The Catholic way to Salvation

As Roman Catholics, we have many helps or paths to attain salvation. These paths help us to grow in sanctity and increase our love for our Lord and our Lady. In some ways, our life is like a giant wheel. Like all wheels, the road at times is rough and there are bumps, or it is smooth ride!

Imagine, if you will, a giant wheel with spokes and rubber tires. The center, or the axle, is our Lord Jesus Christ. Flowing from Him are the spokes. All the spokes attach to Him and to the outer rim of the tire.

I liken the outer rim of the tire to Our Lady. Our Lady has promised to lead all souls to Christ, her Son. She does so by rapidly interceding to our requests, by supporting us and helping us to grow in our faith and love. As we attach ourselves to Our Lady, or better yet consecrate ourselves to her, we are led to her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lady always points back to her Son, and we ask her in the Salve Regina prayer to show us the fruit of her womb. She ran to show Jesus (yet unborn) to her cousin Elizabeth. Like all mothers, she is proud of her offspring, but in this case, she shows to us not just an ordinary human, but God incarnate. The God, Jesus, the second person of the Holy Trinity, who took His flesh or His humanity from her.

Our Lady uses various spokes to lead us to Her Son. The first is the sacraments. The sacraments are as follows: Baptism, Reconciliation, the Eucharist, Confirmation, Matrimony, Holy Orders, and Extreme Unction.

Each sacrament brings us closer to God. Baptism seals us as belonging to God. Reconciliation enables us to confess our sins and be assured of God's pardon as the priest takes the place of Christ. It has been said that this sacrament is more powerful than an exorcism. In my case, I try to go to confession once a week. This means I examine my conscience and find confession to be a spiritual tune-up which measures my relationship with God and Our Lady.

The Eucharist, to receive our Lord and to eat Him, is as close as one can get. Sadly, many Catholics receive the Eucharist as a matter of course, or worse, in the hand! They do not understand either the privilege or responsibility to prepare to receive such a gift. Our Lord allows Himself to be present in the consecrated host and feeds us through the hands of the priest who acts in persona Christi. In this way, He is present in all the tabernacles in the world and at every Holy Mass. St. Padre Pio once said that it would be easier for the Earth to exist without the Sun than to not have the Eucharist. Receiving our Lord means He lives in us. Hence, we must prepare ourselves for such a tremendous gift.

Confirmation seals us with the Holy Spirit (the spouse of Our Lady), enabling us to receive even more cooperating graces from God Himself. We are fully armed and now able to hear and respond to the voice of the spouse of the Blessed Mother.

Holy Matrimony is a covenant between the couple and God Himself, who blesses marriage. This is far more than the sentimental and often overblown marriages that we are used to. A sacramental wedding, like all the sacraments, binds the couple to Christ Himself.

Holy Orders is that which consecrates the priests. It is only through the hands of a consecrated Roman Catholic priest that the miracle of transubstantiation occurs. The priest is the only one who can hear confessions. In the Novus Ordo, deacons can do baptisms and, I think, marriages as well. This is not the case in traditional services where deacons are not permanent, but rather it is the final step to becoming a priest.

All of these sacraments flow from Christ outwards to us. When we are in need, it is Our Lady and the Holy Spirit who redirect us to follow the Sacraments and enter into a sacramental life, which leads us back to Her Son and therefore greatly assists us in our pathway to sanctity.

The Spoke of Tradition and the Church Fathers

One of the great joys of our faith is the tradition and the writings of the Saints and the Church Fathers. It is an inexhaustible treasure. While reading Scripture, it is easy to get caught up with our own ideas and miss the point. When I was Protestant, this is what we did. We picked up the Bible and called upon the Holy Spirit, who would then magically clear our minds and enable us to arrive at a correct interpretation. This explains why there are well over 30 thousand Protestant denominations.

The rich works of scholars like St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Alphonsus Liguori, St. Augustine, or the mystics like St. Teresa of Avila or the writings of Mary Agreda provide us with an incredibly rich tapestry of understanding and insights that would take many lifetimes to read.

Our tradition also includes devotions and prayers. These, like the rosary, are tremendous ways to enter into a deeper understanding of, and love for, our Lord, Jesus Christ.

The Spoke of Meditation

Meditative prayer is an exceedingly important thing to develop in our journey in the faith. It differs from vocal prayers, like the rosary, in that it is silent. The easiest way to do it is by the practice of lectio divina, where one reads a passage from Scripture or a psalm and simply thinks on it. I find the psalms particularly good for this, especially when I read them as speaking about Jesus Christ. The key is to read slowly and allow your mind to absorb the passage.

Music

Our choice of music directly affects us and can assist us. I recommend Gregorian chant as it is designed to lead us closer to God. There are no soaring melodies, catchy tunes, or solo work; rather, it is designed not to excite our passions or emotions, but to lead us to God. While the music on the surface seems easy, it is actually very challenging to sing because it is so precise. The sound must appear as if it comes from one voice, so blending is very critical. Blending one's voice like this requires considerable training and humility.

The lives of the Saints

There are many saints, each with very different lives and missions. God loves variety. There are saints like St. Maximilian Kolbe, whose indefatigable nature and martyrdom inspire. There are those like St. Alphonsus Liguori, who once vowed that he would never be idle and spent his life in preaching, teaching, and writing (he also wrote hymns).

The Breviary

One of the easiest ways to develop mental prayer, a love of God, and a deeper understanding is to recite the offices of the Church throughout the day. They are Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline.

I recommend using the monastic breviary or a pre-1955 (before the liturgical changes and experimentation). Reciting the breviary is a journey into the heart of the Church itself as we pray with others who are reciting the same words. It is the Church at prayer.

Holy Mass

It is critical that one goes to Holy Mass, preferably every day. It is at Mass that we receive the Holy Eucharist and participate in worship. If you are fortunate, you can attend a more traditional liturgy or the Latin Mass. This is an experience. Everything in the TLM is prescribed; it is choreographed. There is nothing ad lib. The priests face the altar and not the people, the music (if it is a high Mass) is sublime, and the liturgy and the prayers allow plenty of time for silence and reflection.

I am always moved when the priest and the altar server recite the Confiteor and confess their sins. The altar boy kneels, and when he prays, he does so for the congregation, asking God to forgive them. The priest asks God to forgive our sins. There are, throughout the Mass, many opportunities to ask God for forgiveness and to prepare ourselves to receive Him.

If you are blessed to have the TLM near you, do not hesitate!

All of these spokes are held together by the Virgin Mary, who implores and leads us to use these methods to enter into the sacred heart of Her Son. As she is the mediatrix of all graces, it is she who, by showing us these paths and inspiring us with the Holy Spirit, leads us to Her Son.

At times, we find one or more attractive. Her goal is to enable us to see the richness of all of these spokes and to drink from the waters of life, given to us by Her Son.

As we go along in life, we encounter obstacles. We must trust that Mary is also with us and will gently suggest paths that we can follow to return to her Son, the source of life and strength for us. Our Lady is the rubber that binds the tire together. Our Lady journeys with us on our road. At times, she speaks and encourages us to spend more time with her. (Consecration to Mary is one way to skyrocket your faith!) At other times, she will gently lead you to trace your spoke back to the hub, which is Her Son. Our Lady travels with us as the tire gets flat, or the threads wear, or there are potholes. Even at times when we are stuck and cannot advance, these times when it appears we are not growing, have lost interest, and the wheel is stuck in a large rut. Our Lady will help us move out of the rut. She commands angels, don't forget. She wants nothing more than for us to honour and love her Son.