WHETHER YOU ARE CATHOLIC OR NOT, you may have questions about the Catholic Faith. Perhaps you have heard challenges to the Catholic Church’s claim that it is the interpreter and guardian of the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Such challenges come from missionaries who go door-to-door and ask you, “Are you saved?”, from the peer pressure placed on you (by friends, coworkers and schoolmates, and even family members), pushing you to conform to the world’s changing morality, and from a secular culture that constantly insinuates that God does not exist.
You cannot answer these challenges unless you know with certainty the basic foundations of the Catholic Faith. This booklet presents you with those foundations.
In the Catholic Faith you will find answers to life’s most troubling questions: Why am I here? Who was my creator? What should I believe? How should I behave? All these questions can be answered to your satisfaction if you entrust yourself to God’s grace, return to the Church He established, and follow the plan He has for you. (Jn 7:17 ).
AN UNBROKEN HISTORY
Jesus said that his Church would be “the light of the world.” He observed that “a city set on a hill cannot be hidden” (Mt 5:14). This means that his Church is a visible organization. It must have characteristics that clearly identify it and distinguish it from other churches. Jesus promised: “… upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Mt 16:18). This means that the Church will never be destroyed and will never break away from Him. His Church will survive until He returns.
The Catholic Church is the only Christian and universal church that has existed since the time of Jesus. All other Christian churches are derived from the Catholic Church. The Eastern Orthodox churches broke unity with the pope in the year 1054. Protestant communities were established during the Reformation, which began in 1517. (Most Protestant communities today are actually derived from the original Protestant derivatives).
Only the Catholic Church existed in the tenth century, in the fifth century, and in the first century (I), faithfully teaching the doctrines Christ handed on to the apostles, omitting nothing. The Popes can be traced, in unbroken succession, back to Saint Peter himself. This is a fact unmatched by any institution in all history.
Even the oldest government is new compared with the papacy, and the churches that send door-to-door missionaries are young compared with the Catholic Church. Many of these churches were founded as recently as the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Some of them began during your lifetime. None of them can claim to be the Church Jesus founded.
The Catholic Church has existed for almost two thousand years, despite the constant opposition of the world. This bears witness to the divine origin of the Church. It must be more than a merely human organization, especially when one considers that its human members—and even some of its leaders—have been imprudent, corrupt, or prone to heresy.
Any merely human organization with that kind of membership would soon have failed. The Catholic Church today is the most vigorous church in the world (and the largest, with one billion members, one sixth of humanity), and this bears witness, not to the ingenuity of the Church’s leaders, but to the protection of the Holy Spirit.
THE FOUR CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TRUE CHURCH
If we wish to find the Church founded by Jesus, we must identify the one that has the four marks or principal qualities of his Church. The Church we are looking for must be one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.
The Church is one
(Ro 12:15, 1 Co 10:17, 12:13, CIC* 813-822) *Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Jesus established one Church, not a collection of churches that differ from one another (Lutheran, Baptist, Anglican, etc.). The Bible states that the Church is the bride of Christ (Eph 5:23-32). Jesus cannot have more than one bride, and his bride is the Catholic Church.
His Church also teaches one single body of doctrines, which must be the same as those taught by the apostles (Jude 3). This is the unity of belief to which the Scriptures call us (Phil 1:27, 2:2).
Although some Catholics dissent from officially taught doctrines, the official teachers of the Church—the pope and the bishops in union with Him—have never changed a doctrine. Through the centuries, as doctrines are examined in greater detail, the Church comes to understand them more deeply (Jn 16:12-16), but it never comes to interpret them in a way opposite to the original.
The Church is holy
(Eph 5:25-27, Rev 19:7-8, CIC 823-829)
Through his grace Jesus makes his Church holy, just as He is holy. This does not mean that every member of the Church is always holy. Jesus said there would be both good and bad members in the Church (Jn 6:70), and that not all members would go to heaven (Mt 25: 31–46).
