This vocation to eternal life is supernatural. It depends entirely on God’s gratuitous initiative, for he alone can reveal and give himself. This call surpasses the power of any human intellect and will, even that of an angel.
The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own life, and is infused by the Holy Spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to make it holy. This sanctifying grace is initially received at Baptism, and is in us the source and fountain of the entire work of sanctification.
“This means that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old order has passed away: now all is new! All this has been done by God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. (2Cor. 5:17-18).
God’s free Initiative Demands Man’s Response
Sanctifying grace is an habitual gift, a stable and supernatural disposition that perfects the soul itself, to enable it to live 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 grace which refers to God’s interventions, whether at the beginning of conversion or in the course of the work of sanctification. Actual grace is a divine impulse which enlightens the mind and strengthens the will to do good and to avoid evil.
God’s free initiative demands man’s free response, for God has created man in his image by conferring on him, along with freedom, the power to know him and to love him. By God’s grace the soul enters freely into a communion of love. God immediately touches and directly moves the heart of man. He has placed in man a longing for truth and goodness that can only satisfy. The promises of eternal life respond, beyond all hope, to this desire.
Grace is a 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. Sacramental graces are gifts proper to the different sacraments. They are also special graces called charisms. Although they are sometimes extraordinary, such as in the case of miracles, charisms are orientated toward sanctifying grace and are intended for the common good of the Church. Charisms are at the service of charity which builds up the Church.
Among the special graces is included the grace of one’s state in life. This enables us to carry out the responsibilities of our Christian life and our special works within the Church. “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; he who teaches, 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” (Rom.12:6-8SV).
Since it belongs to the supernatural order, grace escapes our experience, and it cannot be known except through faith. We cannot therefore rely on our feelings or our works to conclude that we are justified and saved. However, according to the Lord’s words, “You can tell a tree by its fruit”, 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 trust.
An illustration of this attitude is found in the reply of 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.
Man’s merit is due to God
The term “merit” refers in general to the recompense owed a person for their good works. Merit is due in justice. The reward should be proportioned to the good work done. Before God, wewe have no strict right to any merit or reward, for we have received everything from him.
Before God we can merit because God our Father called us to act in freedom with the help of his grace, so that any merit we gain through good works is given to us through the generosity of God who associates himself with us in doing good works. Our good actions in Christ flow from the helps given us by the Holy Spirit.
