05/31/2026
Are You Saved? Often we may hear this question or hear a fellow Christian say that they are saved. There is a two-fold response, we are already saved, but not yet. Another way of putting this is that we are ALREADY DISCIPLES, AND are also BECOMING DISCIPLES OF JESUS CHRIST. Jesus already did the work, He suffered and died on the Cross for our sins and saved us. It is incumbent as the Scriptures proclaim for us to BELIEVE in Jesus as our Lord and Savior and to “endure” or “persevere” to the end. By virtue of our Baptism, we already are disciples, we are in relationship with our Lord Jesus. Yet whether you or I were Baptized because of the choice of our parents, or we made a choice on our own to be Baptized because we responded to the prompting of grace, God is calling us daily to respond to the graces bestowed upon us by the Holy Spirit to respond to this grace. You and I are beloved sons and daughters of God, we are beloved disciples of Jesus Christ already saved by the salvific action of Jesus suffering and dying upon the Cross for the sins of the world. As St. Paul proclaims in Titus 3:4-7, “But when the kindness and generous love of God our savior appeared, not because of any righteous deeds we had done but because of his mercy, he saved us through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the holy Spirit, whom he richly poured out on us through Jesus Christ our savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life.” Now it is incumbent for us to live as disciples of the Lord, to continue to learn how to become the disciples/followers Jesus desires for us to be, and to respond to the graces as Jesus calls us to further conform our lives to His. This act of becoming disciples reminds us that our words need to be more than lip service, more than words. As we listen to or read different translations of John 3:16-18, we notice that the Protestant translations are absolute, “that everyone who believes in him” “shall” or “will” “not perish but” “shall” or “will” “have eternal life.” , while Catholic translations of this Bible passage are not absolute but rather say “may” or “might” as we hear, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” St. Paul further points out in Ephesians 2:8-10,“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast. For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them.” This passage is not contradicted by James 2:26 which proclaims, “For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.”Rather both passages point to us that our being saved is a gift, and not through our good works, and this gift of faith is a gift that we need to respond to with good works as, we “live in them”. “Glory and praise for ever” Lord Jesus for saving us! Blessings to you as we celebrate Trinity Sunday. If you have any pastoral needs, please feel free to contact me by phone or email at [email protected].
In Christ,
Fr. Jeff
