Who do YOU say that I am?

“And Jesus asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’” Mark 8:29

“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?” James 2:14

From Fr. Tim’s Bulletin Column:

“In contrasting ‘faith’ and ‘works’, and then noting how they are interrelated, St. James anticipated an issue that, centuries later, would figure in debates during the Reformation period. In a perspective that is not very nuanced, it is often said that the Protestant reformers stressed the primacy (or even the sole sufficiency) of ‘faith’ for salvation, while the Catholic response focused on ‘works’—the assistance offered by reliance on good works and external religious practices and devotions.

“For a Christian, it is ‘faith’ that should motivate ‘good works’, and ‘works’ that reveal a rootedness in ‘faith’. . . . It is a matter of both/and, not of either/or.”

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WORKING ON ROOTING OUR ACTIONS IN OUR GOD-CENTEREDNESS

Really, the only actions of ours that count for anything worthwhile are those that are rooted in our God-centeredness.  When was the last time you tried working on, i.e., letting God’s grace work on, your God-centeredness? When was the last time you even thought about the quality of your God-centeredness?

FAITH-MOTIVATED ‘GOOD WORKS’; WORKS THAT REVEAL FAITH

So the question we should be asking ourselves is: How much attention are we giving to our faith so that our “good works” are arising from our faith rather than being “unrooted” or being rooted in something other than faith?  If our actions are not rooted in our faith, they are unconnected to the actions of grace that others need from us and that also enable us to see our own spiritual need for God’s help with what ails us.  (We are all ailing!) As we ask ourselves questions like Jesus’ “Who do YOU say that I am?” and seek help through spiritual reading or from our spiritual guides, God’s grace seeps into the core of our being. Our faith becomes more rooted, our works bear more fruit and the fragrance of God’s grace emanates from them.

When we see someone suffering or in need, rather than giving them a superficial handout, we should do as Jesus did, step into the sufferer’s situation: “Not considering Himself equal with God, He came down and took the form of a human being.” (Philippians 2:6) In other words, can we “have the humility to step down into the suffering of someone, not to stand above the suffering and try to solve the problem.” (Literary and theological scholar Jessica Hooten Wilson) It is in allowing ourselves to step down into the suffering, to “die” a little (rather than hoping to “feel good” about what we did) that makes us comprehend Who Jesus is and what His existence as a human was for us and what it should mean to the way we, in turn, live our lives. Our dying for the sake of the “other” opens us to life in and with our ever-with-us God.

Jessica Hooten Wilson explains that we need a “willingness to receive that suffering” of another, but that this is “what most people are not willing to do.” She says, “When they’re trying to solve problems from a place of tenderness or compassion, they’re doing so from a pride in which they stand over the suffering problem and they’re not willing to take it on themselves. They just want to solve it which means eradicating it:  sending money, whatever they need to do to stand above it and solve it, and that’s not how our God responds to suffering.”

Do we have a tendency to do this?  How does this differ from what was done by our God-become-man, Jesus, who asks us to be His disciples, to do as He did?

THE ROAD TO DISCIPLESHIP

How do we do this? We help each other by entering into each others’ sufferings and joys as God did in stepping into our joys and sufferings. And in so doing, we see, we share in the beginning of our experience of heaven in the here and now.  We come to an ever clearer, more intelligent response to Jesus’ question, “Who do YOU say that I am?”
We are pilgrims on a journey.
We are brothers/sisters on the road.We are here to help each other
Walk the mile and bear the load.

I will hold the Christ-light for you
In the night time of your fear.
I will hold my hand out to you;
Speak the peace you long to hear.  Servant Song. Richard Gillard

Sister Loretta

Suggestion:  Listen to these on Youtube. (I listen in the car, while doing house and yard chores or enjoying some quiet time on the deck while remembering that God is here.)

Bishop Barron Presents Jessica Hooten Wilson: Conversations at the Crossroads

Servant Song, Richard Gillard

Will you let me be your servant.
Let me be as Christ to you.
Pray that I might have the grace
To let you be my servant, too.

We are pilgrims on a journey.
We are brothers on the road.
We are here to help each other
Walk the mile and bear the load.

I will hold the Christ-light for you
In the night time of your fear.
I will hold my hand out to you;
Speak the peace you long to hear.

I will weep when you are weeping.
When you laugh, I’ll laugh with you.
I will share your joy and sorrow
Till we’ve seen this journey through.

When we sing to God in heaven,
We shall find such harmony
Born of all we’ve known together
Of Christ’s love and agony.