DIVINE GRACE (in English)

[InHocSignoVinces]

IX -NATURE AND NECESSITY OF ACTUAL GRACE- NATURE OF ACTUAL GRACE

What is actual grace?
Actual grace is that help of God which enlightens our
mind and moves our will to shun evil and do good.


Grace is a supernatural gift of God,
bestowed on us through the merits of Jesus
Christ, for our salvation. By our own
efforts we can acquire all kinds of knowledge
and accomplishments ; we can acquire
wealth ; but we cannot by our own efforts
acquire grace. Grace is something that we
cannot earn ; it is a free gift of God. Grace
is a supernatural gift, i.e. a gift which has
to do with our eternal salvation, and is, there-
fore, nothing of this world. All that we
are and have, comes from God ; everything
is His gift. God gives us food and cloth-
ing; He gives us understanding and free
will ; He gives us the talents which we possess;
He gives us all that we need for life.
God makes the sun shine, and He makes
the rain fall; He makes the plants grow
and the trees bring forth their fruits. These
things are helps for our natural life; they
are natural gifts. Grace is not one of these
natural gifts ; it is above nature. By grace
we understand something which God gives
us to aid us in working out our salvation.
Grace helps us to avoid sin, to be sorry for
the sins committed, to do penance for them,
to perform good works, to pray rightly,
to reach heaven and be eternally happy.
When we pray, " Lead us not into tempta-
tion, but deliver us. from evil," then we pray
for grace. God gives us this help, because
Jesus offered Himself for us, as a sacrifice
on the cross, and thus merited an infinite
abundance of grace for us.


Grace has different names, according to
the different purposes for which it is given.
When it is given to help us perform some
good act it is called actual grace. It is
called sanctifying grace, when it sanctifies
us and makes us pleasing to God, as the
saints are pleasing to Him. When we pray
in the morning and offer our hearts and souls
to God, and ask Him to keep us pure and
to protect us in the time of temptation, we
pray for actual grace, for His help to do
good and resist sin. When, however, we
renew our baptismal vows, and ask God to
renew in us the grace He gave us in Bap-
tism, then we pray for sanctifying grace,
the grace that makes us children of God
and objects of His love. Sanctifying grace
makes us saints ; actual grace calls us to be-
come saints, and helps us to do the work
of saints. Sanctifying grace is something
permanent that stays in our souls until
driven out by sin; actual grace is a passing
help to do something good.


To be continued...

[InHocSignoVinces]

When the Archangel Gabriel came to the
Blessed Virgin and saluted her, Hail full
of grace, and announced to her that she was
to become the mother of the Saviour, what
grace was it that he spoke of then ? Evi-
dently he spoke of sanctifying grace, of
which the soul of the Blessed Virgin was
full, and which made her so pleasing in
the eyes of God. Had she not had sancti-
fying grace, she would not have been so
pleasing to God as to be chosen to become
the mother of His only Son. This grace
she possessed through the merits of Jesus.

It is true, Jesus had not yet died, and
hence had not yet merited that grace ; God
had, however, promised to send His Son to
redeem the world, and, in view of the great
graces that He was to merit, God gave this
grace to her who was to be His mother. In
the old law, the Patriarchs, and, in general,
all good people, were to obtain justification,
i.e. sanctifying grace, through the hope of a
Redeemer to come; how much more, then,
she who was to be His mother!

She was not merely sanctified and cleansed from sin
through the merits of Christ, but from the
very first moment of her existence she was
preserved from the stain of sin. Her soul
was created in sanctifying grace. It was
beautiful and pleasing in the sight of God
from the very first moment of its being.
To commemorate this privilege the Church
celebrates every year the feast of the Im-
maculate Conception on the 8th of Decem
ber. On this day we honor Mary because
from the first moment of her existence she
was filled with sanctifying grace, and for
this reason was free from all sin.


We cannot have sanctifying grace and be friends
of God, and at the same time be in sin and
so be His enemies. Just as Mary was con-
ceived in sanctifying grace, so she also pre-
served it for the rest of her life. She never
lost by sin the friendship of God in which
she was born. The angel said to her, " The
Lord is with thee," and the Lord was with
her through sanctifying grace, and remained
ever with her. By grace her soul became,
as it were, a house of gold, in which the
King of heaven loved to dwell.


To be continued...

