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In Catholicism
What is grace in Catholicism?
Great question. There are several general aspects under which grace can be understood: Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call …to become children of God, adoptive sons [and daughters], partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life. (CCC no. 1996)Grace is a participation in the life of God. It introduces us into the intimacy of Trinitarian life: by Baptism the Christian participates in the grace of Christ, the Head of his Body. As an "adopted son [or daughter]" he [or she] can henceforth call God "Father," in union with the only Son. He [or she] receives the life of the Spirit Who breathes charity into him [or her] and Who forms the Church. (CCC no. 1997)The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own life, infused by the Holy Spirit into [one's] soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it. It is the sanctifying or deifying grace received in Baptism. It is in us the source of the work of sanctification [cf. 2 Cor 5:17-18] (CCC no. 1999) More specifically, there is a distinction between Sanctifying (or Habitual) Grace and that which is termed Actual Grace: Sanctifying grace is an habitual gift, a stable and supernatural disposition that perfects the soul itself to enable it to live with God, to act by his love. Habitual grace, the permanent disposition to live and act in keeping with God's call, is distinguished from actual graces, which refer to God's interventions, whether at the beginning of conversion or in the course of the work of sanctification. (CCC no. 2000) Again there is also a distinction between Sacramental Graces and those that are called Special Graces (or charisms). Grace is first and foremost the gift of the Spirit who justifies and sanctifies us. But grace also includes the gifts that the Spirit grants us to associate us with his work, to enable us to collaborate in the salvation of others and in the growth of the Body of Christ, the Church. There are sacramental graces, gifts proper to the different sacraments. (CCC no. 2003)There are furthermore special graces, also called charisms after the Greek term used by St. Paul and meaning "favor," "gratuitous gift," "benefit." Whatever their character - sometimes it is extraordinary, such as the gift of miracles or of tongues - charisms are oriented toward sanctifying grace and are intended for the common good of the Church. They are at the service of charity which builds up the Church. (CCC no. 2003)Among the special graces ought to be mentioned the graces of state that accompany the excercise of the responsibilities of the Christian life and of the ministries within the Church [cf. Rom 12:6-8]. (CCC no. 2004) Grace Is Beyond Our Experience Since it belongs to the supernatural order, grace escapes our experience and cannot be known except by faith. We cannot therefore rely on our feelings or our works to conclude that we are justified and saved. [cf. Council of Trent (1547): DS 1533-1534.] However, according to the Lord's words - "Thus you will know them by their fruits" [Mt 7:20] - reflection on God's blessings in our life and in the lives of the saints offers us a guarantee that grace is at work in us and spurs us on to an ever greater faith and an attitude of trustful poverty. A pleasing illustration of this attitude is found in the reply of St. Joan of Arc to a question posed as a trap by her ecclesiastical judges: "Asked if she knew that she was in God's grace, she replied: 'If I am not, may it please God to put me in it; if I am, may it please God to keep me there.'" (CCC no. 2005) REFERENCES Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Catechism of the Catholic Church, (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1994.) (MORE)
