In the darkness of a sleepless night, your mind can go through many weird and wonderful questions.
What happens if nobody at all votes in an election?
If Time Travel were possible wouldn't we already know it?
Is there a place on earth where all the missing socks disappear to from the tumble dryer?
How do I know that I am going to Heaven?
Good point. How do you know?
[PAUSE]
St Paul writes to the Church in Ephesus reminding them that they are all part of God's family and that they are meant to be sons and daughters of God by adoption. It is by being members of this family that we will find ourselves eternally joined with God.
Yet, as Our Lord's parable of the Prodigal Son shows, we can separate ourselves from our family, especially from Our Father. St Paul reminds us that human beings were once slave to the "prince of the power of the air" - the spirit of disobedience to God.
It is true that when we sin, we are lured away from God and that we don't always recognise it. We can be tempted even to call good evil and evil good, and when this happens, it is difficult ever to recognise God again. When we sin we are effectively dead because we are cut off from the One Who gives us life.
How can we ever come back? How can we ever hope to rise from the death that our sins cause?
For the Prodigal Son, there is a memory. There is the memory of a Father's love. This love always has been there and, for the Prodigal Son to return to the Father, he has to believe that his Father will take him back even as a slave. The Prodigal Son has to have faith in his Father and that faith comes from the Father's character. It is knowing that the Father loves the Prodigal Son that gives the son the strength to repent.
This is why St Paul says, " For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."
The Prodigal Son is not saved from his life in the pig sty by demonstrating whose son he is. His parentage means nothing to those who take his inheritance away. Works of the Jewish Law do not mean anything to the prince of the power of the air. If we are separated from God, the Law does nothing for us. It just tells us that we are separated from God.
What saves us is God the Father who reaches out to us through the Son and gives us the Holy Ghost. We are saved by God's Grace which is His active presence in our lives. We are saved through Faith because God has reminded us of His love and we trust in Him to save us. We are saved with good works because we allow Christ to live in us and He does good. It is Christ who makes things right: He justifies.
This is how the Church becomes part of the God's plan to save us. Through Christ being the Head of the Church, the Church has God's grace to give to bring to all who repent and seek after God.
If we sin we separate ourselves from the Church and from God. If we repent then we return to the Church, to God's grace and to His Life. We return through the grace of our Baptism into the family of God. As members of the Church we need to hold out our hands in love so that those who do repent can cling on.
[PAUSE]
We cannot presume to know that we are going to Heaven. However, we can trust in God's love for us and know that any love we have for Him will not be forgotten especially when that love for Him is expressed for our neighbours.
That is faith and through this faith we are saved by God.
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