DIVINE GRACE (in English)

[InHocSignoVinces]

This great truth of the necessity of grace
for salvation should excite in us, a great distrust
in our own strength, and at the same
time, great confidence in God. We should
acknowledge with gratitude that all that we
are and have comes from Him, and that
of ourselves we are nothing. Just as God
made all things, keeps them in being, and
directs all by His providence, so He also
works the Redemption and sanctification of
all. By His holy grace He redeems us, sanctifies
us, and directs us to do good. He gives us
supernatural life, nourishes it, and preserves it.
In the natural order He makes all things live by
the light of the sun; in the supernatural order
all live by the light of His grace. " The light of Thy
countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us." 1
"The Spirit breatheth where He will." 2


God is the source of all life, natural and
supernatural. " What hast thou that thou
hast not received, and if thou hast
received, why dost thou glory as if thou
hadst not received it ? " 3 All that is good
comes from God, the source of all goodness.
Of ourselves we can sin and do evil, but
we cannot do anything to rise from sin or to
merit heaven. Natural powers cannot perform
supernatural works, and merely natural
works do not merit a supernatural reward.
These thoughts should make us humble, and
humility leads to God. The more we trust
in Him rather than in ourselves, the more
ready will He be to help us.


To be continued...


1. Psalm 4. 7.
2. John 3. 8
3. 1 Cor. 4. 7.

[InHocSignoVinces]

This doctrine of our entire dependence
upon God is not flattering to human pride.
It is, therefore, not surprising that some have
been found who were unwilling to believe it.
Thus, a British monk, named Pelagius, taught
the error that we could do good, worthy of
heaven, through our own strength. Others
after him, called Semi-Pelagians, taught that
we could, at least, make a beginning. Both
of these false doctrines were condemned as
heretical, by the Church in the Council of
Orange, in the year 529. The Fathers of
this Council declared solemnly: If any man
say that by our natural strength we can
think or will anything: good, worthy of eternal
salvation, or that we can consent to the
teaching of faith, i.e, the Holy Gospels,
without the illumination and assistance of the
Holy Spirit who gives sweetness to the consent
and acceptance of divine truth, such
a one is detained in heretical spirit. The
Council of Trent teaches similarly : If any
man affirm that we can, without the help of
the Holy Ghost, believe, hope, and love,
or do penance as we should, ... let him be
anathema,1 i.e., excluded from the Church.


St. Augustine, bishop of Hippo, one of the
greatest lights of the Church, fought against
this heresy. This great saint had in his
youth experienced the helplessness of
unaided nature ; he had found out that of him-
self man is weak, and cannot rise from his
fall. In his youth he had fallen into bad
ways, but his pious mother, St. Monica,
prayed for him without ceasing, until, by
her prayer, she finally brought about his conversion.
Out of curiosity he went to hear
the sermons of St. Ambrose, the archbishop
of Milan, and through these sermons, God
brought him to the knowledge of his miserable
condition. Of himself he would not
have been able to dispel the darkness of
unbelief, nor would he have been able to raise
himself from the abyss of sin. It was God
who took hold of him with His mighty hand,
and raised him up. This was brought about
in the following way. One day Augustine was
in a garden with his friend Alypius.
He was filled with sadness at the state of his
soul which the sermons of St. Ambrose
brought him to recognize. He was on the
point of despairing when suddenly he heard
a beautiful voice saying to him, " Take and
read.'" He opened the Scriptures which he
had at hand, and read the words, " Let us
walk honestly as in the day ; not in rioting and
drunkenness, not in chambering and impurities,
not in contention and envy; but
put you on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make
not provision for the flesh in its concupiscences." 2
When he had read these words he
understood that the inspiration came from
God, and he then and there resolved to give
himself entirely to Jesus. With his friend
Alypius, he hastened to his good mother to
inform her of his resolve and gladden her
heart. St. Monica was transported with joy
at the conversion of her son, and they both
joined their voices in giving praise and thanks-
giving to Him who had finally heard her
earnest and persevering prayer. In this way
St. Augustine had experienced in himself the
weakness of man and the power of divine grace.


To be continued...


