22 Jul 2014
The
predominant faults we have cause us not to cooperate with grace. Pride,
greed, envy, lust and so on keep one from following the urgings of
grace. Do people actually ignore little hints, or even big hints? Yes. A
man I know ...
20 Jun 2014
Yes,
this is a wonderful grace-but it takes much suffering from others and
dependence upon Divine Providence to obtain it and recognize it.
Forgiveness with the will and prayer for those that calumniate us is
also a path to ...
10 May 2014
One
does not get more "grace" by doing things in the traditional mode; one
may get merit; one can have more easy access to grace through the
traditional movement. One may be made more open by attending the Latin
Mass, ...
06 Mar 2014
There
is much confusion among Catholics less than 55 years old on the nature
of grace. This is owing to bad catechesis and the Protestand mindset
which crept into the Church in the 1970s. I am reposting this and one.
28 Jul 2013
Internal
helps, which are either permanent (such as infused habits, for
instance, sanctifying grace, the virtues and gifts) or transient (such
as supernatural movements which excite in us indeliberate acts, pious
thoughts and .
02 Dec 2013
Justification
is to be derived from the prevenient grace of God, through Jesus
Christ, that is to say, from His vocation, whereby, without any merits
existing on their parts, they are called; that so they, who by sins were
alienated .
21 Mar 2013
Internal
helps, which are either permanent (such as infused habits, for
instance, sanctifying grace, the virtues and gifts) or transient (such
as supernatural movements which excite in us indeliberate acts, pious
thoughts and ...
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com
21 Mar 2013
We
differ greatly from the Protestants, as we believe that Christ wants
all to be saved. Grace is available to all men and women, but God gives
as He wills, not as we will...We also believe that reason is an
important faculty in ...
07 Apr 2013
I
reiterate this point today as many converts coming from the Evangelical
and Lutheran, as well as Anglican communities do not understand this
interplay of grace and will. Grace is not a feeling. It is not a
consolation. It is the ...
02 Jun 2012
The
phrase Dei Gratia, is part of the title of the monarch of Great
Britain. By the grace of God, she reigns. Now, Americans have a hard
time with this overlap of religion and politics. And, this weekend's
amazing celebration of ...
24 Mar 2013
...
grace from another blog. Posted by Supertradmum ·
http://www.stpeterslist.com/5452/sacraments-of-the-dead-12-questions-on-sacrilege-and-grace/
· Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to
Pinterest.
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/
16 Feb 2012
The
subject of Baptism is found below in more than one posting, but we
become children of God, heirs to heaven, freed from Original Sin, and
given sanctifying grace, which means, the Indwelling of the Trinity. If a
child, who ...
09 Jul 2014
“The
Semi-Pelagians maintained that man can have the initium fidei et
salutis, the beginning of faith and a good desire apart from grace, this
beginning being subsequently confirmed by God. According to their view,
not God ...
21 Jul 2014
(1)
"Predestination to the first grace is not because God foresaw our
naturally good works, nor is the beginning of salutary acts due to
natural causes; (2) predestination to glory is not because God foresaw
we would continue ...
23 Jul 2013
Grace
is not fairy dust. Grace is the life of God given to us in several
ways. There are also many posts on grace. One can use the search bar or
the labels or the tags. Sacramentals. Here is merely the section on
sacramentals ...
09 Jun 2014
Imagine
Divine Providence, God from all time thinking of each one of us, seeing
us in sanctifying grace, desiring that we persevere in baptismal
innocence, as do so many of the saints. Each one of us is the object of
God's ...
09 Apr 2014
That
others may be esteemed more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire
it. That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may
decrease, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. That others may be
chosen and ...
06 Jun 2013
If
sanctifying grace is the seed of eternal life in us, what follows as a
result? First of all, that sanctifying grace, called "the grace of the
virtues and the gifts," is "much more excellent," as St. Thomas
says,(13) than the graces ...
05 Nov 2013
A
gentle reminder is that the Dark Night is a grace, but one offered to
all. How long it takes is up to God. For some, it lasts months and for
some years. Again, one is reminded of Blessed Mother Teresa's 50 years
in the Dark ...
13 Oct 2013
Third,
the unity of this saint with the Holy Spirit would bring a near
completion of this conception of "all is grace". Through intense
suffering and death of the ego, Therese went through the purification of
the senses and spirit ...
21 Mar 2013
Justification
is to be derived from the prevenient grace of God, through Jesus
Christ, that is to say, from His vocation, whereby, without any merits
existing on their parts, they are called; that so they, who by sins were
alienated ...
16 Jul 2013
Wherefore
I beseech You, through grace and mercy, that, from today henceforward, I
may never again wander from the path of Your doctrine, given by Your
goodness to me and to whoever wishes to follow it, because without ...
