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Peter Ramsay posted on March 02, 2006 04:00  1600 views 
On December 16, 2005 Pope Benedict XVI along with cardinals, bishops, prelates and other church officials gathered in the Redemptoris Mater Chapel at the Vatican to listen to a sermon.
Raniero Cantalamessa was the preacher. He is a Franciscan Capuchin Catholic Priest. In 1980 he was appointed by Pope John Paul II: Preacher to the Papal Household in which capacity he still serves. Every Friday during Advent and Lent he delivers a meditation to minister to the spiritual needs of the Papal Household. This has been a Vatican practice for centuries.
What is so noteworthy about this Catholic Monk’s address on December 16th? Preachers should always try to be plain and simple so the listeners will get the point of the message. Cantalamessa’s message was very clear: if you want to be justified, it is by faith alone in Christ!
Below I will high light in blue everything I have copied word for word from the text of his sermon. (1)
With a few introductory comments, he opened his Bible and read these words to Pope Benedict XVI and others in the audience:
‘All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God. They are justified freely by His grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as an expiation, through faith, by his blood, …. That he might be righteous and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.”
The papal preacher in fact read from his Bible all of Romans 3:23-26. He then explained the legal term ‘justification’ as the act through which God declares man just. He assured his audience that sinners are justified not by any good deeds that they are capable of doing. He quoted this verse: “But when the kindness and generous love of God our Saviour appeared, not because of any righteous deeds we had done but because of his mercy…” Titus 3:4-5
He then explained: “The goodness of God, his love and his mercy appeared. It was not man who, all of a sudden, changed life and tradition and put himself to the task of doing good; the novelty is that God acted, he was the first to extend his hand out to sinful man, and his action fulfilled time.
Here is the novelty that distinguishes the Christian religion from any other. Any other religion draws out for man a path to salvation by means of practical observations and intellectual speculations, promising him, as a final prize, salvation and illumination, but leaving him substantially alone in achieving the task. Christianity does not begin with what man must do to save himself, but rather with what God has done to save him. The order is reversed.”
The Monk made it clear that as important as keeping the commandments is, it is secondary. “Before the order of commandments comes the order of gift and grace. Christianity is a religion of grace!” He implied that Catholic teaching about one’s personal contribution to their own salvation was a reaction centuries ago to the Protestant Reformation. But then he adds: “Gratuitous justification by faith in Christ is the heart of this type of preaching
(he’s referring to Paul’s great theme of justification by faith in Christ) and it is a shame that this is, in turn practically absent from ordinary preaching in the Church."
Before he concluded his message it seems he called on church people to make sure they have this “most necessary conversion. A conversion altogether special, which does not consist in abandoning evil, but rather, in a certain sense, in abandoning the good!” I take it he is saying we must abandon our dependency on our own goodness and trust Christ alone. Without such a definite conversion, no one will be in Heaven.
Unfortunately religions, even under the banner of Christianity have put the ‘cart before the horse.’ Many teach that good works will help you achieve the prize of acceptance by God. That is backwards according to the Bible. Good works are produced in the lives of believers after they put their faith in Christ alone for their salvation.
The Capuchin Monk repeatedly used the beautiful phrase: “gratuitous justification by faith in Christ.” He said it was at the heart of the Apostle Paul’s preaching and went on to prove that is wasn’t just Paul; he said it was the “pure teaching of Jesus.”
Although I found a few statements in the sermon a little confusing to my mind, on the matter of justification by grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ – his message was clear.
Have you realized you can not gain heaven as a prize or a reward based on good behaviour? Did you know that you can not be justified on the merits of anything you can offer God? Salvation by grace and eternal life is a gift from God based on the work of Christ on the Cross. Have you accepted the gift?
The moment you place your trust (faith) in the Lord Jesus Christ as your very own personal Saviour is the moment you are justified by God and brought into His Family.
(1) St. Paul’s Faith in Christ – Advent 2005, Third Advent Meditation to the Papal Household, December 16th, 2005, R. Raniero Cantalamessa. Note: all words above in BLUE are copied from the text of the sermon.
Friday, March 03, 2006 12:00 AM
This is interesting! I'm always captivated whenever I read of the "plain" Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ being preached. Thanks!
