"Faith without works is dead" (James 2.26), says the apostle, St. James. This same lesson was taught by Our Lord when He said "Not every one who says to me, `Lord, Lord' shall enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of my Father in heaven shall enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 7.21). In other words, we are obliged not only to believe all that God has revealed, but also to obey all that He commands.
Our reason tells us that certain things are good and obligatory, such as worshipping God and obeying our parents, while other things are bad and sinful, such as theft or murder. These obligations and prohibitions make up the natural law. To know this we need no revelation; yet, because human beings through ignorance and malice are apt to go astray even in this law, God gave the Israelites the ten commandments, which explicitly contain the chief obligations of the natural law, and implicitly contain all the rest. Thus, the fourth commandment explicitly commands children to honor their parents; yet it surely implies other obligations, such as love, respect and obedience, as also the duties of parents toward their children. God also laid down certain other laws for the people of Israel in addition to the natural law, such as the prohibition to eat certain kinds of food (Leviticus 11). These constitute what we call the positive law. It is evident that God, Creator and Lord of all mankind, has a right to make any laws He wills, and men have the obligation to obey them.
It should be noted that the enumeration of the ten commandments differs in the Catholic Church from that followed by most Protestants. What is the first commandment for Catholics is divided into two commandments by Protestants, while the ninth and tenth commandments of Catholics form only one commandment for Protestants, so that our commandments from the second to the ninth are numbered one higher by Protestants.
Our Lord emphasized the necessity of obeying the natural law. He Himself also added some positive laws for all mankind, such as the obligation to enter His Church. He did away with the ceremonial laws of the chosen people, such as the laws regarding the types of food that were forbidden and the observance of the Sabbath Day. In His law the prominent feature is love love for God and love for our fellow men. That is why He said that all the laws of God could be summed up in the two commandments, to love God and to love our neighbor. For this same reason He wills that His followers shall not content themselves with merely obeying laws. He wishes them to do more than what is commanded. In the Christian religion the works of mercy, which are deeds of charity toward one's neighbor in his bodily or spiritual needs, are recommended to all. And to those who wish to practice Christian virtue in its highest forms our Savior gave the counsels of perfection: poverty, chastity and obedience.
These counsels are the basis of the religious state. There are hundreds of different orders and congregations, each doing its own particular work for God's glory, but all leading their members nearer to God by the constant practice of Christian virtue. Some female religious teach, others care for the sick and the aged and orphans, others devote themselves entirely to prayer in the seclusion of their convents. Some male religious are priests; others are brothers. And the Church is ever holding the religious life before Catholic boys and girls as the most perfect way in which one may serve God and our neighbor and the surest way of winning the happiness of heaven.
Sometimes young folks feel a desire for the life of holiness which the religious state offers, but they fear that they have no vocation to this sublime state. It is possible that they entertain a false notion about a vocation. They seem to imagine that those who are called to the religious life receive a clear internal inspiration, inviting them to the monastery or the convent. On this point they are entirely mistaken. The very fact that a person has the requisite qualities of body and of soul to fulfill the duties of the religious life and feels an inclination toward this form of life can be regarded as an indication that he has a vocation and that he may lawfully seek admission to an order or congregation. During the noviciate he will have a sufficient opportunity to judge whether or not he is called to the religious state.
Today there is great need of candidates for the religious life, especially those who will devote themselves to works of charity, such as the care of the sick and the education of children. The spirit of the age, so eager for material wealth and pleasures and honors, is indeed the very opposite of the religious spirit of poverty and selfdenial and humility. But the very fact that there is so great a difference between the world and the cloister reflects great credit and merit on those who enter the religious life.
Young folks who think that they may have a religious vocation should pray fervently for divine guidance, read good books on the religious state, and consult an experienced confessor.
RESOLUTION: Resolve to perform at least once a day a work of corporal or spiritual mercy.