THAT may be a redundancy, since grace
by definition is
always gratuitous. It is something given to us at the sheer initiative
of our creator. It is something that we have no right to claim, but is
given to us just the same.
And that’s simply because God, our Creator and Father, out
of pure goodness and love, wants it that way. He wants that we
participate in his very own life by making us his image and likeness
and, in fact, children of his.
And in spite of our sin, God still wants to give it to us.
That’s how much he loves us as shown by Christ, the son of God who
became man to be our redeemer, who assumed all our sins by dying on
the cross and then resurrecting.
As the Compendium of the Catechism would define it, grace
is “the gratuitous gift that God gives us to make us participants in
his Trinitarian life and able to act by his love.” (423) We cannot
love as we are supposed to do unless we have this grace.
This grace is more properly called as the habitual or
sanctifying or deifying grace because “it sanctifies and divinizes us.
It is also called supernatural because it depends entirely on God’s
gratuitous initiative and surpasses the ability of the intellect and
the power of human beings. It therefore escapes our experience.” (423)
Aside from this sanctifying grace, there also are the
actual graces which are meant for specific circumstances, sacramental
graces which are proper to each sacrament, and other special graces or
charisms that are intended for the common good.
Among the charisms are the graces of state that accompany
the exercise of Church ministries and the different states and
responsibilities of life. (cfr. 424) Examples would be the charism of
being a founder of a spiritual group, a leader of a nation, etc.
We have to be aware of the role of grace in our life and
activities, since grace is what makes everything that we are and do
pleasing to God. Though its presence and action in us is beyond our
perception, it would help greatly to be aware of it so we can
cooperate with it as much as we can and should.
Most importantly, grace enables us to earn merits before
God for any good action that we do, since this action would be united
with the most pleasing sacrifice of Christ to his Father.
Such awareness would lead us to be most thankful to God
and to do everything with rectitude of intention, that is, with
humility, with desire to do things as best as we can, with deep
understanding of the twists and turns, the ups and downs of our life.
It endows us with a sense of purpose in life. It prevents us from
getting lost in life, or confused and swept away by worldly forces.
With such awareness, we would know that we are never alone
in our life, that the source of everything good is God always and not
just ourselves or some natural resources. It makes us objective and
realistic, not simply subjective and inventive, and much less, up in
the clouds.
The nature of grace is such that, given our human
condition as God’s children, we need to ask for it and merit it even
if it is God’s pure initiative to give it to us gratuitously.
This aspect of grace in relation to us is not easy to
understand, because we can always ask why should it be merited if
after all it is given to us gratuitously and freely? To this question,
a number of possible answers have been offered, ranging from the
extreme of pure gratuity without merit at all to the other extreme of
pure merit and thus undermining the gratuity of grace.
The Catholic teaching upholds that grace is a gratuitous
gift of God that at the same time enables one to earn merit or
recompense for the good that he does. It is a gift that definitely
shows itself in some good fruits in a person and thus enabling us to
earn merit.
That sense of merit that one gains and develops as a fruit
of grace is expressed not in a proud or vain way, but rather always in
a humble way. It’s a sense that would drive one to do more good deeds.
In fact, it would drive him to do endless good deeds, because it
causes Christian love to spring and grow, a love that knows no limits.
always gratuitous. It is something given to us at the sheer initiative
of our creator. It is something that we have no right to claim, but is
given to us just the same.
And that’s simply because God, our Creator and Father, out
of pure goodness and love, wants it that way. He wants that we
participate in his very own life by making us his image and likeness
and, in fact, children of his.
And in spite of our sin, God still wants to give it to us.
That’s how much he loves us as shown by Christ, the son of God who
became man to be our redeemer, who assumed all our sins by dying on
the cross and then resurrecting.
As the Compendium of the Catechism would define it, grace
is “the gratuitous gift that God gives us to make us participants in
his Trinitarian life and able to act by his love.” (423) We cannot
love as we are supposed to do unless we have this grace.
This grace is more properly called as the habitual or
sanctifying or deifying grace because “it sanctifies and divinizes us.
It is also called supernatural because it depends entirely on God’s
gratuitous initiative and surpasses the ability of the intellect and
the power of human beings. It therefore escapes our experience.” (423)
Aside from this sanctifying grace, there also are the
actual graces which are meant for specific circumstances, sacramental
graces which are proper to each sacrament, and other special graces or
charisms that are intended for the common good.
Among the charisms are the graces of state that accompany
the exercise of Church ministries and the different states and
responsibilities of life. (cfr. 424) Examples would be the charism of
being a founder of a spiritual group, a leader of a nation, etc.
We have to be aware of the role of grace in our life and
activities, since grace is what makes everything that we are and do
pleasing to God. Though its presence and action in us is beyond our
perception, it would help greatly to be aware of it so we can
cooperate with it as much as we can and should.
Most importantly, grace enables us to earn merits before
God for any good action that we do, since this action would be united
with the most pleasing sacrifice of Christ to his Father.
Such awareness would lead us to be most thankful to God
and to do everything with rectitude of intention, that is, with
humility, with desire to do things as best as we can, with deep
understanding of the twists and turns, the ups and downs of our life.
It endows us with a sense of purpose in life. It prevents us from
getting lost in life, or confused and swept away by worldly forces.
With such awareness, we would know that we are never alone
in our life, that the source of everything good is God always and not
just ourselves or some natural resources. It makes us objective and
realistic, not simply subjective and inventive, and much less, up in
the clouds.
The nature of grace is such that, given our human
condition as God’s children, we need to ask for it and merit it even
if it is God’s pure initiative to give it to us gratuitously.
This aspect of grace in relation to us is not easy to
understand, because we can always ask why should it be merited if
after all it is given to us gratuitously and freely? To this question,
a number of possible answers have been offered, ranging from the
extreme of pure gratuity without merit at all to the other extreme of
pure merit and thus undermining the gratuity of grace.
The Catholic teaching upholds that grace is a gratuitous
gift of God that at the same time enables one to earn merit or
recompense for the good that he does. It is a gift that definitely
shows itself in some good fruits in a person and thus enabling us to
earn merit.
That sense of merit that one gains and develops as a fruit
of grace is expressed not in a proud or vain way, but rather always in
a humble way. It’s a sense that would drive one to do more good deeds.
In fact, it would drive him to do endless good deeds, because it
causes Christian love to spring and grow, a love that knows no limits.
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