[InHocSignoVinces]

We see now the difference which exists
between actual grace and sanctifying grace.
Let us study actual grace, a little more
closely. We will first consider its nature;
secondly, its necessity ; thirdly, whether God
gives His grace to everybody; and, finally,
what we have to do on our part in regard to
the grace we receive.


Actual grace is so called because it is the
grace by which God assists us in our acts,
so that we may shun evil and do good. How
does God help us by actual grace ? Is it
externally, as we would help a man to carry
a load he could not carry alone ? Is it by
acting on the powers of the body ? No, that
would be merely a natural help; grace is a
supernatural help. God aids us by internal
assistance ; by acting, not on the powers of
the body, but on those of the soul. Now,
what are the powers of the soul on which
He acts ? Man differs from the animals, as
he has intellect and free will. These, then,
are the principal faculties of the soul. It is
on these that God acts ; it is by these, man
is to know and love God. It is upon the
intellect and the will, then, that God acts in
a supernatural way by actual grace.

To be continued...

[InHocSignoVinces]

How does God act on our intellect? He
enlightens it; He gives it a supernatural
light by which we see the supernatural end
for which He has created us, and also the
means to reach that end. When God
created our first parents, He gave them a
right understanding of the purpose of their
existence, but they lost this by original sin,
and were weakened even in their natural
powers of intellect. Since we are born in
this sin, and inherit the consequences of it,
it is necessary for us to receive from God a
supernatural light that we may understand
aright, our supernatural end. This God
gives us by actual grace by which He so
enlightens our mind that we may know our
real destiny as Christians, our relation to
Him, and know His holy will in regard to us.
By the light of actual grace, we see for what
we are intended. When we wander from
the path which leads to that end, it is by
actual grace that we recognize our sad condi-
tion, it is by actual grace that we see the
danger ahead. By actual grace we recognize
the greatness of our sin, we see how ungrate-
ful we have been to God. By this same
grace we understand that we cannot help
ourselves, but are entirely dependent on the
almighty help of God. By actual grace we
see that our salvation lies in a sincere return
to Him from whom we have strayed by sin.


To be continued...

[InHocSignoVinces]

How God enlightens our minds by actual
grace, we see beautifully illustrated in the
case of David. He had offended God by
grievous sin, and, far from acknowledging his
guilt, he tried to cover it up by the commission
of another crime, that of murder.
God sent the prophet, Nathan, to speak to his
conscience, and represent to him the great-
ness of his sin, to show him the extent of
his unfaithfulness and ingratitude to God.
Under the influence of the grace of God and
the words of the prophet, he began to see the
enormity of his crimes, and with deep sorrow
of heart, he exclaimed, " I have sinned be-
fore the Lord ; " and after that his constant
prayer was : " I know my iniquities, and my
sin is always before me. To Thee only have
I sinned, and have done evil before Thee."
With this recognition of guilt he received a
great longing for interior sanctity. For this
he prayed in the following words : " Create a
clean heart in me, O God, and renew a
right spirit in my bowels. Cast me not
away from Thy face ; and take not Thy
Holy Spirit from me." 1 This was the work
of actual grace. By this grace his intellect
was enlightened so that he saw the great-
ness of his sin, and did sincere penance.
Without this supernatural light, he would
not have recognized his sin and done penance
for it. On the contrary he would, in
all probability, have added sins upon sins.
To save him from this terrible condition God
sent the prophet, Nathan, and at the same
time enlightened his mind to see the truth of
the prophet's words, and thus be moved to do
penance. This interior light of the intellect
was actual grace.


To be continued...

1 Psalm 50. 12-13.

[InHocSignoVinces]

By actual grace God not only enlightens
the intellect but also moves the will to shun evil
and do good. One would think that it was
sufficient to enlighten our mind and show us
the beauty of truth, to make us love it and
avoid evil ; but unfortunately this is not true.
It happens only too often that we know
the truth and understand what is good, but
we still do that which is evil.
" I am delighted with the law of God according
to the inward man, but I see another law in
my members, fighting against the law of
my mind, and captivating me in the law
of sin." 1 Even if a man understands the
sad condition of his soul, and the necessity
of doing penance, of himself he has not
the power to rise from sin; he needs the
help of God. God gives him this help by
moving his will through actual grace.
By actual grace God moves the will of the
sinner to hate sin, to fear the eternal punishment of hell,
and He gives him supernatural strength to free himself from
what is evil and to cling to that which is good. To
the just man, i.e., one who is in the state
of grace, God gives an intense desire for
the happiness of heaven, and by this leads
him to practise virtue with joy, and to
persevere in good until death.