1. Con. Trid. Sess. VI, c. 3
2. Rom. 13. 13, 14.

[InHocSignoVinces]

When, therefore, the proud Pelagius arose
and taught that man of his own strength
could form the resolution of returning to
God, and could without God's special help
actually return to Him, also that man by his
natural powers, could do good and merit
heaven ; then also did St. Augustine come
forth as the champion of grace, and with the
keenness of his intellect refute the proud
assertions of the heretics. St. Augustine
taught that grace is necessary for the unjustified
that he be converted, and it is also necessary for
the just man that he continue to lead
a virtuous life. As regards the first, namely
the unconverted, he says, in speaking of the
text of St. Paul, 2 Cor. 3, 5 (" Not that we
are sufficient to think anything of ourselves,
as of ourselves ; but our sufficiency is from
God ") : " If we are not sufficient of ourselves
to think anything, then we are not sufficient of
ourselves to believe, and the power
to believe is also of God." 1 Concerning
another passage, John 6, 44 (" No man can come
to Me except the Father, who hath sent
Me, draw him "), he remarks : " It is faith
that draws us to the Father, therefore, if this were
not a free gift of God, the Lord would not say :
' No man can come,' " etc. 2


Again he says, " Faith would not be in us,
if God did not give to each his measure of
faith." 3 Of those that are already justified
he tells us that grace is also necessary for
them, " As the eye of the body, although it
is perfectly sound, cannot see, unless it be
illumined by light, so also man, though he
be justified, cannot live rightly, unless he be
illumined by the light of divine grace." 4
St. Augustine fought against the errors of the
Pelagians by all the means at his command.
In a council of the African bishops he exposed
the errors so clearly that the Pope again
condemned them, and the emperor, Honorius,
banished Pelagius and Celestius from his
dominions.


The heresies that man can do good to
merit salvation, or that he can at least make
a beginning without the help of God, had
their origin in human pride. Pride is the
sin that God most detests ; it is the beginning
of all other sins. The proud man makes himself
unworthy of the grace of God because, instead
of asking for it, he practically tells God that he
does not need His help. " God resisteth the proud
and giveth His grace to the humble," the Holy
Scripture tells us. The more a man acknowledges
his misery, the more ready God is to
help him. Let us, therefore, always be humble,
and show that humility by holding fast
to the doctrine of the Catholic Church on grace.
Let us hold fast to the doctrine that
we are always in need of the help of God,
that without His grace we can do nothing to
merit heaven, that without His help we cannot
begin, continue, or complete successfully
any good work for our salvation, but that
it is God who worketh in us the willing
and the doing.


To be continued...


1. De Praed. 1. I. c. 2.
2. Epist. 194, ad Sixtum. n. 12
3. Epist. 186, ad Paulin. n. 4.
4. De nat. et gr. c. 26

[InHocSignoVinces]

X - DISTRIBUTION OF GRACE


Grace is so necessary that without it we
can do nothing for salvation. Without the
help of divine grace we cannot begin,
continue, or complete any salutary work.
God works in us to will and to accomplish the
good work. Our salvation is through Him.
Of ourselves we can fall and sin, but of ourselves
we cannot rise and repent. We must,
therefore, look upon Jesus as the author
and finisher of our faith. 1 This is what the
Catholic Church teaches us concerning the
necessity of grace. Our first parents were
created in sanctifying grace and placed in
paradise. They did not persevere in the
state of grace, but fell into sin. Of themselves
they were unable to do anything to
free themselves from sin; had it not been
that God took pity on them, they would
have been lost forever. God saved them by
sending His only Son to redeem them. The
same sad fate would have been ours, for we
inherited that sin from our first parents. We,
too, were redeemed by Christ, who obtained
grace for us. The grace of God brings the
unbeliever to faith; it moves the sinner to
repentance. This thought of our utter
dependence on God should move us to
humility and gratitude toward God. It
should give us distrust in ourselves, and
confidence in God, who is ever ready to
help us in our weakness.


It might seem that the doctrine of the
necessity of grace would furnish an excuse
for leading a bad life. Some one might say
Without the assistance of the grace of God
I cannot do anything for my salvation.
This is the reason I do not overcome my
bad habits; this is the reason I do not lead a
good, virtuous life; I have not the grace
of God. It is true, without the grace of God
we cannot return to Him and do penance;
but it is not true that we have insufficient
grace to do penance and obtain salvation.
Without grace we cannot be saved, but as
St. Paul teaches us, " Our Saviour will have
all men to be saved and to come to the
knowledge of the truth" 2 It follows from this
that He gives sufficient grace to all men.
God gives sufficient grace to all ; to the unbaptized
that he may come to the knowledge
of the truth, and be freed from original sin
by Baptism. He gives sufficient grace to
the sinner who has lost His friendship, that
he may be reinstated in his position as a
child of God. Even when it is for some
reason or other impossible to receive the
sacrament of Baptism or Penance, God still
by His grace makes it possible for man to
save his soul. The just man, too, continually
receives grace to do good, to overcome his
evil inclinations, to persevere in virtue, and
so avoid sin and merit the kingdom of
heaven. Man, by reason of original sin, is
more inclined to evil than to good, but
the evil inclinations are never so strong
that they cannot be overcome. God gives
man as much grace as he needs to conquer
the temptations to sin. Thus St. Paul instructs
the Corinthians : " God is faithful,
who will not suffer you to be tempted above
that which you are able ; but will make also
with temptation issue, that you may be able
to bear it." 3 We can do good and avoid
evil, with the help of God's grace, which
He refuses to no one. He Himself has
told us, " My yoke is sweet, and My burden
is light." 4 We shall be able to carry the
burden of His commandments and bear the
yoke of His law, since He is always ready
to help us carry it. God asks nothing impossible
of us, and therefore we know where
we are to seek help in all things that seem
difficult, or even impossible to us.


