See also “Righteousness.”

Works refer to working on ourselves to improve ourselves as human beings. It is actually doing and not just listening. It refers to acting on what we have been taught by Jesus. It is not enough to hear and then depart thinking that that was all that was needed to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. We must not just be hearers but also doers. This was emphasized so many times by Jesus that it has become difficult to understand how we came to miss this very point.

The indolence which has characterized the human condition made it possible whereby preachers and so-called interpreters of the Word told us that all we needed to do to enter the Kingdom of Heaven was pay some sort of penance to the Church and that we did not have to work on ourselves and that faith was enough and so on and so forth.

The Word of Jesus, however, puts a lie to all this in demanding rigorous adherence to His Teaching and that it is “those who do the Will of my Father” who will enter the Kingdom and not those who say “Lord,  lord…”.

Let us therefore work on ourselves to achieve that perfection of spirit which is our goal in keeping our thoughts, words and actions pure so that this accords with what Jesus demands of us.