We have been hearing readings from the letter of James these past few weeks at Sunday Mass. I love these reading from James; they give us practical advice on our journey as faithful disciples of Christ. James has encouraged us to be doers of God’s word, not just hearers. He calls us to welcome all into our community of faith, to not be exclusive, to not judge others based on their social status in life. Today, we hear James tell us that we are to put our faith into action, that faith without works is dead.
Faith is not just to be a disposition or an attitude. Faith is not just a theory or an idea. Faith is to be a practical way of living based on the revelation of Jesus Christ that calls us to new life. In faith, we are called to open ourselves mentally and spiritually to Christ, to receive new life in him and to form a relationship with him. However, faith does not stop there; this is just the beginning. Our faith is to drive our actions and good works. Our faith is nothing if we do not truly follow Christ in our daily lives. Our faith urges us, nudges us, and compels us to action, calling us to spiritual and corporal works of mercy. According to James, if we have faith without any works, our faith is not really alive. Rather than being rigid or static or inflexible, our faith is to constantly be emerging, growing, and developing.
Today’s reading from James is sometimes misunderstood, especially as to what our Church officially teaches. Our salvation comes to us as a freely given gift from God – we do not earn our salvation on our own. We are never justified before God by our own works and our own efforts. But, as James notes today, our faith is to bear fruits and to have a real impact in our lives. Our faith is to spur us to action, to have our will, desires, and actions cooperate with God’s will and God’s call for us.
There are several small faith groups here at St Jude which are called QUADS. They are called QUADS because they are comprised of four members. This QUADS program follows a curriculum developed by Franciscan University of Steubenville. In this group, we meet together each week to discuss our lessons and Scripture readings, growing in faith together and sharing our faith together. Our QUADS group just finished lesson 28, which is called “A Treasure to Be Shared.” I think that is the point of the message we have in James today. If we recognize what a treasure our faith truly is, we will want our faith to bear fruit, we will want to put our faith into action. It is so important to be a witness. We are called to walk the walk before we can talk the talk. Pope Paul VI, in his document on evangelization, Evangelii Nuntiandi, wrote this: “Modern man will listen to witnesses more than teachers, and if they do listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.” We are to be witnesses both in actions and in words. The QUADS lesson put it this way: “Live your faith in such a way that people will ask you questions about it. Know your faith in such a way that you are ready to explain it at any moment.”
We can be witnesses for the faith in such simple ways. Back in July, I went to California on a mission appeal and for a visit with my sister. Flying back to Jackson, I was waiting to board my flight at John Wayne airport in Orange County. I got to talking to a lady next to me who was flying back to Alabama. I explained to her that I lived in Mississippi; I just happened to tell her that I was a Catholic priest. Unbeknownst to me, there was a man seated behind me who overheard that conversation. As we boarded the plane, which was almost completely full, wouldn’t you know that I ended up in the same row as that man on the plane. He told me he was so excited that he was going to seated with a priest. Usually I am not chatty at all on a plane. I love to read; I usually read the entire flight. But I could sense that this man wanted to talk to me. We ended up chatting the entire flight. He was so on fire with his Catholic faith, so excited to tell me about his two pilgrimages to Our Lady of Medjugorje in Bosnia and his devotion to St Michael the Archangel. He told me about the different struggles he has had on his journey of faith. He also urged me to read a book on Our Lady of Kibeho, an apparition of the Blessed Mother that took place in Rwanda, Africa in the 1980s. In fact, we exchanged phone numbers, and we spent more than an hour chatting about that book by phone late one night last week. Both of us feel that the Holy Spirit brought us together to help each other on our journey of faith.
And I think that is an important thing to recognize in our faith life and our works and words and actions that come out of our faith - all of it is made possible by God’s grace and the work of the Holy Spirit. If we are not open to God’s grace interacting in our lives, none of this will be possible.
Today, as we talk about faith and works, we start our religious education program. We so excited to begin this program and we are very grateful for all the work of so many people who have made these classes possible. It is important for all of us to engage in faith formation activities, to grow and learn on our journey of faith. You all know how busy I am, being a pastor and being vicar general, often having six or more Masses on the weekend when some pastors just have one or two. But I make time for faith formation even for myself. I mentioned that QUADS group in which I participate. I want encourage all of you to be a part of our faith formation program. Not just our children and youth, but adults as well. We are going to have an adult faith formation program this year on the Holy Spirit called the Wild Goose. We are also going to have a class on the spirituality of the Latin Mass as well. Being a part of faith formation and learning on our journey of faith will truly help our faith be fruitful and bear good works.
I want to conclude by quoting the words of the preface I will be using in the Eucharistic prayer today: “His death we celebrate with love, his resurrection we confess with living faith, and his coming in glory we await with hope.” A living faith - that is what the message of the letter of James is about today: a faith that truly lives - a faith that is truly alive.
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