Page 33 - Nurturing the Nurturer 2018 Flip Page Program

What do we mean by “Merits?

By this we mean fruits, rewards, or good deeds. But this is not a proportionate system
whereby we do certain good works and simply earn our way to heaven, as if God
literally “owed” us something.

Rather, Jesus merits our capacity to
merit in the first place; He is the
primary cause of every merit accrued to
us. But just because he is the primary
cause does not mean that we have no
part to play at all. If we are connected
to him, and use our free will to love
others, we are truly secondary causes in
his work of salvation.

On our own, we are absolutely
incapable of obtaining supernatural
merits. This is because we are fallen,
sinful human beings. An unplugged lamp won’t give off any light, no matter how
many times you turn the switch. Similarly, original sin unplugged our souls from the
source of grace – God himself. When Jesus became man and offered himself in
atonement for our sins, he plugged human nature back in to God, so to speak. This
was the redemption. And so, anyone who is united to Christ through faith and the
sacraments is now once again connected to the source of grace – they are living in the
“state of grace.” Only in Christ, then, can we merit: “I am the vine, you are the
branches. Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty; for cut off
from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

But that’s the amazing thing: in Christ, we
can merit. God has consciously chosen to
give us the possibility of making a
difference in his Kingdom. We are not just
along for the ride. What we do and how we
choose to live our ordinary lives can
actually increase the flow of grace in the
world, spreading Christ’s Kingdom and
storing up treasure for us in heaven. Jesus
has not only saved us from damnation, but
he has given us the possibility of becoming
active, meritorious collaborators in the work
of redemption. Not because we deserve it,
but simply because he generously wanted to
give us that possibility: he wanted our lives
to have real meaning, our actions and decisions to have eternal repercussions; He
wanted us to “bear fruit that would remain.” His love makes us friends and
collaborators, not just his robots or spiritual trophies.

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