"What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?" - James 2:14
It was 2010, and I was in my third year of studies at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. That year I joined the Marquette Liturgical Choir.
It was a close-knit community where I met many wonderful people who became good friends. We were blessed with an excellent Choir Director, who taught us that liturgical music was truly a ministry. She helped us understand that our responsibility was to help people pray, not to put on a performance. Needless to say, the friendships, the education, and the beauty of the choral music were all instrumental - pun intended - for deepening my faith.
It was a close-knit community where I met many wonderful people who became good friends. We were blessed with an excellent Choir Director, who taught us that liturgical music was truly a ministry. She helped us understand that our responsibility was to help people pray, not to put on a performance. Needless to say, the friendships, the education, and the beauty of the choral music were all instrumental - pun intended - for deepening my faith.
The Liturgical Choir sang every Sunday during the school year for the 4:00pm Mass at Gesu Catholic Church. This beautiful church is located in the heart of Marquette's campus, which is itself located in the heart of downtown Milwaukee. The city of Milwaukee is one of the poorest and most segregated in the United States. Thus, it was not uncommon to encounter someone who was homeless while walking through campus.
Winters in Milwaukee can be brutally cold, and when temperatures begin to drop many of the people who are homeless take shelter within the open doors of Gesu. I distinctly remember trudging through the snow one wintry Sunday on my way to Mass, entering the church, and walking past several individuals who were sleeping in the pews.
As we started practicing the songs for Mass, my conscience began to bother me. We were rehearsing some songs that spoke of helping those in need and seeking justice for the poor. I felt like a hypocrite singing these words while people without homes slept right in front of me on church pews. I realized in that moment that even if my words were beautiful, they were quite meaningless unless I put them into action.
I think that is what the apostle St. James is getting at in the second chapter of his letter from which we read this Sunday. He puts it quite bluntly:
If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well," but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
Indeed, living things move, and unless our faith moves us to perform good works, it is not truly alive. A person with real, living faith doesn't just say that he believes he can walk on water, he actually gives it a try! Therefore, let us be people whose faith lives in the works of charity that we do for those in need.
Lord Jesus, we believe in You. Increase our faith and animate our lives with Your Love, so that we may bring Your Light to those in need. We ask this in Your Name, amen.