05 Mar 2014
He
told me that truth has a grace attached to it. Anytime we speak the
truth, we conform to what Christ teaches and what is being taught by the
Church. Every time we stand up for the truth there is an internal grace
from God ...
27 Aug 2012
But,
she had made a vow and the vow brought grace. She also stated that
because of the days in which she lived, ten years after being a
religious, at an older age and some maturity, she had virtually no
counsel from priests ...
21 Mar 2013
The
CCC is clear on merit and grace and this is like a summary of the
perfection series! I do not think a commentary is necessary here. These
selections from the CCC have been repeated in the Doctors of the Church
series ...
03 Dec 2013
It
is clear that the grace of the sacraments lead one to perfection. The
Eucharist, states Blessed John Paul II, gives us both the power and the
source of that complete gift of self. Christ gives Himself to each one
of us and each ...
22 Jul 2014
(3)
That those, however, who are walking in the path of righteousness in
their innocence, He heals and aid their free will by grace. (4) The who
go far from God, who is desirous of gathering the children of Jerusalem
that will it ...
03 Dec 2013
...
The Grace of Forgetfulness. Posted by Supertradmum. Listen to the mp3s I
listed earlier.....Fr. Ripperger notes that the way of perfection is
brutal. God bless this good priest, carrying on the tradition of
Garrigou-Lagrange and ...
24 Mar 2012
I
find that the recent plethora of false visions do not help the real
concept of Mary as Mother of God, but only emphasize her role as
petitioner, not even her role as Mediatrix of All Grace. The quicker
Rome clarifies her position ...
20 Jan 2013
Who
would be sufficient without God's grace to give continual attendance to
reading and constant earnestness in work, receiving no advantage of
present gain? And all these matters, as we cannot desire them
continuously ...
22 Jul 2014
Basically,
the Church has accepted and made into teachings the insights of St.
Augustine against the Pelagians and Semipelagians. There is Original
Sin, grace is necessary and gratuitous, and we are absolutely
dependent ...
09 Jul 2014
(Should
I comment here that this is the case for so many Protestants, who do
not believe in sanctifying grace or the sacraments, but think the
initial grace of conversion is enough? See my posts on the types of
grace and on ...
06 Jun 2012
Now,
both the low church Protestants and the atheists, including some of the
anarchists below, would be shocked to know that they have in common the
idea that we are idolaters par excellence. The academic craze for ...
21 Mar 2013
We
differ greatly from the Protestants, as we believe that Christ wants
all to be saved. Grace is available to all men and women, but God gives
as He wills, not as we will...We also believe that reason is an
important faculty in ...
11 Aug 2013
And,
even in 2013, prejudice rears its ugly head in conversations with
protestants, who have been raised to hate things, even people, which and
who are Catholic. The second is disobedience, which is connected to
heresy.
05 Jul 2012
Two
things have struck me on this history, the history of Protestantism and
the factions within the Catholic Church. Firstly, the Revolt of the
Protestants, like the defection of the Arians, hurt the Church with a
wound which is still ...
04 Aug 2012
In
this post I want to talk about one of the most striking differences
that I have noticed in the fundamental outlook of Protestants and
Catholics regarding the relationship between God and His Church. In the
title of this post, ...
29 May 2014
In
the rest of the chapter, Manning shows how the only thing really
separating the Protestants from the true Church is the "divine tradition
of dogma, its certainty and purity." That the Holy Spirit has guided
and taught the Church ...
01 Dec 2013
Because
either some Protestants have made comments on this blog, or because
some Catholics are thinking like Protestants, I am going to outline a
few points of confusion. I apologize for the length of this. There will
be more ...
28 Jul 2013
We
differ greatly from the Protestants, as we believe that Christ wants
all to be saved. Grace is available to all men and women, but God gives
as He wills, not as we will...We also believe that reason is an
important faculty in .
And from the CCC.
ARTICLE 2
GRACE AND JUSTIFICATION
I. JUSTIFICATION
1987 The grace of the Holy Spirit has the power to justify us, that is, to cleanse us from our sins and to communicate to us "the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ" and through Baptism:34
- But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves as dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.35
- [God] gave himself to us through his Spirit. By the participation of the Spirit, we become communicants in the divine nature. . . . For this reason, those in whom the Spirit dwells are divinized.37
1990 Justification detaches man from sin which contradicts the love of God, and purifies his heart of sin. Justification follows upon God's merciful initiative of offering forgiveness. It reconciles man with God. It frees from the enslavement to sin, and it heals.
1991 Justification is at the same time the acceptance of God's righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ. Righteousness (or "justice") here means the rectitude of divine love. With justification, faith, hope, and charity are poured into our hearts, and obedience to the divine will is granted us.
