Dear friend, the following post is a private musing of my own which I am penning down for further thought in the future. It is not an attempt to proselytize and should not be treated as such. I readily admit that I have but limited knowledge and understanding, and that I may have misrepresented some views in this post. Please do not be offended and know that I'm just another chap who is trying to figure things out.
This morning's Scripture readings were taken from Deuteronomy 11:18, 26-28, 32; Psalms 31:2-4, 17, 25; Romans 3:21-25, 28; and Matthew 7:21-27. That the church arranged to juxtapose these passages is interesting to note, for the old testament reading and the Gospel text are about good works, while the epistle reading is about faith. Unavoidably, Father Richards spoke about seemingly contradictory notions of justification by faith and/or good works in his homily, a theological fault line between Catholicism and Protestantism.
However, more interestingly, what he taught was an old tune to me. He asserted that Christians are justified by faith, and that good works are results of this faith, the fruits of this faith. We do not do good because they may bring us to paradise, but because they are a natural outflow of who we are. We do because we are.
Reverend Chang taught this in the Lutheran Church. Father Richards is teaching this in the Catholic Church. Either I misunderstood either/both of them, or that either/both of them strayed from their 'official church teachings', or that the division between Catholicism and Protestantism isn't real but a series of misunderstanding and mistrust built up over a couple hundred of years.
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