But the Church itself is holy because it is the source of holiness and the guardian of the special means of grace established by Jesus, the sacraments (Eph 5:26)
The Church is catholic
(Mt 28:19-20, Rev 5:9-10, CIC 830-856)
Jesus’ Church is called catholic (“universal” in Greek) because it is his gift to all people. He instructed his apostles to scatter throughout the world and make disciples “of all nations” (Mt 28:19-20).
For 2,000 years, the Catholic Church has carried out this mission, preaching the good news that Christ died for all men and that He desires all of us to be members of his universal family (Gal 3:28).
Today the Catholic Church is found in every part of the world and still sends missionaries to “make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19).
The Church Jesus established was known by its most common name, “the Catholic Church,” from the beginning, at least from the year 107, when Ignatius of Antioch used that title to describe the one Church Jesus founded. The title was apparently already ancient in Ignatius’s time, which means that it probably comes from the time of the apostles.
The Church is apostolic
(Eph 2:19-20, CIC 857-865)
The Church that Jesus Christ founded is apostolic because He appointed the apostles as the first leaders of the Church, and their successors would be the future leaders. The apostles were the first bishops and, since the first century, there has been an unbroken line of Catholic bishops faithfully transmitting what the apostles taught the first Christians in Scripture and in oral Tradition (Tm 2:2).
These beliefs include the bodily Resurrection of Jesus, the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, the sacrificial nature of the Mass, the forgiveness of sins through a priest, baptismal regeneration, the existence of purgatory, Mary’s special role, and much more—including the doctrine of apostolic succession itself.
The earliest Christian writings confirm that the first Christians were completely
Catholic in their beliefs and practice, and that they considered the successors of the apostles their leaders. What those first Christians believed, the Catholic Church still believes today. There is no other church that can make this claim.
Pillar of Fire, pillar of truth
This is not due to human ingenuity. The Church has remained one, holy, catholic, and apostolic not through human effort, but because God preserves the Church He founded (Mt 16:18; 28:20). He guided the Israelites during their flight from Egypt by means of a pillar of fire to light their steps through the dark desert (Ex 13:21). Today He guides us through his Catholic Church.
The Bible, Sacred Tradition, and the writings of the first Christians bear witness that the Church teaches with the authority of Jesus. In this age, when there are countless competing religions, each clamoring for attention, one voice rises above the din: the Catholic Church, which the Bible calls “the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Tm 3:15).
Jesus assured the apostles and their successors, the popes and the bishops: “Whoever listens to you listens to me; and whoever rejects you rejects me” (Lk 10:16). Jesus promised to guide his Church into all truth (Jn 16:12-13). He keeps his promises. We can be completely certain that his Church teaches the truth of Christ.
THE STRUCTURE OF THE CHURCH
Jesus chose the apostles as leaders of the Church. He gave them his own authority to teach and govern, not as dictators, but as loving shepherds and fathers. That is why Catholics call their spiritual leader “father.” In doing so we follow Paul’s example: “in Christ Jesus I begot you through the gospel” (1 Co 4:15).
The apostles, in fulfillment of Jesus’ will, ordained bishops, priests, and deacons, and transmitted to them their apostolic ministry—the highest level of ordination to the bishops, lesser levels to the priests and deacons.
The pope and the bishops
(CIC 880-883)
Jesus Christ gave Peter a special authority among the apostles (Jn 21:15-17) and indicated it by changing his name from Simon to Peter, which means “rock” (Jn 1:42). He said that Peter would be the rock upon which He would build his Church (Mt16:18)
In Aramaic, the language Jesus Christ spoke, Simon’s new name was Kepha (which means “solid rock”). Later this name was translated into Greek as Petras (Jn 1:42) and into Spanish as Pedro. Christ gave only Peter the “keys of the Kingdom of Heaven” (Mt 16:19) and promised that Peter’s decisions would have authority in heaven. He also gave similar authority to the other apostles (Mt 18:18), but only Peter received the keys, symbols of his authority to govern the Church on earth in Jesus’ absence.
