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questions
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What's
needed for salvation
besides God's grace?
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| "What
good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone
says he has faith but does not have works? Can that
faith save him?" (James
2:14) |
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Answer:
"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.
"... See how a person is justified
by works and not by faith alone.... For
just as a body without a spirit is dead,
so also faith without works is dead."
(James
2:15-17,24,26 )
See
the reference in a new window.
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From
the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph
1821:
Aren't
we saved by grace alone???
We
can therefore hope in the glory of heaven promised
by God to those who love him and do his will.
(Cf. Rom 8:28-30;
Matt 7:21)
In every circumstance, each one of us should hope,
with the grace of God, to persevere 'to the end'
(Matt 10:22)
and to obtain the joy of heaven, as God's eternal
reward for the good works accomplished with the
grace of Christ. In hope, the Church prays
for 'all to be saved.' (1 Tim 2:4)
She longs to be united with Christ, her Bridegroom,
in the glory of heaven:
Hope,
O my soul, hope.
You know neither the day nor the hour.
Watch carefully, for everything passes quickly,
even though your impatience makes doubtful what
is certain,
and turns a very short time into a long one.
Dream that the more you struggle,
the more you prove the love that you bear your
God,
and the more you will rejoice one day with your
Beloved,
in a happiness and rapture that can never end.
(St. Teresa of Avila)
Can
we be saved by good works alone?
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