JUST IN CASE.........

Just in case you might think I put too much emphasis on the primacy of love for any Catholic wanting to be "a good Catholic", here is a little piece from Fr. Zacharias quoting the Epistle of James (from "Remember Thy First Love") : Some "might claim that it is enough to believe that God exists.... but the Apostle James says that this sort of attitude can be found even among the demons : 'Thou believest that that there is one God; thou doest well; the Devils also believe, and tremble.' So there is a demonic kind of faith, but no one has ever said that this kind of faith saves, FOR IT CONTAINS NO LOVE. It is plain belief - cold, intellectual and dead. But our desire is for the faith that saves, and this faith, as the Apostle Paul says, 'worketh by love', and places us in a living and life-giving relationship with God."

When we pray for the conversion of sinners, it is not enough that they join RCIA and join the Church. That is the first step only. Our Buddhist friends say, "The raft is not the shore". We could use this metaphor and say RCIA and joining the Church are the raft, but the shore is love, in the likeness of God. Faith "worketh by love"!