To be continued...


1 Rom. 7. 22, 23.

[InHocSignoVinces]

Actual grace consists, therefore, in both
an enlightenment of the mind and a moving of the
will. Hence our catechism defines it as that help of
God by which He enlightens our mind and moves our
will to shun evil and to do good. From this we
see the importance of actual grace for eternal salvation.
All persons who take life seriously and seek to reach
the purpose for which they were created, appreciate
the value of actual grace, and continually pray for it.


Let us say with the Psalmist : " Give me
understanding and I will search Thy law,
and I will keep it with my whole heart.
Lead me in the path of Thy commandments,
for this same I have desired. Incline my heart
unto Thy testimonies and not to covetousness." 1


By the sin of our first parents our under-
standing was not taken away, but it was
weakened. This weakness of the understanding
and of the will in consequence of
original sin has been handed down to us.
We can still understand the things of nature,
but we cannot of ourselves know the truths
which refer to our eternal salvation; these
God has made known to us by revelation;
to know these we need the help of God.
It is for this that the Psalmist prays, when
he says, " Give me understanding," i.e., give
me a right understanding to know what I
must do to be happy forever. "Lead me
in the path of Thy commandments " that
I may be able to observe them. Man is made
for heaven, and God has implanted
a strong desire for happiness in his heart.
However, he must know the way that leads
to happiness, and this he cannot know unless
God points it out to him. God's grace
is the light that leads him in the path of
God's commandments. "Incline my heart
unto Thy testimonies and not to covetousness."
By reason of original sin, man from
his youth is more inclined to evil than to
good. If God does not give us His help,
we cannot overcome this evil inclination.
Hence we pray that God will act on our
heart and move it to go not after the things
of the senses, but that we may rather seek
the things which God has made known to us
and promised us, — His testimonies.


To be continued...


1 Psalm 118. 34-36.

[InHocSignoVinces]

NECESSITY OF GRACE

Is grace necessary to salvation ?
Grace is necessary to salvation because without grace we can do nothing to merit heaven.


Grace is not merely valuable, but it is
absolutely necessary for salvation. It is abso-
lutely necessary for the unbeliever that he
shall believe; it is absolutely necessary for
the sinner that he shall be freed from his
sins ; it is absolutely necessary for the just
man that he shall persevere in the state of
grace. Without the help of actual grace, one
who is an enemy of God cannot become His friend ;
without it, one who is a friend of God ,
cannot remain such for any length of time.


Actual grace is absolutely necessary for one
who is not justified, i.e. who is not in
the state of grace. It is necessary for the
heathen and the Jew that they believe and
be baptized. How could such a one come
to the knowledge of the true religion, if
God did not give him a supernatural light
to see the truth? He has been taught a
false religion from his childhood, and has
grown up with the strongest prejudices
against Christianity ; or perhaps he has fallen
into all sorts of vices and sins. If God did
not give him strength, how could he lift the
veil from his eyes, or raise himself from
the mire of sin into which he has fallen?
For such a one, actual grace is absolutely
necessary for salvation. Likewise, it is
absolutely necessary for one who has been
baptized and has fallen again into mortal
sin. Without the help of God such a one
would not come to the recognition of his
miserable condition, and form a firm
resolution of returning to God. Hence,
when we wish to receive the sacrament of Pen-
ance worthily, we pray for the light of the
Holy Ghost, to know our sins, and we pray
for His help to repent of them and avoid
them in the future. Without actual grace
we should be blind to the danger in which
we are, of losing our eternal salvation.

Just as soon as the light of divine grace shines
upon our souls, we see there the multitude of sins
of which we are guilty, —envy, hatred, impurity,
uncharitableness, rash judgement, indifference
in works of religion and piety, anger, revenge, etc.
Without God's grace we should not have real sorrow
for our sins ; we should have no hatred of them;
we should have no firm resolution to avoid
them in the future; our confession would
be useless. Without the grace of God
many of us would not be able to overcome
the false shame which would prevent
us from making a sincere confession.


To be continued...