1992 Justification has been merited for us by the Passion of Christ who offered himself on the cross as a living victim, holy and pleasing to God, and whose blood has become the instrument of atonement for the sins of all men. Justification is conferred in Baptism, the sacrament of faith. It conforms us to the righteousness of God, who makes us inwardly just by the power of his mercy. Its purpose is the glory of God and of Christ, and the gift of eternal life:40
- But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins; it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus.41
- When God touches man's heart through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, man himself is not inactive while receiving that inspiration, since he could reject it; and yet, without God's grace, he cannot by his own free will move himself toward justice in God's sight.42
1995 The Holy Spirit is the master of the interior life. By giving birth to the "inner man,"44 justification entails the sanctification of his whole being:
- Just as you once yielded your members to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now yield your members to righteousness for sanctification. . . . But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life.45
1996 Our justification comes from the grace of God. Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life.46
1997 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" he can henceforth call God "Father," in union with the only Son. He receives the life of the Spirit who breathes charity into him and who forms the Church.
1998 This vocation to eternal life is supernatural. It depends entirely on God's gratuitous initiative, for he alone can reveal and give himself. It surpasses the power of human intellect and will, as that of every other creature.47
1999 The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own life, infused by the Holy Spirit into our 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:48
- Therefore if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself.49
2001 The preparation of man for the reception of grace is already a work of grace. This latter is needed to arouse and sustain our collaboration in justification through faith, and in sanctification through charity. God brings to completion in us what he has begun, "since he who completes his work by cooperating with our will began by working so that we might will it:"50
- Indeed we also work, but we are only collaborating with God who works, for his mercy has gone before us. It has gone before us so that we may be healed, and follows us so that once healed, we may be given life; it goes before us so that we may be called, and follows us so that we may be glorified; it goes before us so that we may live devoutly, and follows us so that we may always live with God: for without him we can do nothing.51
- If at the end of your very good works . . ., you rested on the seventh day, it was to foretell by the voice of your book that at the end of our works, which are indeed "very good" since you have given them to us, we shall also rest in you on the sabbath of eternal life.52
2004 Among the special graces ought to be mentioned the graces of state that accompany the exercise of the responsibilities of the Christian life and of the ministries within the Church:
- Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; he who teaches, in his teaching; he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who contributes, in liberality; he who gives aid, with zeal; he who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.55
- 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.'"58
- You are glorified in the assembly of your Holy Ones, for in crowning their merits you are crowning your own gifts.59
2007 With regard to God, there is no strict right to any merit on the part of man. Between God and us there is an immeasurable inequality, for we have received everything from him, our Creator.
2008 The merit of man before God in the Christian life arises from the fact that God has freely chosen to associate man with the work of his grace. The fatherly action of God is first on his own initiative, and then follows man's free acting through his collaboration, so that the merit of good works is to be attributed in the first place to the grace of God, then to the faithful. Man's merit, moreover, itself is due to God, for his good actions proceed in Christ, from the predispositions and assistance given by the Holy Spirit.
2009 Filial adoption, in making us partakers by grace in the divine nature, can bestow true merit on us as a result of God's gratuitous justice. This is our right by grace, the full right of love, making us "co-heirs" with Christ and worthy of obtaining "the promised inheritance of eternal life."60 The merits of our good works are gifts of the divine goodness.61 "Grace has gone before us; now we are given what is due. . . . Our merits are God's gifts."62
2010 Since the initiative belongs to God in the order of grace, no one can merit the initial grace of forgiveness and justification, at the beginning of conversion. Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification, for the increase of grace and charity, and for the attainment of eternal life. Even temporal goods like health and friendship can be merited in accordance with God's wisdom. These graces and goods are the object of Christian prayer. Prayer attends to the grace we need for meritorious actions.
2011 The charity of Christ is the source in us of all our merits before God. Grace, by uniting us to Christ in active love, ensures the supernatural quality of our acts and consequently their merit before God and before men. The saints have always had a lively awareness that their merits were pure grace.
- After earth's exile, I hope to go and enjoy you in the fatherland, but I do not want to lay up merits for heaven. I want to work for your love alone. . . . In the evening of this life, I shall appear before you with empty hands, for I do not ask you, Lord, to count my works. All our justice is blemished in your eyes. I wish, then, to be clothed in your own justice and to receive from your love the eternal possession of yourself.63
2012 "We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him . . . For those whom he fore knew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified."64
2013 "All Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity."65 All are called to holiness: "Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."66
- In order to reach this perfection the faithful should use the strength dealt out to them by Christ's gift, so that . . . doing the will of the Father in everything, they may wholeheartedly devote themselves to the glory of God and to the service of their neighbor. Thus the holiness of the People of God will grow in fruitful abundance, as is clearly shown in the history of the Church through the lives of so many saints.67
2015 The way of perfection passes by way of the Cross. There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle.68 Spiritual progress entails the ascesis and mortification that gradually lead to living in the peace and joy of the Beatitudes:
- He who climbs never stops going from beginning to beginning, through beginnings that have no end. He never stops desiring what he already knows.69
IN BRIEF
2017 The grace of the Holy Spirit confers upon us the righteousness of God. Uniting us by faith and Baptism to the Passion and Resurrection of Christ, the Spirit makes us sharers in his life.