Wednesday, March 15, 2006 4:43 PM
nice...what he said was a really good definition of Christianity. I wish I knew what the Pope was thinking when he heard this...
Tuesday, March 21, 2006 7:02 PM
what about what the book of James says, "Faith with out works is dead"? James 2:14-26
Wednesday, March 22, 2006 6:19 PM
James, the Lord’s ‘half’ brother saw perfection under the same roof in Nazareth. He saw reality in Jesus. He saw a life that was completely different from every other villager. A life of good works. Years later, (after the crucifixion) when James himself became a christian, he wrote a letter called the Epistle of James. His basic point is: don’t say you are a christian if you don’t have a life to prove you are. The Apostle Paul wrote of justification with God (vertically and inwardly) through faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ. You can read his writings in Romans and in Galatians. The Apostle Peter wrote of the blood of Christ as the ONLY basis for the forgiveness of sins. James wrote of justification before men and women – horizontally and outwardly. His basic message is: “don’t go around saying you belong to Christ or that Christ lives in you, if your friends and neighbors can’t see the change in your behaviour. If you are living your life no differently than the world around you, then you don’t have Christ living inside you. You are not a christian. So works are essential to demonstrate our faith in Christ. But works do not save us. Christ saves us and our works prove we have been saved. Read also: Romans 3:24, 26, 28; Romans 5:1; Galatians 2:16; James 2:10
Tuesday, April 04, 2006 5:13 PM
Fr. Cantalamessa's sermon was a clear statement of Catholic teaching on justification. It has always been the Church's position that we can in no way earn our salvation, which is a gift from God. Thus we are saved by grace alone. This does not mean that our actions are irrelevant (as Luther thought). Rather, through the grace we have received from Christ we are brought to do his will, in word, thought and deed. If our faith is not accompanied by works, it is dead, as St. James said. Indeed, in Matthew 25, Jesus depicts judgment as being dependent upon one's acts. We must however avoid the error that says that faith is irrelevant, so long as we do good. We are saved not by good deeds, but by the grace of God, which is borne out in faith and in works. Out of curiousity: are you the Peter Ramsay who hails from Walkerton, Ontario? If you are then this is quite fortuitous!
Tuesday, April 11, 2006 6:35 AM
Mr. Zettel, I just want to congratulate you on that wonderful response to Peter Ramsay's comment, that was very well said and quite thought-provoking! Thank you for making life so interesting! RoseMarie DeCorby
Tuesday, April 11, 2006 7:19 AM
Just before the Saviour died, He cried from the Cross: "It is finished!" John 19:30 What was completed? Christ paid in full my debt of sin. Completely paid for it. He died for my sins and my entrance to Heaven is based solely on Christ's merits - not my own. His blood cleansed every one of my sins. 1John 1:7 "The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin." His sacrifice alone for my sins has satisfied God. Christ did not pay 90% for my sins, leaving me to pay the other 10% with my good works. No. My sacrifices in life do not pay for my sins or help me gain entry into Heaven. If God was NOT satisfied that Christ finished everything required to take a sinner to Heaven, He would not have raised Jesus from the dead. And today there are no more sacrifices for sin.The one sacrifice for sin happened 2000 years ago at Calvary. Hebrews 10:12: "But this man, after He had offered ONE sacrifice for sins FOR EVER sat down at the right hand of God." Hebrews 10:26 "...there remaineth NO MORE SACRIFICE for SINS. I am saved eternally as the result of Christ's death on the Cross for my sins. My salvation depends not on my, but on Christ. But how I live AFTER I accept Christ as my Saviour is outward proof of the reality within. That's what James is saying. He is saying: 'talk is cheap - show me the proof of your faith by the good life you live.' So good works are definitely not irrelevant when it comes to a believer's testimony in this world. Nor are a christian's works irrelevant before God. But what about a sinner's works? Someone who does not have a conscious moment when they trusted Christ as their Saviour? Romans 8:8 says that those in that condition can NOT please God. Isaiah said it colorfully: "We are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." Isaiah 64:6. Romans 3 provides God's picture of the human heart by nature. The thief on the cross was never baptised and never belonged to a Church - but he was saved when he turned to Christ for refuge. What a gracious God we have.
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