On Saving Faith, by Father Richard Frederick Clarke, SJ

Can faith alone save us? Not faith as meaning the acceptance of supernatural truth on God's authority. It is a condition of salvation, but it is not enough by itself to ensure salvation. The devils also believe and tremble. Many a Catholic who has kept the faith will nevertheless be lost. Our Lord warned the Jews not to trust to their being the children of Abraham; we must beware of trusting to the fact of our being children of the Catholic Church. Instead of profiting us at the Day of Judgment, this will only add to our condemnation unless to faith something else be added.

What is this necessary addition? Besides accepting all that God reveals to us, we must act upon our faith. We must add works to faith. We must be able to show our faith by our works. Our faith must be a living faith, that is to say, a faith actuated by charity, a faith that brings forth fruit, a faith that unites us to Jesus Christ, not by the mere tie of a willing assent to His Divine words, but by the further and closer bond of obedience to His Divine commands.

Yet faith is the first step to justification and points the way, and if a man does not resist the grace of God, faith will lead on to hope, and hope to charity. If a man has the faith in his heart, he has the spark with which God's help may be blown into a flame. An act of faith cannot be made without the grace of God, and this grace contains the initial disposition of faith and charity. Hence in dealing with sinners or with the dying, we should begin with eliciting an act of faith, and this will pave the way for an act of hope and of charity.

- text from Beautiful Pearls of Catholic Truth; it has the Imprimatur of Archbishop Michael Augustine Corrigan, Diocese of New York, 6 October 1897