Faith and Works

I haven't been as consistent putting up new blog posts lately as I would like to be. This is the result of a couple of things. First of all, these past couple of months have been pretty crazy around my house. We welcomed our fifth child into the world, our 4 year old started pre-school, our oldest daughter's 11th birthday is this week (and with it a birthday party), and the youth ministry program that I run began it's fall semester. Add to that the fact that I work a part time job in addition to my full time youth ministry job and there hasn't been much time for anything else, including prayer. Prayer is the second reason why I haven't been posting lately, because most of my posts come as a result of prayer. I also haven't been handling the craziness of my life well. I've been short with my children, Kari and I haven't connected on an emotional level in a while, and my job has been overwhelming me.

Then I went to Mass today and listened to the second reading from James:

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith same 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. (James 2:14-18)

I started thinking about the whole faith vs. works debate that has been going on between Catholics and other Christians for centuries. Many Christians believe that all you need is faith, and that works are not necessary to obtain eternal salvation. Catholics, on the other hand, believe that faith without works is not enough to get to heaven. I began thinking about how this applies to my life, particularly the past couple of months.

I have always tried to integrate both faith and works into my life. However over the past couple of months, I've been so focused on the "works" that I have neglected my faith. I haven't been very consistent in my prayer, and when I do make an effort to pray, I'm distracted and it's not fruitful. This lack of faith has had a negative impact on the works in my life. I'm not spending time with God in prayer and it has affected my attitude. I'm less patient with my children. Kari and I used to pray together every night and we haven't been doing that lately due to the changes we've experienced in our lives. This has affected our relationship. We don't feel the emotional connection we used to feel. Part of this is due to the overwhelming transition of adding a new child to the family, but our lack of couple prayer has also impacted our relationship. I feel overwhelmed at work because I haven't been taking my ministry to prayer. Faith is absolutely necessary for works to be done well. I have experienced this in my own life.

I also feel that I need to address the faith without works issue as well. Christ's call to all Christians is a call to faith and action. Faith without action is useless. Think about it this way. You are a strong Christian with a strong faith. You come across a homeless person. If you live by faith alone, you do not feel that you need to help that person in order to get into heaven. You may help him or her anyway, because you are a good person, but you don't feel the need to do so. In my opinion, if you don't need to help that person, you are less inclined to do so. Some Christian faiths even go so far as to say, "If that homeless person had more faith, he wouldn't be homeless. God would give him what he needed if he just had more faith." God provides all of us with everything we need. It is our responsibility to reach out and help those that are less fortunate that cannot, through no fault of their own, help themselves. It is through reaching out to and helping others that we strengthen our own faith. I have seen this in my own life. My faith is strengthened in my reaching out to help others in my ministry.

Faith and works is necessary in our adventure to salvation. Doing good works strengthens our faith and having strong faith strengthens our good works. I know, for myself, I need to get back to good, fruitful prayer so that I can strengthen my works.