Following God’s Way

(Plain Text Version)

Following God’s Way

To reach heaven, we must have the grace of God.  In addition, we must do what God wants us to do.  This is a joy, not a hardship!

God’s Grace and Our Response

Without God’s grace, we cannot see His face at the end of our life on earth.  The main source of grace is Baptism and the other sacraments.  In addition to the sacraments, we must cooperate with the graces we receive. 

God, who knows all things, knows what we must do to reach heaven.  We must be alert to what God wants and be ready to do it.  God gives us illuminations of the mind and inspirations of the will.  We must respond.  Nothing else is important.

What Is Good?

To do what is good, we must know what is good.  We often think that God wants us to do a series of hard things to win His favor.  We find this idea in pagan mythology, but it is not the way of the true God.  Sometimes He expects difficult things, but they shape us into truly loving people.  If we love with God’s love, we will be happy in this life and in the next.

Using Our Gift of Reason

To help us to learn what is true, our minds process what we see and experience.  For example, we learn that things go more smoothly when people treat each other with respect.  By using reason, we can develop helpful rules for behavior.  By reason, we can realize that God exists, and that we should obey Him and pray to Him.

God Reveals Himself to Us

As helpful as reason is, it is part of our fallen human nature.  Our misdeeds and the misdeeds of others make it hard to do what is reasonable.  God wants to raise our lives to a much higher level.  God has blessed us by teaching us His wisdom.

The best-known summary God’s wisdom for life is the Ten Commandments.  We must study the Ten Commandments not as isolated statements, but as a revelation of the mind of God.  During His public ministry, Jesus explained the Ten Commandments in great detail.

Every word from the mouth of Jesus is a command which we must follow.  In addition, Jesus gave the Apostles and their successors the authority to govern the Church.  They have the grace and the authority to teach in the name of God.   

(To be continued)

Many thanks to:

Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J., Pocket Catholic Catechism, 1989, Doubleday

Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J., Modern Catholic Dictionary, 2001, Eternal Life

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