Christ, the Good Shepherd, appointed Peter as the chief shepherd of his Church (Jn 21:15-17). He entrusted Peter with the task of strengthening the other apostles in the Faith, ensuring that the Faith of the Church would never be in a state of error (Lk 22:31-32). Peter guided the Church in the proclamation of the gospel and in making its decisions (Acts 2:1-41; 15:7-12).
The writings of the first Christians tell us that Peter’s successors, the bishops of Rome (who from the earliest times have enjoyed the affectionate title of “pope,” meaning “papa”), continued to exercise Peter’s ministry in the Church. The pope is Peter’s successor as bishop of Rome. The other bishops of the world are successors of the apostles in general.
THE WAY GOD SPEAKS TO US
God speaks to his Church through the Bible and Sacred Tradition. To ensure that we understand Him, He guides the Church’s teaching authority—the magisterium—so that it always interprets the Bible and Tradition accurately. This is the gift of infallibility. Like the three legs of a stool, the Bible, Tradition, and the magisterium are all indispensable for the stability of the Church and for guaranteeing sound doctrine.
Sacred Tradition
(CIC 75-83)
Sacred Tradition must not be confused with merely human traditions, which are often called customs or disciplines. On occasion Jesus Christ condemned certain customs or disciplines, but only if they were contrary to God’s commands (Mk 7:8). He never condemned Sacred Tradition, nor did He condemn all human tradition.
Sacred Tradition and the Bible are not different or rival revelations. They are two means by which the Church transmits the gospel. Apostolic teachings, such as the Trinity, infant baptism, the infallibility of the Bible, purgatory, and Mary’s perpetual virginity, have been taught more clearly through Tradition, although they appear implicitly in (and not contrary to) the Bible. The Bible itself tells us to hold fast to the
Tradition whether it comes to us in written or oral form (2 Thes 2:15; 1 Co 11:2)
Sacred Tradition must not be confused with customs and disciplines, such as the rosary, priestly celibacy, and not eating meat on Fridays of Lent. These are very good and beneficial customs, but they are not doctrines. Sacred Tradition preserves the doctrines first taught orally by Jesus to the apostles, and later transmitted to us through the Church, under the guidance of the successors of the apostles, the pope and the bishops.
The Scriptures
(CIC 101-141)
The Scriptures, by which we mean the Old and New Testaments, were inspired by God (2 Tm 3:16). The Holy Spirit guided the biblical authors to write what He wanted them to write. “The inspired books teach the truth. ‘Since therefore all that the inspired authors or sacred writers affirm should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the sacred Scriptures’” [Concilio Vaticano 11, Dei Verbum 21](CIC 107).
Some Christians say “the Bible is all I need,” but this notion is not taught by the Bible itself. In fact, the Bible teaches the opposite (2 P 1:20-21; 3:15-16). In the early times of the Church no one believed in the theory of “the Bible alone.”
This theory is new, having arisen only since the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s. This theory is a “tradition of men” that invalidates the Word of God, distorts the true role of the Bible, and undermines the authority of the Church Jesus established (Mk 7,1-8).
Although it enjoys popularity among many communities of “Bible Christians,” the “Bible alone” theory does not work. Historical evidence refutes it. Each year we see greater separation among “Bible-believing” religions. Today there are thousands of denominations competing with one another, each insisting that its interpretation of the Bible is correct. The resulting divisions have caused incalculable confusion among millions of sincere but misguided Christians.
Simply open the Yellow Pages of your telephone directory and observe the large number of different religious denominations listed there, each claiming to follow “the Bible alone”; but no two agree as to what exactly the Bible means.
One thing we know with certainty: the Holy Spirit cannot be the author of this confusion (1 Co 14:33). God cannot lead people to contradictory beliefs because his truth is one. The conclusion? The theory of “the Bible alone” must be false.