[InHocSignoVinces]

As actual grace is necessary for a good
confession, so it is also necessary for the
worthy reception of the other sacraments.
Who could prepare his heart properly for
the worthy reception of Holy Communion,
unless the grace of God assisted him ?
Children generally receive Holy Communion
most worthily, and yet with them the intellect
and will are weak; how could they
prepare themselves so well, if the grace of
God did not help them? Or how could
one who is sick, prepare himself to receive
the last sacraments, if the grace of God
were not there to assist him? He is overcome
with bodily pains ; his mind is taken
up with his sickness; without grace he could
do nothing.


Grace is absolutely necessary in order
that we be converted to God and receive
the sacraments worthily. This is not all;
without grace we cannot perform any work
of importance connected with our salvation.
Without grace we cannot decide the important
question of the state of life God
wishes us to embrace. Without grace we
cannot perform the important duties of our
calling properly. God must assist us continually.
How could a priest, for instance,
perform the important obligations of the
priesthood with profit to himself and to
those intrusted to his care if God did not
give the help of His all-powerful grace?


Without the aid of divine grace we cannot receive
the sacraments worthily, nor can we do anything of
importance connected with our salvation ; but can
we not perform even the ordinary works of piety without
the help of God's grace? Our catechism answers this
question by saying, "without grace we can do nothing
to merit heaven." It does not say that without grace
we cannot do much, but absolutely nothing. Without the help of
God we cannot recite the Our Father, or the Hail Mary properly.
Without the help of God's grace we cannot even pronounce the
name of Jesus so as to benefit us for eternal life. " No man can say,
the Lord Jesus but by the Holy Ghost." 1


Of course, when we say that without the
grace of God we can do nothing good, we
do not wish to say that all that is done without
grace is bad and sinful. Such works
are not meritorious for heaven ; they are not
supernatural; they may be naturally good
but useless for heaven. Of ourselves we can
do nothing to merit the eternal reward of
heaven ; heaven is a gift of God. Without
the help of grace we may give alms, honor
our parents, even recite prayers, but such
works would avail nothing for heaven ; they
are worthy of a reward in this life, but not in
the next. Such works are not performed
with God and for God, and hence do not
deserve a supernatural reward from Him.


To be continued...


1. 1 Cor. 12. 3.

[InHocSignoVinces]

Grace is necessary for every good and
salutary work, be it great or small. When
we wish to perform some good work, we
first make a resolution to that effect. This is
the beginning of the good work. Then we take
the work in hand, and, finally, complete it.
Let us suppose that we are going to receive
the sacrament of Penance. We begin by
making up our mind to go to confession;
then we pray for the help of the grace of
God, we examine our consciences carefully,
we excite in ourselves a sincere sorrow for
our sins, and make a firm resolution to avoid
them in the future, and then confess them
frankly. We accept the penance the priest
gives us, and make good any damage that
we may have done to others. For all this,
the grace of God is necessary: it is necessary
to resolve to go to confession, the good
thought comes from God ; grace is necessary
to continue the good work, and it is necessary
to bring the good work to a good conclusion.
Actual grace is necessary to begin,
continue, and complete every salutary work.


If the good thought comes to us to perform
some good work, such as the reception
of the sacraments, whence is this good
thought? Is it from ourselves? No; St. Paul
teaches us, " It is God who worketh in you
to will." When we carry out a good resolution,
it is again God who "worketh in you
also to accomplish." 1 It is by the operation
of the Holy Ghost that we will and perform
good works. God it is, who works in us the
good will, and who gives us strength to accomplish
the good deed. Of our own strength we can do nothing.
" Not that we are sufficient to think anything of ourselves
as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God." 2
We can do good only through the help of God's grace.
With His help we can do everything. " I can do all things
in Him who strengtheneth me." 3 God by His grace
encourages us to do good works ; He accompanies the good
work by His grace, and by the same grace He brings
it to a successful close.


"The grace of God is with us from
the beginning to the completion," says St. Augustine.
" The grace of God prevents man (i.e. goes
before him) that he will, and accompanies him
that he will not in vain." 4
God leads us into the path of salvation. He
accompanies us that we remain in it, and
finally brings us to the end of our journey.
" God completes by His cooperation what
He has begun by His operation . . . because
if He did not operate that we will, or did not
cooperate when we will, we would
not be able to do anything good," 5 says
St. Augustine.


To be continued...


1. Philip. 2. 13.
2. 2 Cor. 3. 5.
3. Philip. 4. 13.
4. Cited by Allioli, New Testament.
5. De gratia et lib. arbit. c. 17.