To be continued...


1. Heb. 12. 2
2. 1 Tim. 2. 4
3. 1 Cor. 10. 13
4. Matt. II. 3

[InHocSignoVinces]

That God gives to every one the grace that
is necessary to do good and avoid sin, is especially
true of those that are baptized, and so have been
made members of God's holy Church. This the
Church declared when it condemned the error
of Jansenius,1 who had taught
in his book, Augustinus, that there are
some commandments, which the just could
not keep, despite the best of will, because
they had not always sufficient grace to do so.
The justified have not only at all times sufficient,
but they have superabundant grace to avoid
sin and merit heaven. They have in their souls
a mark impressed by Baptism, which shows that
they belong to Christ, and are united with
Him who is the source of all grace. As
Christians they have prayer and the sacraments,
which are the great channels through
which grace comes to men. They have the
word of God and divine service where one
encourages and prays for the other. They
are above all in the communion of saints,
and so are united spiritually with Christ and
all the saints, and partake of their merits.
By reason of the communion of saints, all
share in each other's prayers and good
works; the treasures of the Church are the
common property of all. The Christian, far
from not having sufficient grace, lives, so to
say, in the full noonday sun of God's grace.
No Christian, and especially no Catholic, can
say that he has not sufficient grace to avoid
sin and lead a good and holy life. He has
not only sufficient, but more than sufficient,
grace. If he has fallen into sin, God by a
multiplicity of ways seeks him and urges
him to return to Him. God wishes to save
him. "As I live, saith the Lord God, I
desire not the death of the wicked, but that
the wicked turn from his way and live." 2
Our Lord Himself tells us that He came for
this purpose, namely to save sinners. "The
Son of man is come to save that which was
lost." 3 He tells us of the solicitude with
which He goes after the sinner to bring him
back. He compares Himself to the good
shepherd who goes after the lost sheep until
he finds it, and having found it lays it upon
his shoulder, and brings it back to the fold.
It is His greatest pleasure to go after
the sinner, and move him to repentance.
He tells us that there is more joy in heaven
over one sinner that does penance than over
ninety-nine just who do not need it. 4 Just
as the woman in the gospel lighted a lamp
to find one of the ten groats which she had
lost, so also our mother, the Church, uses all
kinds of means, such as missions, retreats,
jubilees, indulgences, to find her lost children
and bring them back to the way of
salvation. Mary, too, our Mother, is anxious
about her children that have strayed from
her, and never ceases to pray for them to save
them from eternal perdition. She, the
refuge of sinners, the Mother of divine grace,
is continually obtaining from her Son the
grace of conversion for sinners. Can we
then say that we have not sufficient grace ?
"Despisest thou the riches of His goodness
and patience, and long-suffering? Knowest
thou not that the benignity of God leadeth
thee to penance ? " 5


1. I Prop, damnata.
2. Ezech. 33. II.
3. Matt. 18. II.
4. Luke 15. 7.
5. Rom. 2. 4.


To be continued...

[InHocSignoVinces]