The magisterium
(CIC 85-87, 888-892)
Together, the pope and the bishops form the Church’s teaching authority, which is called the magisterium (from the Latin “teacher”). The magisterium, guided and protected from every error by the Holy Spirit, provides us with certainty in matters of doctrine. The Church is the guardian of the Bible that faithfully and accurately proclaims its message, a task that has been endowed with God’s power so that it may be fulfilled.
Keep in mind that the Church came before the New Testament, and not the New Testament before the Church. Divinely inspired members wrote the New Testament, just as divinely inspired writers wrote the Old Testament, and the Church is guided by the Holy Spirit to be guardian and interpreter of the whole Bible, both the Old and the New Testament.
Such an official interpreter is absolutely necessary if we are to interpret the Bible properly. (All of us know what The Constitution means, but we need the Supreme Court to interpret its meaning).
The magisterium is infallible when it teaches officially, because Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to guide the apostles and successors “into all truth” (Jn 16:12-13).
HOW GOD DISTRIBUTES HIS GIFTS
Jesus promised that He would not leave us orphans (Jn14:18), but would send the Holy Spirit to guide and protect us. He gave us the sacraments to heal, nourish, and strengthen us. The seven sacraments—baptism, the Eucharist, penance (also called reconciliation or confession), confirmation, holy orders, matrimony, and the anointing of the sick—are not merely symbols. They are symbols that actually transmit the grace and love of God.
The sacraments are foreshadowed in the Old Testament by things that did not really communicate grace, but simply symbolized it (circumcision, for example, prefigured baptism, and the Passover supper prefigured the Eucharist). When Christ came, He did not abolish the symbols of God’s grace. He supernaturalized them, activating them with grace. He transformed them into something more than symbols. God constantly uses material things to show his love and power.
After all, matter is not evil. When God created the physical universe, everything He created was “very good” (Gn 1:31). He takes such delight in matter that He even dignified it through his own Incarnation (Jn 1:14).
During his ministry on earth Jesus healed, fed, and strengthened people through humble elements such as mud, water, bread, oil, and wine. He could have performed his miracles directly, but He preferred to make use of material things to grant his grace.
In his first public miracle, Jesus changed water into wine at the request of his mother, the Virgin Mary (Jn 2:1-11). He healed a blind man by applying mud to his eyes (Jn 9:1-7). He multiplied a little bread and fish, feeding thousands of people (Jn 6:513). He transformed bread and wine into his own Body and Blood (Mt 26:26-28). Through the sacraments He continues to heal, feed, and strengthen us.
Baptism
(CIC 1213-1284)
Because of original sin, we are born without grace in our souls, and therefore we have no means of enjoying communion with God. Jesus became man to bring us into this union with his Father. He said that no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is first born “of water and the Spirit” (Jn 3:5)—this refers to baptism.
Through baptism we are reborn, but this time on a spiritual level instead of a physical one. We are washed in the bath of regeneration (Ti 3:5). We were baptized into Christ’s death and therefore share in his Resurrection (Ro 6:3-7). Baptism wipes away our sin and brings the Holy Spirit and his grace into our souls (Acts 2:38, 22:16, 1 P 3:21). And the apostle Peter is perhaps the frankest of all: “Baptism . . . now saves us” (1 P 3:21). Baptism is the door into the Church.
Penance
(CIC 1422-1498)
At times on our journey toward the heavenly promised land we stumble and fall into sin. God is always ready to lift us up and restore us to grace-filled communion with Him. He accomplishes this through the sacrament of penance, which is also known as confession or reconciliation.
Jesus gave his apostles the power and authority necessary to reconcile us with the Father. They received Jesus’ own power to forgive sins when He breathed on them and said: “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them; whose sins you retain are retained” (Jn 20:22-23).
Saint Paul notes that “all this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. . . So we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us” ( 2 Co, 5: 18-20 ). Through confession to a priest, God’s minister, our sins are forgiven and we receive the grace that helps us resist future temptations.
