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Apologetic Support groups loyal to the Holy Father and Church's
magisterium
1477 "This treasury includes as well the prayers and good works of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They are truly immense, unfathomable, and even pristine in their value before God. In the treasury, too, are the prayers and good works of all the saints, all those who have followed in the footsteps of Christ the Lord and by his grace have made their lives holy and carried out the mission the Father entrusted to them. In this way they attained their own salvation and at the same time cooperated in saving their brothers in the unity of the Mystical Body." (Indulgentiarum doctrina, Chapter 2, (21))
Duff
{
As the Catechism, paragraph 1477 says, did the saints attain their own salvation apart from Christ? }
John
replied:
Hi, Duff —
All salvation comes in and through
Jesus Christ; that includes the salvation of the Saints,
Mary, and the rest of us. All salvation
is a work of grace from beginning
to end which required our free will
cooperation
so depending on what you mean by attain the
answer could be yes or no.
if by the Spirit we put to death
the deeds of the flesh you will
live (meaning eternal life) (Romans
8:13)
So it is by the Spirit that all
Christians actively cooperate with
Christ's work in us.
In Philippians, Paul writes —
work out your salvation with fear
and trembling, for it is God at
work in you to work His good pleasure.
(Philippians
2:12)
The statement seems like a paradox,
and it is. It is a Mystery of faith.
God saves us, but we must allow Him
to; and it's not just a passive,
emotional, interior cooperation.
James tells us:
No one can save themselves through
their own works. Faith alone, without
obedience, cooperation, and submission
to the Lord, is not real faith; it's
simply intellectual assent.
Hence, we do play a role in our own
salvation and in the salvation of
others because by virtue of being
in the Body of Christ, the Spirit
of God works in and through us, if
we cooperate to save ourselves and
others.
This is all, in and through, Jesus
Christ — and that's the same
for everyone.
John
Eric
replied:
Duff —
Note that the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1477. says that this
was done by the grace of Christ {by
his grace}. They attained salvation,
and by own salvation we
are referring to their salvation
as opposed to someone else's salvation (because
this is in the context of a topic
that pertains to their relationship
to the lives of other people), not as if they, on their own, apart
from grace, merited their salvation.
Let's look at the definition of attain:
: REACH, GAIN, ACHIEVE, ACCOMPLISH <difficult
to attain a realistic effect>,
<attain repose>, <attain
his goal>
: to come into possession of:
OBTAIN <attain a kingdom>, <attain
preferment>
: to reach or come to by progression
or motion: arrive at <attain
the top of the hill>,
<attain a ripe old age>
Thus it does not necessarily imply
that the saints earned their
salvation apart from Christ,
it simply means that they reached,
possessed, obtained, or arrived at
salvation.
This word is used to refer to our
salvation in Philippians
3:11 and Romans
9:30 (YLT). St. Paul,
in 1
Corinthians 9:24 (YLT), even compares
salvation to a prize we work hard
to achieve. In that context, it even
makes sense to say we gain, achieve,
and accomplish our salvation.
I recommend you read the Catechism
section on
Merit, paragraphs 2006 — 2011,
especially the heading which says, for
in crowning [the saint's] merits,
you are crowning your own gifts.
You are glorified in the assembly of your Holy Ones, for in crowning their merits you are crowning your own gifts.
(Roman Missal, Prefatio I de sanctis; Qui in Sanctorum concilio celebraris, et eorum coronando merita tua dona coronas, citing the "Doctor of grace", St. Augustine, En. in Psalm 102,7:PL 37,1321-1322.)
2006 The term merit refers in general to the recompense owed by a community or a society for the action of one of its members, experienced either as beneficial or harmful, deserving reward or punishment. Merit is relative to the virtue of justice, in conformity with the principle of equality which governs it.
2007 With regard to God, there is no strict right to any merit on the part of man. Between God and us there is an immeasurable inequality, for we have received everything from him, our Creator.
2008 The merit of man before God in the Christian life arises from the fact that God has freely chosen to associate man with the work of his grace. The fatherly action of God is first on his own initiative, and then follows man's free acting through his collaboration, so that the merit of good works is to be attributed in the first place to the grace of God, then to the faithful. Man's merit, moreover, itself is due to God, for his good actions proceed in Christ, from the predispositions and assistance given by the Holy Spirit.
2009 Filial adoption, in making us partakers by grace in the divine nature, can bestow true merit on us as a result of God's gratuitous justice. This is our right by grace, the full right of love, making us co-heirs with Christ and worthy of obtaining the promised inheritance of eternal life.(Council of Trent (1547): DS 1546.) The merits of our good works are gifts of the divine goodness. (cf. Council of Trent (1547): DS 1548.)
"Grace has gone before us; now we are given what is due. . . . Our merits are God's gifts."
(St. Augustine, Sermo 298,4-5:PL 38,1367.)
2010 Since the initiative belongs to God in the order of grace, no one can merit the initial grace of forgiveness and justification, at the beginning of conversion. Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification, for the increase of grace and charity, and for the attainment of eternal life. Even temporal goods like health and friendship can be merited in accordance with God's wisdom. These graces and goods are the object of Christian prayer. Prayer attends to the grace we need for meritorious actions.
2011 The charity of Christ is the source in us of all our merits before God. Grace, by uniting us to Christ in active love, ensures the supernatural quality of our acts and consequently their merit before God and before men. The saints have always had a lively awareness that their merits were pure grace.
After earth's exile, I hope to go and enjoy you in the fatherland, but I do not want to lay up merits for heaven. I want to work for your love alone. . . . In the evening of this life, I shall appear before you with empty hands, for I do not ask you, Lord, to count my works. All our justice is blemished in your eyes. I wish, then, to be clothed in your own justice and to receive from your love the eternal possession of yourself.
(St. Thérèse of Lisieux, "Act of Offering" in Story of a Soul, tr. John Clarke (Washington DC: ICS, 1981), 277.)
Still, while salvation is pure give,
a total gift from God, there is a
cooperation involved in the process.
Salvation is properly our own because,
enabled by God's prior grace, we
will to accept it, and cooperate
with it, and ultimately are responsible
for not rejecting it.
Hence, we can say that salvation
is our own, as well as from God.
Eric
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