Faith AND Works

“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith

but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? 

So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. NRSV

Epistle of St. James 2 Cited in excerpts by Tolstoy Calendar of Wisdom

Copied out in a modern translation 

Maybe because Martin Luther despised it, the Epistle of James has always been one of my favorite pieces of Biblical wisdom and ethical/social advice. I was oblivious to that fact until my seminary education so vividly pointed it out, and it was instrumental in my choice to not become a Protestant!

IF I had to accept the Lutheran teaching of “Sola Fideles” as I had already established in my life and that was reinforced in my Catholic childhood, that acts of mercy were essential to your faith: That caring for others, offering charity, and giving your time and especially plenty of food, were acts of kindness and love.

Most likely, however, my affection for this passage did not anchor itself in the best parts of my Catholic youth, during the turbulent 1960’s until it was bravely spoken from the priestly pulpit! I was exposed to the sermons of a fiery young priest who spoke of Caesar Chavez and lettuce and grapes, and I read with almost heroic eyes what the Berrigan brothers were doing to protest the insidious fiasco that was the expanding war in Vietnam. (Of course, the young firebrand priest was transferred quickly, so he would not continue to upset the polite and sedate church members or close their wallets!)

Almost as lame or as ineffective as our access to teachings and contemplative practices for our spiritual deepening or soulful advancement , the call to social and personal reform where the needs of the neighbor as held in equanimity to your own are often missing, if not totally absent! Most often, it is an extra collection of cash, then sent to the bishop to be used at his discretion… Rarely is it used directly with members’ involvement to fund a local playground, a food basket service, or to sponsor a health clinic etc…

Now I am sure that when reading this, some people will protest saying my church does this..and that… and you would be right! My open question is how sincerely applied are the understanding of the “corporal works of mercy” taught and modeled as foundational to your Christian identity?