Not only to those that belong to His
Church, but to all men, to heathens, Jews,
heretics, God gives sufficient grace to know
the truth, and to lead them to eternal salvation.
God is the father of all men, and loves
all His children. He does not will "that
any should perish, but that all should return
to penance." 1 Christ died for all men, and
wishes all men to be saved ; and hence, since
grace is necessary for salvation. He must
give to all the grace necessary for salvation.
He has redeemed all men, and calls all to
salvation. " God our Saviour will have all men
to be saved, and to come to the knowledge
of the truth." 2 There is no doubt but that
God gives sufficient grace to all. Indeed, we
see how He does this, for He commanded His
apostles to go forth into the whole world and
preach His gospel to every creature. 3 By the
preaching of His gospel. He offers to all people
the grace of Christianity. Certainly the Jews
cannot complain that they did not have
sufficient grace ; for Christ, the way,
the truth, and the life, Himself, preached the
gospel to them. After Him the apostles
preached the gospel to the Jews before they
preached it to the Gentiles. The heathens,
too, were offered this grace through the
preaching of the apostles. " Their sound
hath gone forth into all the earth, and their
words unto the ends of the world." 4 Since
the days of the apostles the grace of the
gospel has been offered to the world without
interruption by the successors of the apostles,
the bishops and priests of the Catholic
Church. The Catholic missionaries have
travelled into every country to bring the
teaching of Jesus to the pagans. Jesus
wishes to give sufficient grace to every man ;
for this reason He has established His
Church as a Catholic Church, that is, a Church
to which all men are called, so that
there be but one fold and one shepherd.
St. Paul tells us the same when he writes, " To
the Greeks and to the barbarians, to the wise
and the unwise, I am a debtor." 5 All have
a right to have the gospel preached to them
by me, as the messenger of God, and I have
in consequence an obligation to preach it to them.
St. Paul was the Apostle of the nations,
chosen by God that he might offer to
all the grace of knowing the truth, and of
embracing the life of grace in Christianity.


To be continued...


1. 2 Peter 3. 9.
2. I Tim. 2. 4.
3. Mark 16. 15.
4. Psalm 18. 5.
5. Rom. 1. 14.

[InHocSignoVinces]

Does God also give sufficient grace to
those to whom the gospel has not yet been
preached? We believe that God also gives
them sufficient grace, because He who has
made the human heart, and has given it a strong
desire for happiness, has innumerable
ways in which He can act upon the hearts
of men and draw them to Himself. He is the
divine wisdom that " reacheth from end to
end mightily and ordereth all things sweetly." 1

He has given man a natural love for the
truth, and, if man follows this impulse to the
best of his ability, he will be given the means
of showing his fidelity to the voice of God
speaking through his conscience, and so find
eternal life. This inclination, implanted in
the human heart, may be regarded as a
grace which God gives to man to draw him
to Himself. In this way, even the pagan,
who has never heard of Christ, may be saved.
This grace is for him sufficient for salvation
because God will certainly not allow any one
to perish who is sincere and willing to do
His will to the best of his knowledge. God
asks nothing impossible, and He will, without
doubt, accept the good will for the deed
in those who are so disposed that they would
willingly accept His truth if it were made
known to them. If they comply with this
first call of grace, they will receive more
grace, and will finally be led to justification,
and so be put in the way of salvation. God
gives His peace and friendship to all men
of good will. This good will comes from
God, and is a grace, and no doubt many
heathens obtain through it their eternal
salvation. " And I say to you that many
shall come from the east and the west, and
shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac
and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven;
but the children of the kingdom shall be
cast out into exterior darkness: there shall
be weeping and gnashing of teeth." 2 In
this way God may lead to Himself those
that have not had the gospel preached to
them.


To be continued...


1. Wisd.8. 1.
2. Matt. 8. 11, 12.

[InHocSignoVinces]

Besides this inner desire for truth, God
may also use visible nature to give men
grace. " The heavens show forth the glory
of God, and the firmament declareth the
work of His hands." 1 The contemplation
of the wonders of nature, the stars of the
heavens, the beauties of the trees and
flowers, the majesty of the mountains, the
expanse of the sea, the wonderful adaptation
of all things to their purpose, in fine, the
consideration of the universe in its entirety
and in its parts, the wonderfully great and
the wonderfully small, these things have
always awakened in the minds of men the
thought of an infinitely powerful, wise, good,
and loving God. These things have always
moved men and aroused in their souls a
desire to know, love, and serve this God, to
come to Him, and be happy with Him.
This knowledge and desire of God is a
grace, as we learn from the words of St.
Paul, " God hath manifested it unto them,
for the invisible things of Him, from the
creation of the world, are clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made ;
His eternal power also and divinity: so that
they are inexcusable, because that when they
knew God, they have not glorified Him as God
or given thanks." 2 From these words of
St. Paul we see clearly that the heathens
receive sufficient grace to know God, and
so be led to serve Him, and thus obtain
their eternal salvation. He says that they
are inexcusable if they do not come to the
knowledge of God, and thus be brought to serve
Him and give Him thanks. If they
had not received sufficient grace, they would
certainly be excusable. God manifests Himself
through nature, and thus calls men to His
service. This is the call of grace for them.


