Our Actions Define Our Eternal Destiny In a sermon in 1200 A.D, St Anthony of Padua gave us the proverb, “Actions speak louder than words.” In the film “Batman Begins,” Rachel stops Batman from jumping back into the fight and asks him who he is behind the mask. He answers; “It’s not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me.” It’s what we do that defines our destiny rather than what we say. It’s easy to talk the talk but quite another thing to walk it. In other words, what we do reflects what’s important to us. Nowhere is this more applicable than in religion and politics where it’s easy to say what we believe but quite another thing to act on our proclaimed beliefs. We’re all prone to hypocrisy because we’re sinners and want to be liked. Hypocrisy is pretending to be what one is not. For example, a person identifies as a Catholic but breaks the first and third Commandments every Sunday by not participating in the Holy Mass. Persons who identify as members of the Church but support abortion, transgenderism, euthanasia and reject Biblical and Church teaching on marriage are consciously or unconsciously pretending to be what they are not. What they do contradicts who they say they are. God hates hypocrisy. This is why Jesus confronted Pharisees and scribes and said to them, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you frauds! You are like whitewashed tombs, beautiful to look at on the outside but full of filth and dead men’s bones” (Mt 23:27). The opposite of hypocrisy is authenticity. To be authentic is to be real, to be true to oneself and others, which involves saying what you mean and meaning what you say expressing it in your actions. It’s our actions that define us as either Christian or non-Christian. Jesus revealed that, “Not everyone who says ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (Mt 7:21-23). It is not enough to say “Lord, Lord,” we must do what He tells us.Whose Way Is Fair?
God calls us to be authentic which means “let it be ‘Yes’ if you mean yes and ‘No’ if you mean no” (Jas 5:12). Because God created us to be like Him, and there’s no duplicity in Him, you and I are called to be genuine, people who value integrity, by making sure that our “yes” and “no” are backed up by our actions. God addresses this in the Book of Ezekiel (18:25-28). The Israelites complained that God was unjust to them when He revealed that a man would be judged on his actions in the present regardless of what he did in the past. He confronted them: “Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair?” They thought that present sin should be overlooked because of a virtuous past. To their chagrin, God informed them that, “When someone virtuous turns away from virtue to commit sin, and dies, it is because of the sin he committed that he must die. But if he turns from the wickedness he has committed, and does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life.” God reveals here that He judges us on the basis of our actions, good or bad, in the present, not what we did in the past. In the eyes of God, it’s our present actions that make us subject to reward or punishment. This is spelled out clearly in Matthew chapter 25 where Jesus revealed that it’s what we’re doing to others in the present that defines us in relationship to Him. Our prayer must flow from our willingness and our yearning to act in accord with Jesus’ teaching through His Church.God’s Way Is Fair
God’s ways are always fair because He’s always authentic. He always gives us what we’re due as regards mercy and justice. He is our Provider. The Holy Spirit, speaking through the Psalmist (25: 4-9), reminds us that, “Good and upright is the Lord; thus, He shows sinners the way. He guides the humble to justice, and teaches the humble His way.” God’s way was spelled out by Jesus to the Apostles. This “way,” the only way to Heaven, is laid out for us in the Holy Bible and the Church’s Apostolic and moral teaching. Because our ways are all too often the ways of sinfulness due to selfishness, prejudice, and unfulfilled promises, the inspired St. Paul warns us: “Do nothing out of selfishness or vainglory; rather humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not just for his own interests, but also for those of others” (Phil 2:1-11). St. Paul shows how Jesus exemplified this when, “He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Though He was in the form of God he did not deem equality with God as something to be grasped at...” Jesus’ words and actions mirrored one another. Words without action are empty. St. James, inspired by the Holy Spirit poses the question to us: “What good is it to profess faith without practising it? …So it is with faith that does nothing in practice. It is thoroughly lifeless” (Jas 2:14-17). We can only act on our Faith in Jesus in the present, not yesterday or tomorrow.Actions. Not Words, Matter
To emphasize the importance of actions over words, Jesus gives us the Parable of the Two Sons (Mt 21:28-32). A father asked his oldest son to work in the vineyard, to which he replied, “I am on my way, sir.” But he didn’t go. The second son refused, but later he “regretted it and went.” Jesus asked the chief priests and the elders: “Which one did what the father wanted?” The answer was obvious. Jesus was sending a message to the religious leaders who ostensibly said “yes” to God’s request to bring His blessing to the world, but aren’t doing it. He likened the Gentiles to the second son, who initially rebelled but later repented and obeyed God’s will. This is why Jesus described the scribes and Pharisees as, “This people pays me lip-service but their heart is far from me” (Mt 15:8).Destiny Lies in the Present
God judges you and me on whether we’re exercising in the present the supernatural virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love we’ve been given, and not on whether we exercised them in the past. That means doing our best to live the Christian life. Entry into Heaven depends on whether or not, at the moment of death, we meet God as faithful, hopeful, and loving members of Jesus’ Church. Jesus warns us: “Whoever rejects me and does not accept my words already has his judge, namely the word I have spoken – it is that which will condemn him on the last day” (Jn 12:48). This is urgent because none of us know the day or the hour when death will come. For this reason, Jesus urges us to, “Stay awake, therefore! You cannot know the day your Lord is coming …Keep your eyes open, for you know not the day nor the hour” (Mt 24:42; 25:13). Staying awake means that we remain alert in the present to God’s presence, making sure that we match our actions with our professed Faith in Jesus each day, realizing that the good we did yesterday won’t bail us out of jail if we sin today and die in that sin. The good we may have done in our past can be quickly erased if we decide to turn away from God at any moment in our life. Jesus gives us the Sacrament of Reconciliation as the antidote to Satan’s temptations to think we are “good persons.” In the first Gospel to be written Jesus proclaimed: “This is the time of fulfilment. The reign of God is at hand! Reform your lives and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1:15). That is a daily task, not a one-time effort. The time is now for us to believe in the Gospel and reform our life through acting in a manner that defines us as genuine Christians, faithful Catholics. Actions speak louder than words. Jesus stated clearly that, “Whoever acknowledges me before men I will acknowledge before my Father in heaven. Whoever disowns me before men I will disown before my Father in heaven” (Mt 10:32-33). Our actions define us and in them we decide our destiny. (fr sean) SuccessGod’s grace within me and God’s strength behind me can overcome any hurdle ahead of me.
Topic: Forgive So We Can Live and Let Live (Read 1865481 times)