Active Participants
“And all the people stood as participants in the covenant.”
2 Kings 23:3b
How often do we find ourselves just sitting at Church or Mass and sometimes just let our minds wander? Sometimes our participation in services or liturgies become routine and we resort to becoming passive participants of our faith. We were created to be fully alive, to be full, active participants of our faith.
As Christians, followers of Christ be must be active participants. St. James tells us in his letter that faith without works is dead. Yes, we have been saved by Jesus’s ultimate sacrifice on the Cross, but that does not mean we are automatically saved. That’s right. We are not automatically saved and guaranteed a spot in heaven just because we have been baptized. There is no get out of jail free card when it comes to our salvation. But we do know that God’s mercy and compassion of infinite and unfathomable.
St. Augustine once said, “God created us without us but He will not save us without us.” Our actions here on earth have eternal consequences. God has given to us all that we need to prepare well here on earth so that when the time comes we may appear before Him in all humility, acknowledging our sinfulness and thanking Him for His mercy and love. But anyone who says just because he or she has been baptized he or she has been saved and whatever they do now does not matter, there are greatly mistaken. To be saved, we must be active participants, and allow God to save us. In His Great Commission, Jesus commanded that the disciples “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:19-20). Four verbs are found: go, make, baptize, and teach. These are all active verbs. Disciples are called to be active not merely passive followers. Let us go today, brothers and sisters, and share the love of God with those whom we encounter and embrace our faith in a way that we have never before. For when we encounter others and share the love of God with them, we are really encountering Christ.
