ARE YOU SAVED???

Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year C
Saint Gabriel the Archangel Parish
April 24, 2016

Link to the Sunday's Scripture Readings

Have you ever been asked the simple question: are you saved? It can be a strange question to hear as a Catholic. If you were anything like me when first asked that question, I was 16 or 17 at the time, you probably felt a bit awkward, and weren’t certain how to respond. The man who asked me this question wasn’t asking, he was more demanding an answer as he cornered me at my first job. I think the first time he asked - he repeatedly asked at that time and in the days to come - my response was ‘what do you mean?’ That interaction has stuck with me for years mainly because of the way that the simplicity of the question didn’t seem to rise to the complexity of the subject matter; plus the man who asked me was known to be consistently defaulting on his child support. How is he, I often wondered, so sure of his salvation while failing to support his children?

It wasn’t until years later, when I went to seminary, that my inability to answer this question was laid to rest. In conversation with professors and other students the answer was given: yes, of course, you are saved (but here comes the fuller - more Catholic response) yes I was saved, yes I am saved, and yes I will be saved. I was, I am, I will be saved. At the moment Jesus died on the cross, he died for all sins both past, current, and future and I was saved. When I receive the Eucharist, when I am Baptized, when I am Confirmed, when I am Anointed or receive Reconciliation, when I gather together with the body of Christ and worship our God - I am saved. In the second coming, when Christ returns to make all things new - I will be saved. As Catholics, simple answers rarely do justice to the complexity of the question, and we do not believe that a particular moment in our lives seals the fate of our soul, for either good or ill. 

The Lamb of God

The Book of Revelation, which we heard from in our second reading, uses a lot of the same concepts in its account of the coming of the Kingdom of God which already is present and not yet fully present. The imagery speaks to what has happened to the early Christians, everything between then and now, as well as what will happen. It is unwise, and honestly a bit conceited, to think that all that the Book of Revelation contains is meant to show our generation, or perhaps me personally, what will happen in our lifetime. Instead of being only future driven The Book of Revelation incorporates the entire experience of the community – a community that is expected to live and work, rest and grow old- together. The Book of Revelation is telling us that the Kingdom if God is being made real and the Lamb of God declares “Behold, I make all things new.” In this way, salvation is a process, a process of being made new in Christ; both for the individual and the community. 

Our Gospel tells us that just as Jesus loves us, so we also should love one another. Judas had just gotten up and walked out before Jesus said this. We are to love those who are like him just as we are to love those who are like us. Christ tells us to love one another, just as he loves us – until death, and from that others will know that we are his disciples – and the community will grow and the Kingdom of God will become more visible on Earth. We are told to love one another, not to love only when we are loved, not to love only when the person deserves our love, we are told to love. Perhaps we will lose our lives to love, or hurt by love, but we are told to love all the same. Sometimes love means holding tightly to another, and sometimes love means letting go and respecting one’s self and the other by parting ways. We must not lose sight of Christ’s love for us inorder to try and love another. 

So are you saved? Yes - you were saved, yes - you are being saved, and yes - you will be saved – all because you loved one another.