force, I participated in many different, mostly Protestant, Bible studies. I was something of an anomaly to the other participants: a passionate Catholic with a dynamic relationship with the Triune God. Many of them had never met anyone like me (I wish they could experience our community at St. Pats!). A genuine and common concern a number of my friends had for my soul was that they thought that I believed I could earn my way to heaven by doing good works. I always loved these conversations because their presumption was based on a misunderstanding of what they had been taught that Catholics believe. I would often be quoted a verse from the second chapter of St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast.” After a few of the early conversations, after I had to do my own research, I usually tried, without defensiveness or aggression, to share what I truly believed, what the Church teaches. When they were open, which was most of the time, it was an enlightening conversation—my favorite kind!

So, what do we believe? The essential key is that we believe it is all grace, the undeserved gift of God for our salvation. It is God’s work for us. Jesus was born, suffered, died, rose again, and sent the Holy Spirit for our redemption, justification, salvation, sanctification and glorification. We are all on a journey at God’s initiative to our heavenly home. We respond to the good that God has done and is doing for us. It is the very gift of himself. Our faith is grace and our works are grace. They are gifts to us from God for our good. They are not of ourselves, but are supremely a gift from God. Our response is humble and grateful reception of the trust we have in God and the good works he calls us to do. A second and important point is that our salvation is not substitutionary. In other words, our journey to holiness and union with God is real. We are not just covered by Jesus’s own holiness; we are made holy ourselves. It is a true transformation over time. We are unworthy of our salvation, but we are made worthy by our trust in God and our good works. Again, it is a real transformation. At God’s initiative and gift, our transformation through faith and works merits salvation. Imperfectly in this life (thanks be to God for purgatory—for another article), we still merit heaven, not as something earned, but as something received. It is, once again, the Catholic both/and instead of either/or. Both faith and works instead of either faith or works. Both are integral to our journey and, as St. James states above, “So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” This is why we put our “faith in action” or “practice our faith.” By grace, both faith and works are the path for our journey to God!