The Eucharist
(CIC 1322-1419)
Once we have become members of Christ’s family, He does not allow us to go hungry, but feeds us with his own Body and Blood through the Eucharist. In the Old Testament, as they were preparing to set out on the journey through the desert, God commanded his people to sacrifice a lamb and sprinkle its blood on their doorposts, so that the Angel of Death would pass over their houses. Then they ate the lamb to seal their covenant with God.
This lamb prefigured Jesus. He is the true “Lamb of God” who takes away the sins of the world (Jn 1:29). Through Jesus we enter into a New Covenant with God, (Le 22:20) who protects us from eternal death. The people of God in the Old Testament ate the Passover lamb. Now, we must eat the Lamb who is the Eucharist. Jesus said: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (Jn 6:53).
At the Last Supper, Jesus took the bread and the wine and said: “Take; this is my body … and this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many” (Me 14:22-24). Thus Jesus instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist, the sacrificial meal that Catholics consume at every Mass.
The Catholic Church teaches that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross occurred “once and for all”; it cannot be repeated (Heb 9:26-28). Christ does not “die again” during the Mass, but the same sacrifice that occurred on Calvary is made present on the altar. That is why the Mass is not “another” sacrifice, but rather a participation in the very sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, accomplished “once and for all.”
Paul reminds us that the bread and wine really become, through a miracle of God’s grace, the Body and Blood of Jesus: “Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Co 11:27-29). After the consecration of the bread and wine, no bread or wine remains on the altar. Only Jesus himself remains, under the appearances of bread and wine.
Confirmation
(CIC 1285-1321)
God strengthens our spirits in another way, through the sacrament of Confirmation. Although Jesus’ disciples had received grace before the Resurrection, on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came to strengthen them with new graces for the difficult task that lay ahead.
They went out to preach the Gospel without any fear and carried out the mission Jesus Christ had assigned to them. Later, they laid hands on others to strengthen them in the same way (Acts 8:14-17; 9:17). Through confirmation you too are strengthened to face the spiritual challenges of your life.
Matrimony
(CIC 1601-1666)
Most people have been called to the married life. Through the sacrament of matrimony God grants special graces that help married couples amid daily difficulties, in particular to help them raise their children as loving disciples of Christ.
Matrimony is composed of three parts: the bride, the groom, and God. When two Christians receive the sacrament of matrimony, God is with them, witnessing and blessing their marriage covenant. “The priest (or deacon) who assists at the celebration of a marriage receives the consent of the spouses in the name of the Church and gives the blessing of the Church. The presence of the Church’s minister (and also of the witnesses) visibly expresses the fact that marriage is an ecclesial reality” (CIC 1630).
A sacramental marriage is permanent; only death can break it (Mk 10:1-12, Ro. 7:2-3, 1 Co 7:10-11). This sacred union is a living symbol of the relationship between Christ and the Church (Eph 5:21-33).
Holy orders
(CIC 1536-1600)
Others have been called to share in a special way in the priesthood of Christ. In the Old Covenant, even though Israel was a kingdom of priests (Ex 19:6), the Lord called certain men to a special priestly ministry (Ex 19:22). In the New Covenant, even though Christians are a kingdom of priests (1 P 2:9), Jesus calls certain men to a special priestly ministry (Ro 15:15-16). This sacrament is called holy orders.
Through it, priests are ordained and given authority to serve the Church (2 Tm:17) as shepherds, teachers, and spiritual fathers who heal, feed, and strengthen the people of God, chiefly through preaching and the administration of the sacraments.
The anointing of the sick
(CIC 1499-1532)
Priests care for us when we are physically ill. They do this through the sacrament known as the anointing of the sick. The Bible instructs us: “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of Faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven” (Jas 5:14-15). The anointing of the sick not only helps us suffer illness, but cleanses our souls and prepares us to meet God .