They that follow this call and seek to honor
God to the best of their knowledge and
ability will receive more grace, and so will
be led on to justification and salvation.


To be continued...


1. Psalm 18. I.
2. Rom. I. 19-21.

[InHocSignoVinces]

The voice of conscience is another means
which God uses to call the heathens to
Himself. It is the voice of God that tells
them what is right and what is wrong, what
they must do and what they may not do.
It is for the heathens, what the law of God
was for the Jews. " For when the Gentiles
who have not the law do by nature those
things that are of the law, these having not
the law, are a law to themselves ; who show
the works of the law written in their hearts,
their conscience bearing witness to them,
and their thoughts within themselves accusing,
or also defending them." 1 Man,
as a rational creature, has within himself the
power of judging what is right and what is wrong,
and if he have the good will, he may
thus serve God and be happy forever. It
is true that this natural judgment of right
and wrong may be obscured by passion and
the prejudices in which one has been brought
up, so that he may deviate from the path of
truth ; but it can never be entirely obliterated.
A general understanding of right and wrong
always remains. We learn from
history that many pagans, who were sincere
in their search for the truth, came to a knowledge
of the one true God. Such a one was Socrates,
who was condemned to death
by his fellow-citizens because he rejected the
worship of the false gods. Like Socrates,
so also many other pagan philosophers
recognize the existence of one God who
had made the world, and saw the falseness
of the worship of idols.


To be continued...


1. Rom. 2. 14.

[InHocSignoVinces]

There remain also among all peoples
portions of the original revelation which
God made to man in paradise. When
men multiplied upon the earth and were
scattered over various countries they
retained something of the knowledge that
God made known of Himself to Adam and
Eve in paradise. Thus all people had a
notion of their own misery and sinfulness,
and of the need of a Redeemer. All retained
an idea of a Saviour to come, although this
was often wrapped up in many errors and
false conceptions. Now those pagans who
expected a Saviour, and were so minded as
to accept Him when He should come, and
were willing to fulfil the conditions of salvation,
and in the meantime followed the dictates of
their consciences, to the best of their
powers, could certainly be saved, just as the
Jews reached heaven through the belief
and hope in a Redeemer to come.


Finally, God often brought men to salvation through
a direct interposition by miracles. An example of this
we find narrated in the Acts of the Apostles, concerning
Cornelius and his family. 1 We read there
how an angel of God appeared to him, and told
him to send to Joppe for a man named Peter,
who would tell him what he must do, and at the
same time Peter also had a vision, which
instructed him that he must not refuse to
receive into the Church those who were
converted from paganism ; that nothing that
the Lord had cleansed was unclean. Up to
this time the Jews had looked upon the Gentiles
as unclean and would have nothing to
do with them ; but now God, through a series
of miracles, called the Gentiles to the
Church, and brought Cornelius to the knowledge
of the truth. Similar miracles of God
are often related by our missionaries in countries
that are just being converted to the
faith of Christ. But even if God does not
call men in a miraculous way to the faith,
He always gives them sufficient grace to
know God, and work out their eternal salvation.
In His infinite wisdom He has innumerable
ways of drawing them to Himself. For this
reason St. Augustine says: "Who can enumerate
the many gifts the godless receive from Him whom they,
reject ? One among many are the examples
of misery which He as a good physician,
mixes up with the pleasures of the world,
that they might, if they will not hear other-
wise, be thus reminded of the wrath to come,
and so be brought into harmony with the
word of God whilst they are still wanderers
here upon earth." 2 What more could God
do for them when even the misery of the
world is a blessing to man. We do not
know the ways of God, and the various
means He uses to give to each one the
grace he needs to be saved; but no one shall
be lost without his own fault. At the last judgment
we shall know the good and the evil every
one has done ; we shall also know the graces
each has received and what use he has
made of them. Then we shall recognize the
mercy, goodness, and wisdom of God, and
shall exclaim : " O the depth of the
riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge
of God ! How incomprehensible are His
judgments, and how unsearchable His ways !
For who hath known the mind of the Lord ?
Or who hath been His counsellor?" 3
If any one leads a good life, and follows the
light that God gives him, he shall undoubt-
edly be led to justification and salvation. No
one that is lost will be able to say that it was
not through his own fault ; that he had not
received the necessary grace from God.
God wishes all men to be saved and come
to the knowledge of His truth, 4 and for
this reason He gives sufficient grace to all.


To be continued...


1. Acts 10.
2. Epist. 210, n. I.
3. Rom. II. 33, 34.
4. 1 Tim. 2. 4.