Is there an official list with the minimum requirements for Salvation?
Thank you!
I was going to say this and then I read it:
A reasonable question but in the practical order, at least in the experience of most folks, settling for "minimums" is all but a guarantee of not achieving much of anything, let alone salvation.
It should be our daily objective to pray to God at every opportunity.
St. Francis said we should become prayer.
St. Francis was speaking of our works, our charitable acts, the things we did in our lifetime, how we helped the poor, the sick, the humble, the prisoner, the downtrodden. For when we do good to others, especially those who hate us, we become prayer.
Our objectives in prayer are to become holy, which is the same thing as conformity with God's will.
"A single act of uniformity with the divine will suffices to make a saint."
[St Alphonsus de Liguori]
To practice perfecting our contrition for our sins is an endeavor most pleasing to God, as it conforms with His will. To become capable of making a perfect act of contrition should be the primary objective of EVERY VISIT TO THE CONFESSIONAL.
It takes a continuous lifetime effort to develop this elusive faculty of fallen man -- one which hardly anyone is able to achieve in this life but the greatest saints ALL did so; and one cannot expect to wait until later or some other time, or in the worst case, until one is at death's door to develop perfect contrition.
A common feature of ALL the damned is the final incapacity to evoke a good act of contrition for their sins.
All these things, and more, are of a nature in life's direction that is inimical to looking for the "minimum requirements for salvation."
In the natural order there are analogous situations:
If you were the owner of a small business taking applications and conducting interviews of prospective employees, would you be impressed with an applicant who only wants to know what the MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS are to satisfactorily fill the position?
If you ask a friend's daughter if she would be interested in babysitting for you and your spouse one evening, would you be pleased to hear her say, "What is the very LEAST that will be expected of me?"
If you were a professor at a university, would you enjoy hearing in private consultation with individual students, one after the other asking, "Please inform me what are the LOWEST achievements necessary to get an 'A' in your class?"
If you were the captain of a ship, how would you like to hear a sailor ask you during a storm, "Just let me know what the bare minimum is I need to do, to keep the ship from sinking?" And then when the storm is over, how would you enjoy hearing the same sailor approach you to say, "Anytime you're ready, I'd like to know what bare minimum is I need to do to become First Mate?"
Does the army give medals of honor to soldiers who never did more than was absolutely required as a bare minimum or to avoid dishonorable discharge, and who looked for every opportunity to avoid having to do even those things?
What would you think of a movie actor whose approach to his film career is, "I'm only interested in doing as little as I have to do to act well and to improve my reputation?"
What chance does a political candidate have of being elected, whose approach is, "I have no interest in campaigning any harder than I absolutely HAVE to, in order to get elected?"
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And in the spiritual order, what would you expect the record of one would be, to whom God says at his particular judgment,
"Come, you faithful servant, and enter into the mansion that I have prepared for you from the foundation of the world?" Do you suppose that would be one who lived his life looking for the minimum requirements for salvation?
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Topic: Minimum Requirements for Salvation (Read 1723 times)