SPEAKING WITH GOD AND WITH HIS SAINTS
One of the most important activities for a Catholic is prayer. Without it there can be no truly spiritual life. Through personal prayer and the communal prayer of the Church, especially the Mass, we worship and praise God, express repentance for our sins, and intercede for others (1 Tm 2:1-4). Through prayer, we grow in our relationship with Christ and with other members of God’s family (CIC 2663-2696).
This family includes all the members of the Church, whether on earth, in heaven, or in purgatory. Since Jesus has only one body, and since death cannot separate us from Christ (Ro 8:38), Christians who are in heaven or who, before entering heaven, are purified in purgatory through the love of God (1 Co 3:12-15), still form part of the Body of Christ.(CIC 962)
Jesus said that the second most important commandment is “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt 22:39). Those in heaven love us more intensely than they could have loved us on earth. They pray for us unceasingly (Rev 5:8), and their prayers are powerful (Jas 5:16, CIC 956, 2683, 2692).
Our prayers to the saints in heaven, in which we ask them to pray for us, and their intercession with the Father do not undermine Christ’s role as the one mediator (1 Tm 2:5). By asking the saints to pray for us we follow Saint Paul’s instructions: “I urge that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be made for all men” “for this is good and pleasing before God our Savior” (1 Tm 2:1,3).
All the members of the Body of Christ are called to help one another through prayer (CIC 2647) Mary’s prayers for us are especially effective because of her relationship with her Son (Jn 2:1-11).
God gave Mary a special role (CIC 490-511, 963-975). He saved her from all sin (Lk 1:28,47), made her uniquely blessed among all women (Lk 1:42), and made her a model for every Christian (Le 1:48). At the end of her life, He took her, body and soul, into heaven—an image of our resurrection at the end of the world (Rev 12:1-2).
AND WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF LIFE?
Old catechisms used to ask: “Why were we created?” The answer was: “To know, love, and serve God in this life, and afterward to see and enjoy Him forever in the next.” Here, in barely nineteen words, we have the whole reason for our existence. Jesus answered the question even more briefly: “I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (Jn 10:10).
The plan God has for you is simple. Your loving Father desires to give you every good thing—and in particular—eternal life. Jesus died on the cross to save us all from sin and from the eternal separation from God that sin causes (CIC599-634). When He saves us, He makes us part of his Body, which is the Church (1 Co 12:27-30). Thus we are united to Him and to all Christians wherever they may be (on earth, in heaven, and in purgatory).
What you must do for your salvation
Best of all, the promise of eternal life is a gift, which God offers us freely (CIC 1727). Our initial forgiveness and our justification are not things we “earn” (CIC 2010). Jesus is the mediator who fills the gap of sin that separates us from God (1 Tm 2:5); He filled it by dying for us. He has chosen to make us his collaborators in the plan of salvation (1 Co 3:9).
The Catholic Church teaches what the apostles taught and what the Bible teaches: we are saved only by grace and not by Faith alone (as “Bible Christians” teach; see James 2:24).
When we come to God for the first time and are justified (that is, when we enter into a proper relationship with God), nothing that precedes justification, whether Faith or good works, earns grace for us. It is later, when God pours his love into our hearts, that we must live our Faith through works of love (Gal 6:2).
Although only God’s grace enables us to love others, these works of love please Him, and He promises to reward them with eternal life (Ro 2:6-7; Ga 6:6-10). Therefore, good works are meritorious. When we first approach God in Faith, we have empty hands, with nothing to offer Him. But then He grants us the grace with which to obey his commandments in love, and He rewards us with salvation when we offer these works of love back to Him (Ro 2:6-11, Gal 6:6-10, Mt 25:34-40).
Jesus said that it is not enough to have Faith in Him; we must also obey his commandments. “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I say?” (Le 6:46, Mt 7:21-23, 19:16-21).
We do not “earn” our salvation through good works (Eph 2:8-9; Ro 9:16), but our Faith in Christ places us in a special relationship of grace with God, so that our obedience and love, combined with our Faith, may be rewarded with eternal life (Ro. 2:7, Gal 6:8-9).
