St. James obeyed Jesus before and after He Ascended into Heaven. We can trust St. James!
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Question 8: “How does being Catholic help us get our souls into Heaven?”
Answer: “James 1:19-20 tells us! ‘Remember this, my dear brothers: be quick to listen but slow to speak and slow to rouse your anger; God’s righteousness is never served by man’s anger;’
When we become angry, we are as useless as a piece of steel that lost its ‘temper’. We break under pressure! We cannot hold an edge!”
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Question 4: “‘Envy’ drives many to become ‘angry’ at some of our neighbors. How do we keep our souls from being damaged by such sins?”
Answer: “1:21 tells us what to do! ‘so do away with all the impurities and bad habits that are still left in you. Accept and submit to The Word which has been planted in you and can save your souls.’
Catholics focus our efforts on planting These Words of God in us from John 15:14! ‘You are My friends if you obey My commands.’ Catholics also strive to implant this ‘soul-saving Word’ from John 22:37-39 in our minds: ‘Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.’”
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Question 5: “What if we willfully disobey Words of God that conflict with our feelings?”
Answer: “Look at James 1:22! ‘But you must do what The Word tells you, and not just listen to it and deceive yourselves.’”
Simply ‘listening’ and talking about The Word is worse than meaningless. It is a “deception”! We must obey The Word of He Who IS The Word! If we disobey Any Word of The Word, we cannot be forever among: “You are My friends if you obey My commands.”)
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Question 5: “What happens if we hear Words of Jesus and willfully disobey them?”
Answer: “St. James is very clear about that in 1:23-24. ‘To listen to The Word and not obey is like looking at your own features in a mirror and then, after a quick look, going off and immediately forgetting what you looked like.’
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Question 6: “What do we gain by ‘obeying’ God’s Words?”
Answer: “St. James tells us that greater obedience to Jesus lets us be ‘happy’ in 1:25. ‘But the man who looks steadily at the perfect law of freedom and makes that his habit – not listening and then forgetting, but actively putting it into practice – will be happy in all that he does.’
Catholics put The Great Decree of Jesus Christ into ‘practice’! ‘And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I give you the keys of The Kingdom of Heaven.’“
St. James is clear! No one who willfully rejects those ‘keys’ can ever be ‘happy’!”
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Question 7: “Does St. James tell us how to identify people who ‘deceive’ themselves?”
Answer: “‘1:26 Nobody must imagine that he is religious while he still goes on deceiving himself and not keeping control over his tongue; anyone who does this has the wrong idea of religion.’ People who talk too much always prefer ‘words’ to ‘obedience’!”
1:27 tells us what we should do instead of ‘talking all the time’! ‘Pure, unspoiled religion, in the eyes of God our Father is this: coming to the help of orphans and widows when they need it, and keeping oneself uncontaminated by the world.’”
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Simple Reasons to be Catholic. https://catholicfundamentalism.com/
We can find interesting ideas in this, https://catholicfundamentalism.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AllTheWorldIsAStage-Final.pdf and other free books: https://catholicfundamentalism.com/our-books/
If you like the no-cost downloads, please consider a donation to your Parish or favorite Catholic Charity. Please share: catholicfundamentalism.com
The best book of the last Century is “The Diary of St. Faustina”. It tells us how much Jesus loves our soul. https://www.saint-faustina.org/diary-full-text/
