Psychological Healing
in the Roman Catholic Mystic Tradition

Questions and Answers

Well, then, are we justified by faith or by works?

 
Saint Paul says it quite clearly: “. . . a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ . . .” (Galatians 2:16). And yet Saint James says, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?” (James 2:14). Confused? Well, I don’t blame you. Let’s see, then, what all this means in plain English.

Paul is speaking about justification (which is also called redemption). And in plain English, it amounts to saying that no one can get into heaven through his or her own effort. God is offering us a great gift of everlasting life, and only through faith in Christ can we receive that gift.

But notice that we are still creatures of free will. Even with faith in Christ we can still commit sin, if we will it. Saint James, then, speaks about the matter of our salvation. This amounts to saying that even though we can’t get into heaven by our own efforts, we can easily enough, through our own actions, send ourselves right to hell. And that’s why Saint Paul tells us to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12b).

And here is where psychology comes into play. Our wills are motivated by desire, and desire is largely unconscious. In fact, it is through the “desire of the Other”—that is, social desire, such as in movies and TV and music and advertising—that we become “infected” with anti-Christian values without even being aware of it. Moreover, there are powerful, unconscious parts inside all of us that are so terrified of abandonment and loss that they will refuse holiness itself in order to seize from the world any satisfaction and pleasure they can get, pursuing their desires at all costs, even if the ultimate cost is hell itself.

Now, that’s a terrifying thought, once you wake up to realize that this sort of struggle is really happening right under your own nose.

Lest this spiritual battle seem hopeless, Christ offered the solution: deny yourself. Stop seeking personal satisfaction from life and you will be immune to the unholy desires of the world around you. As you take up the healing of your darkest wounds by surrendering your pride and defensive identity, your will can become aligned with God’s will. To do this, though, you must submit to psychological purgation through your own dark night of soul.

That’s why Saint Paul, right as he speaks about justification by faith, in the very same paragraph, emphasizes this point: “I have been crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:19). In plain English, this means that unless your life ends in crucifixion—at least, psychological crucifixion, the death of ego and pride—you’re putting your salvation into your own hands, not God’s. But if you accept your crucifixion, freely and willingly, with chaste purity of heart and with ardent desire for God’s love, you have all the hope and all the mercy in the whole universe available to you.

 


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