Paul said: “For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure” (Phil 2:13). John explained that “And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says, ‘I have come to know him,’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in Him;” (1 Jn 2:3-4, 3:19-24, 5:3-4).
Since no gift can be forced on the recipient—gifts can always be rejected—even after we have been justified we can throw away the gift of salvation. We throw it away through grave (mortal) sin (1 Jn 15:5-6 Ro 11:22-23, 1 Co 15:12; CIC 1854-1864). Saint Paul tells us: “For the wages of sin is death” (Ro 6:23).
Read his letters and see how often Paul warned Christians against sin! He would not have felt obliged to do so if their sins could not have excluded them from heaven (see, for example, 1 Co. 6:9-10, Gal 5:19-21).
Paul reminded the Christians of Rome that God “will repay each one according to his works: eternal life to those who by perseverance in doing good seek glory and honor and immortality, but wrath and anger to those who are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey injustice.” (Ro 2:6-8).
Sins are nothing other than evil works (CIC 1849-1850). We can avoid sinning through the habitual practice of good works. Every saint has known that the best way to remain free from sin is to adopt regular prayer, the sacraments (especially the Eucharist), and works of charity.
Is heaven guaranteed to you?
Some promote an especially attractive idea: every true Christian, regardless of the way he lives, has an absolute guarantee of salvation once he accepts Jesus into his heart as “his personal Lord and Savior.” The problem is that this belief is contrary to the Bible and to constant Christian teaching.
Remember what Paul told the Christians of his time: If we have died with Him (in baptism; see Ro 6:3-4) we will also live with Him; if we remain steadfast, we will also reign with Him (2 Trn 2:11-12).
If we do not persevere, we will not reign with Him. In other words, Christians can lose their right to heaven (CIC 1861-1864).
The Bible makes clear that Christians have a moral assurance of salvation (God will remain faithful to his word and will grant salvation to those who have Faith in Christ and are obedient to Him [1 Jn 4:19-24]), but the Bible does not teach that Christians have a guarantee of heaven. There can be no absolute guarantee of salvation.
Writing to Christians, Paul said: “Consider, then, the kindness and severity of God; severity toward those who fell, but kindness toward you, if you remain in that kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off.” (Ro 11:22, Mt 18:2135,1 Co 15:1-2, 2 P 2:20-21).
Notice that Paul includes an important condition: “if you remain in that kindness.” He is saying that Christians can lose their salvation by throwing it away. He warns: “Therefore let anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Co 10:12).
If you are Catholic and someone asks you whether you are “saved,” you should answer: “I have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, I trust in Him alone for my salvation and, as the Bible teaches, ‘work out your salvation with fear and trembling’ (Phil 2:12), knowing that it is the gift of God’s grace that works in me.”
THE WAVE OF THE FUTURE
All the alternatives to Catholicism are proving to be failures: the worn-out secularism that
surrounds us everywhere and no longer satisfies anyone, the strange cults and movements that offer a temporary community but not a permanent home, and even the other incomplete Christian religions.
As our weary world grows more and more desperate, people are returning to
the one alternative never considered before: the Catholic Church. They are finding the truth in the place where they least expected to find it.
Never popular, always attractive
How can this be? Why are so many people considering the Catholic Church for the first time? Something is drawing them to it. That something is truth.
This we know: People are not considering the Church’s claims because of a desire to win public favor. Catholicism, at least today, is never popular. One does not win popularity contests by being a faithful Catholic.
Our decadent world rewards the clever, not the good. If a Catholic is praised, it is because of the worldly talents he possesses and not because of his Christian virtues.
Although people try to avoid the difficult doctrinal and moral truths that the Catholic Church offers them (because difficult truths require them to change their lives), people are nevertheless drawn to the Church.
When they listen to the pope and the bishops in union with Him, they hear words that sound like truth—even when they find it difficult to live according to that truth.