2018 Like conversion, justification has two aspects. Moved by grace, man turns toward God and away from sin, and so accepts forgiveness and righteousness from on high.
2019 Justification includes the remission of sins, sanctification, and the renewal of the inner man.
2020 Justification has been merited for us by the Passion of Christ. It is granted us through Baptism. It conforms us to the righteousness of God, who justifies us. It has for its goal the glory of God and of Christ, and the gift of eternal life. It is the most excellent work of God's mercy.
2021 Grace is the help God gives us to respond to our vocation of becoming his adopted sons. It introduces us into the intimacy of the Trinitarian life.
2022 The divine initiative in the work of grace precedes, prepares, and elicits the free response of man. Grace responds to the deepest yearnings of human freedom, calls freedom to cooperate with it, and perfects freedom.
2023 Sanctifying grace is the gratuitous gift of his life that God makes to us; it is infused by the Holy Spirit into the soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it.
2024 Sanctifying grace makes us "pleasing to God." Charisms, special graces of the Holy Spirit, are oriented to sanctifying grace and are intended for the common good of the Church. God also acts through many actual graces, to be distinguished from habitual grace which is permanent in us.
2025 We can have merit in God's sight only because of God's free plan to associate man with the work of his grace. Merit is to be ascribed in the first place to the grace of God, and secondly to man's collaboration. Man's merit is due to God.
2026 The grace of the Holy Spirit can confer true merit on us, by virtue of our adoptive filiation, and in accordance with God's gratuitous justice. Charity is the principal source of merit in us before God.
2027 No one can merit the initial grace which is at the origin of conversion. Moved by the Holy Spirit, we can merit for ourselves and for others all the graces needed to attain eternal life, as well as necessary temporal goods.
2028 "All Christians . . . are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity" (LG 40 § 2). "Christian perfection has but one limit, that of having none" (St. Gregory of Nyssa, De vita Mos.:PG 44, 300D).
2029 "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Mt 16:24).
34 Rom 3:22; cf. 6:3-4.
35 Rom 6:8-11.
36 Cf. 1 Cor 12; Jn 15:1-4.
37 St. Athanasius, Ep. Serap. 1,24:PG 26,585 and 588.
38 Mt 4:17.
39 Council of Trent (1547): DS 1528.
40 Cf. Council of Trent (1547): DS 1529.
41 Rom 3:21-26.
42 Council of Trent (1547): DS 1525.
43 St. Augustine, In Jo. ev. 72,3:PL 35,1823.
44 Cf. Rom 7:22; Eph 3:16.
45 Rom 6:19,22.
46 Cf. Jn 1:12-18; 17:3; Rom 8:14-17; 2 Pet 1:3-4.
47 Cf. 1 Cor 2:7-9.
48 Cf. Jn 4:14; 7:38-39.
49 2 Cor 5:17-18.
50 St. Augustine, De gratia et libero arbitrio, 17:PL 44,901.
51 St. Augustine, De natura et gratia, 31:PL 44,264.
52 St. Augustine, Conf. 13,36 51:PL 32,868; cf. Gen 1:31.
53 Cf. LG 12.
54 Cf. 1 Cor 12.
55 Rom 12:6-8.
56 Cf. Council of Trent (1547): DS 1533-1534.
57 Mt 7:20.
58 Acts of the trial of St. Joan of Arc.
59 Roman Missal, Prefatio I de sanctis; Qui in Sanctorum concilio celebraris, et eorum coronando merita tua dona coronas, citing the "Doctor of grace," St. Augustine, En. in Ps. 102,7:PL 37,1321-1322.
60 Council of Trent (1547): DS 1546.
61 Cf. Council of Trent (1547): DS 1548.
62 St. Augustine, Sermo 298,4-5:PL 38,1367.
63 St. Thérèse of Lisieux, "Act of Offering" in Story of a Soul, tr. John Clarke (Washington DC: ICS, 1981), 277.
64 Rom 8:28-30.
65 LG 40 § 2.
66 Mt 5:48.
67 LG 40 § 2.
68 Cf. 2 Tim 4.
69 St. Gregory of Nyssa, Hom. in Cant. 8:PG 44,941C.
70 Cf. Council of Trent (1547): DS 1576.
71 Rev 21:2.