We Need To Use Them Both - Faith and Works

What good is it, my brothers and sisters,
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.
Indeed someone might 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.

This Sunday, we have that pesky reading from that book that Martin Luther wanted to excise out of the Bible because it contradicted his teaching that we are saved by faith alone.  Now don't get me wrong, faith is important.  Without faith in Jesus, we never get away from the starting gate. But having faith alone is like having the keys to a car with no engine.  Jesus calls us to demonstrate our faith in him by taking up our cross daily and following Him.  If we do not do this we will be surprised when we arrive at Heaven's Gate and He tells us that He never knew us. 

The Gospel reading today tells us the same thing. Peter, you have to love the man, he is so human, is the first to pipe up to Jesus calling Him the Christ, the anointed one of God - there he displays his faith.  In the very next paragraph, after Jesus told his followers that the Son of Man would have to suffer and die, why Peter tells this same Man whom he just identified as the Son of God that this death would never happen.  He is then called "satan" and told to get behind Jesus.  Jesus tells us that those of us that follow Him must give up their lives and if they do they will truly be His followers and preserve their life for eternity. 

So carry with you all of the faith you can muster and show that you have faith by works that edify Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through those that are in need in this world. 

Pray this day for the poor souls of our righteous Protestant brothers and sisters who are at this very moment in Purgatory with no one to pray for them. Just because they did not believe in Purgatory in life does not mean that it is not a reality for them.  Truth is the truth even if no one believes it.  This is a worthy work of charity that is easily done.  Pray for the poor souls.  Tomorrow, you might be one of them!