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.
We are God’s Adopted Children
Our adoption by God as his children is brought about through sanctifying grace. As a result of God’s love for us, he has made us coheirs with Christ who made us worthy to obtain the promised inheritance of eternal life. The fact that we can merit for our good works is itself a gift of God’s goodness. Everything begins with grace. Through grace we can gain merit, through the loving mercy of God.
God is very generous to us, and he wants us to pray for all good things, even temporal goods like health and friendship. In our own prayers however, we always pray that “Thy will be done”.
Christ’s love for us is the source of all good things we receive when we do good works with the help of actual grace. God rewards us by permitting us to grow in his love. Our lives and our actions become more and more super-naturalized, and we strive to rise above all desire for reward and look only for our ever closer union with God.
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“We know that God makes all things work together for the good of those who have been called according to his decree. For those he foreknew he predestined to share the image of his Son, that the son might be the firstborn among many brothers. Those he destined he likewise called; those he called he also justified, and those he justified he in turn also glorified.” (Rom.8:28-30)
All Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity. All are called to holiness. Spiritual progress tends toward evermore intimate union with Christ. This union is called “mystical” because it leads us into the mystery of Christ.
“If we have died with Christ, we believe that we are also to live with him. We know that Christ, once raised from the dead, will never die again; death has no more power over him. His death was death to sin, once for all; His life is life for God. In the same way, you must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive for God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:8-11)