Faith in Action, Part I

Last Thursday I felt inspired with the thought of writing an article regarding the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy.  At that point I did not have any detailed thoughts.  It was just a general idea.  That was fine with me as I had a few days before I expected to write this article.   

I did not have any new inspired thoughts for the next two days.  That does not mean I had no thoughts.  I thought about how some Christian groups focus heavily on the Corporal Works of Mercy but do not talk much about faith.  That’s where the Spiritual Works of Mercy come in.  We should not be concerned solely with the external acts of mercy to feed and clothe the poor.  We must remember, “The Lord looks into the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).  

Why might Christians focus on the Corporal Works of Mercy?  The Corporal Works of Mercy are centered in one biblical passage that contains Jesus’ own words, Matthew 25:31-46.  In this passage Jesus tells us we will be judged by how we fulfill the corporal works of mercy.  There can be no doubt that the Corporal Works of Mercy are important.   

On the other hand, the Spiritual Works of Mercy are spread out in the Bible.  There is no one single point where Jesus says perform all the spiritual works of mercy.  This does not mean Jesus does not talk about the spiritual works of mercy.  Jesus provides an example of how we should admonish the sinner (the third spiritual work of mercy) with the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11).  He speaks of forgiveness, the fifth spiritual work of mercy, in Matthew 5:38-46 and Matthew 18:21-22.   

When I was thinking about the relationship of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, I pondered the question, “what motivates us to perform works of mercy?”  It is possible to perform corporal works of mercy without faith but what about spiritual works of mercy?  What about love? 

This is where I found my thoughts Saturday night.  I was not sure what our Lord wanted me to do with these thoughts.  I thought about reviewing my presentation from 2018, The Journey to Jesus: Acts of Mercy, but that was my own thought.  It did not feel inspired.  I also thought about my presentations for the Jubilee Year of Mercy in 2016 (that can be found at https://renewaloffaith.org/be-merciful/) but that did not seem the direction the Holy Spirit wanted me to go either. 

I had one more thought Saturday.  I made a note to look at the Letter of James for what it says about faith and works.  On Sunday afternoon I opened my Bible to the Letter of James to reflect on the section on faith and works.  I feel a nudge to do something I had never done before, to read the Letter of James from start to finish.  This seemed like a good way to spend some time on the Lord’s Day.  The entire Letter of James is only five chapters.  So, it did not take long to read. 

What I found was a treasure chest of thoughts regarding faith and works.  I realized it was not the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy themselves that our Lord was calling me to write on but how they relate in faith and works. 

So, what follows are my thoughts as I read the Letter of James.  Please note that I will not cover every verse in the Letter of James.  I will not discuss even half of them.  I will merely offer thoughts on the verses that struck me in the context of works of mercy. 

I begin with James 1:17, where we read, “all good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by change.”  This leaped out at me because, when I was focusing on the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, I was thinking about how even an atheist, without any awareness of faith, can perform works to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and visit the sick (along with the rest of the corporal works of mercy).  The person may be an atheist and not believe in God.  Yet, God is good and the origin of all good.  God can work through anyone.  One can see this in stories in the Old Testament like that of Cyrus, a non-Jewish king through whom God built a new temple in Jerusalem (see Ezra 1).   

Then I came to James 1:22-25, “Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves.  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror.  He sees himself, then goes off and promptly forgets what he looked like.  But the one who peers into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres, and is not a hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, such a one shall be blessed in what he does.” 

Anyone can read the Bible.  Anyone can hear the Bible read to them.  Unfortunately, not everyone puts what they hear from the Bible into action.  Are you merely a hearer of the Word or do you put your faith into action?  Are you a doer of the Word? 

When you put your faith into action, who do you help?  As the inspired Word of God, the Letter of Jesus has something to offer here too.  In James 2:1, we read, “My brothers, show no partiality as you adhere to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.”  James speaks of how we distinguish between the rich and the poor.  What about the type of people we help?  We are not to screen people based on any criteria before we perform works of mercy for them.  We help everyone in need.  We hope our actions as doers of the Word lead them to faith but we do not first require faith of them.  We remember that Jesus did not wait for us to stop sinning before He died for us (see Romans 5:8).  We love because we are first loved by God. 

We are to show no partiality.  It is not for us to choose or know who will have faith (see James 2:5).   

Only after these verses do we come to the section of the Letter of James that I was thinking of when reflecting on the relationship of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, James 2:14-26.  To properly understand this passage, one needs to know the context in which they are found.  I thank God for inspiring me to read the whole Letter of James. 

In the context of James 1:22-25 we read, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?  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” (James 2:14-17).  It is not enough to have faith.  We must put our faith into action.  What this means is different for each person according to the gifts that God has given us (see 1 Corinthians 12).  At different points in our lives, it means different things.  As a young healthy teen or adult, we can shovel the sidewalk for our homebound neighbor (without cost).  As the homebound neighbor, our works may be limited to prayer and thanking the person who helps us in Christian gratitude. 

Our works alone do not save us but they serve as proof of our faith that does save us, “Indeed someone may say, “You have faith and I have works.” Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works” (James 2:18).  The subsequent verses show how faith and works are intimately connected.  James 2:22 continues, “faith was completed by the works.” Then, James 2:24 adds, “See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone” and James 2:26 concludes, “For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.”  Let your faith lead you to the works that God calls you to do. 

I am going to pause at this point and leave the remaining three chapters of James for another article to follow in a few days. 

Part 2 is now available at https://renewaloffaith.org/faith-in-action-part-2/.

Peace, 

Fr. Jeff