For a Protestant, whose "faith alone" marks a central tenet of his faith, Catholics often can be accused of adding works to faith. "Works" indeed can be an easily equivocated term and often times is confused with the laws of Judaism. When a Protestant sees a Catholic doing penance like fasting or saying set prayers or doing a pilgrimage or the way of the cross, and accuses the Catholic of "working" for salvation, the accusation is correct if by "working" he means the practice of such like spiritual exercises.

Indeed, my reply is not to deny that we "work" but to point out that the Catholic tradition not only condones works but has a proud spiritual theology of works. One recalls Brother Lawrence and his Practice of the Presence of God and St. John of the Cross' discussion of how to detach oneself from sacramentals in his Dark Night of the Soul. For a Protestant such talk can sound like a Christian trying to earn his salvation. Perhaps it might seem as if I am adding fuel to fire. Yet in doing so I am not ashamed, because the Catholic practice of "works" is not without basis.

Salvation: No Small Change

In this article, I wish to explain why it is more fitting for the Catholic theological tradition to have treatises on the practice of the presence of God and growth in mystical prayer in comparison with the Protestant (specifically the Lutheran) religion.

For Catholics, the theory of the salvation of the individual hinges on the thesis that there is a qualitative change in the individual. That means that there is a real change in the soul, not just God's perception of it. This is a change brought about by the gift of sanctifying grace. Thus, Brian Mullady OP writes:

Since God communicates his nature to man, this must involve a change which is not just a psychological change. The change is ontological. God creates a new quality in the soul. This is a supernatural quality of life.¹

Now certainly a change can be instantaneous, as for example, the conversion of St. Paul. This however, seems to be something out of the ordinary. Change is usually gradual.