When they contemplate the history of the Catholic Church and the life of its saints, they realize that there must be something special, perhaps something supernatural, in an institution that can produce holy people such as Saint Augustine, Saint Thomas Aquinas, and Mother Teresa.
When they leave the bustling street behind to enter the aisles of an apparently empty Catholic church, they sense, not a complete emptiness, but a presence. They sense that Someone resides there, waiting to console them.
They realize that the constant opposition the Catholic Church faces—whether from unbelievers or from “Bible Christians,” or even from people who insist on calling themselves Catholic—is a sign of the Church’s divine origin (Jn 15:18-21).
And they come to suspect that the Catholic Church, above all, is the wave of the future.
Incomplete Christianity is not enough
In recent decades many Catholics have left the Church, many withdrawing completely from all religion, many others joining other churches. But the traffic has not been in one direction only.
The traffic toward Rome has grown rapidly. Today we are seeing more than one hundred fifty thousand converts entering the Catholic religion each year in the United States, and in other places such as the continent of Africa, there are more than one million converts each year.
People with no religion, inactive Catholics, and members of other Christian churches are “finding their home in Rome.”
They are attracted to the Church for various reasons, but the main reason they convert is the main reason why you must remain Catholic: the solid truth of the Catholic Faith.
Our separated brethren have many Christian truths, but not all of them. We can compare their religions to a stained-glass window in which some original panes have been lost and replaced with opaque glass: something that was there at the beginning has now been lost, and something that does not fit has been inserted to fill the empty space. The unity of the original window has been spoiled.
When, centuries ago, they separated from the Catholic Church, the theologian ancestors of these Christians removed some authentic beliefs and added some new ones of their own invention. The forms of Christianity they established truly constitute an incomplete Christianity. Only the Catholic Church was founded by Jesus and only she has been able to preserve the whole Christian truth without error—and a great number of people are realizing it.
YOUR DUTIES AS A CATHOLIC
Your duties as a Catholic, regardless of your age, are three:
Know your Catholic Faith. One cannot live one’s Faith if one does not know it, and you cannot share with others what you have not first made your own (CIC 429). Learning about your Catholic Faith requires effort, but the effort is worth it because this study is, literally, infinitely rewarding.
Live your Catholic Faith. Your Catholic Faith is a public matter. It is not designed to be left behind when you leave the house (CIC 2472). Moreover, you must be warned: being a public Catholic involves risk and loss. You will find that some doors close to you. You will lose some friends. You will be considered an outsider. But, as consolation, remember the words of our Lord to the persecuted: “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven” (Mt 5:12).
Spread your Catholic Faith. Jesus Christ wants us to bring the whole world into the captivity of truth, and the truth is Jesus himself, who is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (Jn 14:6). Spreading the Faith is a duty not only of bishops, priests, and religious—it is the duty of every Catholic (CIC 905).
Shortly before his Ascension, our Lord instructed his apostles: “Therefore go, and make disciples in all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you” (Mt 28:19-20).
If we wish to obey everything Jesus commanded us, if we wish to believe everything He taught us, then we must follow Him through his Church. This is our great challenge and our great privilege.
Source: Catholic Answers
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© 1997 Catholic Answers. Reproduction of this booklet in any form is prohibited without written permission from Catholic Answers.
Published on ApologeticaCatolica.org with express written permission from Catholic Answers in collaboration with José Rivera-Santander and Alfredo Bayon Landa.
Catholic Answers (Respuestas Católicas) is the largest apologetics organization in North America, formed by lay people devoting our full-time efforts to promoting the Catholic religion through books, booklets, recorded tapes, a monthly magazine, parish seminars, radio and television appearances, and other means of dissemination such as YouTube..
Nihil Obstat:
I conclude that this text is free of doctrinal or moral errors.
Bernadeane Carr
Censor Librorum
July 30, 1997
Imprimatur:
According to canon 827 §3 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, permission to publish this work is granted by:
XRobert H. Brom
Bishop of San Diego
August 6, 1997
