Born Again Catholic-Saint in training

Col 3:1-11, Nm 21:4b-9, Phil 2:6-11, Jn 3:13-17

The last couple days of our Mass readings have been robust with the plan of salvation.  As Catholics, we get hit with that question A LOT by our Protestant brothers and sister.  Are you saved?  Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus?  Have you been born again?  This isn’t language we use, and I can imagine cradle Catholics being outright flummoxed by the questions-which makes the asker all the more vehement in the need to press on with their questioning.  As a convert though, I’ve been exposed to, and have lived, in both sides of these questions.  Here I hope to bridge the gap a little, so that when asked you can reply in the same love the questions are asked, without misunderstanding.  I want to explore the similarity and the difference between our thinking so we can bridge the gap of understanding. 

Getting saved-The conversion experience:

In the many of the Protestant churches salvation is a moment of conversion, where we make the choice to follow Jesus, we repent of our sins, now saved by grace, and we walk in newness of life.  We have a similar understanding even if we don’t call it “getting saved”.  Our history is resplendent with such moments though. St. Xavier started off going to university to become a priest so he could have an easy living, while he was there he was the medieval version of a frat boy, until St. Ignatius befriended him, he went through the Ignatius’s spiritual exercises (The exercises), after which he resolved to truly walk with Christ in obedience.  The result was that he shunned the potential of his cushy post back in his hometown, followed St. Ignatius to Rome where they founded what would become the Jesuits.  That resulted in him being sent to Asia where he baptized thousands.  Interestingly, Ignatius himself had such a conversion moment after he was wounded in a war.  So, what they are asking you (whether they realize it or not) is have you stopped being a Catholic in name only and made the choice to be obedient to God through Jesus.  Have you made the commitment to be a Saint in training? 

The difference between their understanding and ours is small but integral.  They see it as a single commitment which earns/grants salvation.  We tend to see it as the first commitment, that we must renew evermore after. In other words, we must constantly seek, repent, and focus on Him to remain in a state of obedience, which allows us many graces including what we ultimately hope for which is Heaven itself.   That is a personal relationship with Jesus.  That is making him Lord and Savior of your life. 

In our reading in Numbers today, we begin to see this plan of salvation foreshadowed in the Jewish wilderness experience.  Poisoned by the snake, they were dying.  It’s not too farfetched to realize that we were, in Genesis, poisoned by the snake which brought death into the world.  God commanded Moses to make a bronze saraph and mount it on a pole so that all who gazed on it would be healed.  It’s a picture of that which was killing them being killed so that it would bring healing upon them.  Sound familiar?  In our crucifix, we have the picture of a similar understanding. Jesus took on our sins, and if we look to Him, we are healed.  (Phil 2:6-11 John 3: 13-17) 

In yesterday’s first reading we have a picture of what that obedience must look like: Brothers and sisters:

If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above,

where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ your life appears,

then you too will appear with him in glory.

Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly:

immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire,

and the greed that is idolatry.

Because of these the wrath of God is coming upon the disobedient.

By these you too once conducted yourselves, when you lived in that way.

But now you must put them all away:

anger, fury, malice, slander,

and obscene language out of your mouths.

Stop lying to one another,

since you have taken off the old self with its practices

and have put on the new self,

which is being renewed, for knowledge,

in the image of its creator.

Here there is not Greek and Jew,

circumcision and uncircumcision,

barbarian, Scythian, slave, free;

but Christ is all and in all.

Colossians reminds us that this mystical birth and resurrection we obtain when we follow Jesus demands some things of us.  We can come to the cross just as we are, because we can’t get more holy and THEN become obedient.  We must become obedient and that makes us more holy!  That my brothers and sisters is the daily choice to be the saint in training we are meant to be.  Are we saved by these works? No.  We are saved by grace, but this grace is something we must always be mindful to submit ourselves too.  Look to the Holy Cross and don’t turn away.

Just some food for thought and prayer.

Heavenly Father, I ask for the strength and grace that will allow me, every day, to keep my eyes focused on the salvation you have given through Jesus, your son.  I humbly submit myself to you and whatever path you lay that brings me closer to you.  In Jesus name, AMEN!

Here I am, Lord, send me,

Lisa  L. Brandel