DIVINE GRACE (in English)

[InHocSignoVinces]

This communication of the divine nature
is not to be understood as though God gave
man a part of His being, or that man by
grace becomes God. The sense is that just
as God, the Father, communicates His
nature to the Son, who by this becomes like
the Father in nature, so in a similar manner
He turns to them whom He loves, and makes
them more like Himself than they were
before by nature. The communication of
is nature to the Son is the pattern, the
communication of His nature by grace,
the imitation. The Son is the same as
the Father in nature, man by sanctifying
grace becomes an image of God. We are
created according to the image and likeness
of God ; by grace this image becomes more
exact and pronounced. Out of love for His
only Son, the Father turns to man and
makes him like Himself, calling him to
eternal happiness. Through grace a new
life, which is supernatural, is implanted in
him ; this gives him higher powers. By
reason of these supernatural faculties which
come from grace, man can perform acts
which are supernatural, which make him
worthy of a supernatural reward, and raise
him to a communion with God. By the
working of the Holy Ghost man is raised
above nature.

TBC...

[InHocSignoVinces]

From what has been said we can form
some idea of the beauty and value of sanctifying
grace. It is a gift of the Holy Ghost
and that not an ordinary one, but a supernatural gift —
one that is above all the things
of nature in beauty and value. It is given
us through the infinite love of God, in order
that we might enter into the closest union
with Him. It is a most beautiful garment
— the wedding-garment which makes us
worthy of the heavenly wedding-feast of the
Son of God. It is a divine power, dwelling
in the soul, a glowing light which makes
our souls so beautiful, that if it were given
to any one to see a soul adorned with sanctifying
grace, he would be tempted to take that soul for
God Himself. Grace makes us
like God as much as a creature can become
like Him. Grace is, therefore, of immeasurable
value ; the least degree of grace is
infinitely more precious than all the goods
of this world. If we possessed the whole
world, it could not be compared with the
smallest degree of grace given to the humblest
Christian.

Sanctifying grace is worth as much to us as
God Himself, for without it we cannot possess God,
and with it God is ours. Grace is, as it were, the document
that assures us of His possession, and gives
us a right to the inheritance of heaven.
Even if some one could come into heaven
without possessing grace, which is impossible,
he would not be able to see God or
enjoy the happiness of the just, because he
would lack the supernatural light that enables
the saints to see God. Like the man
in the parable of the wedding-feast, he would
be cast out into exterior darkness ; darkness
and eternal death is the only state which is
fit for one who, through his own fault, has
neglected to appear before God clothed in
the wedding-garment of sanctifying grace.
This we see in what God has revealed to us
of the history of the angels.

TBC...

[InHocSignoVinces]

In the beginning God created the angels
and gave them sanctifying grace ; they were
all good and pleasing to God when they
were first created ; but some of them sinned,
and by sin lost the grace God had given
them. They were cast out of heaven and
hurled into hell forever. Having lost their
wedding-garment, they were no longer
worthy to enjoy the feast of heaven. If sorrow
could find a place in heaven, then we
would say that there was the greatest sorrow
among the good angels at the terrible lot of
these unfaithful ones ; we would imagine that
they looked with sadness at the places left
vacant by the punishment of their fallen
companions. These places were, however,
not always to remain vacant ; like the king
in the parable, God wished His house to be
full; and for this reason He decreed to
create other beings to take the place of these
fallen angels. God decided to make man
and to clothe him from the beginning with
sanctifying grace. First He formed a body
from the slime of the earth, then He breathed
into it an immortal soul, which was endowed
with understanding and free will. At the same
time He adorned it with the supernatural
beauty of sanctifying grace. Man was to be happy forever ;
he was to live a short time here upon earth, free from trouble,
care, and sickness, yes, even death was to be
unknown to him ; then he was to be taken
into eternal happiness, to enjoy for eternity
the possession of God, and the companionship
of the angels. Because God created
man for a supernatural end, He also gave
him the supernatural powers of sanctifying
grace, that he might be enabled to know,
love, and serve God in a supernatural manner,
and so merit that happiness for which he was created.

TBC...

[InHocSignoVinces]

God wished a free service ; He did not
wish to force man to remain in the state in
which He had created him ; man was to decide
for himself whether he would remain
in the state of grace and serve God or not ;
he was to prove his worthiness by an act of
obedience; and for this reason God gave
him free will. God tried man; He gave
him a commandment not to eat of the fruit
of a certain tree in the garden of Paradise,
lest he should die. Had our first parents
remained faithful to the command of God,
they would have remained in the happy
state of sanctifying grace, they would, after
a short stay upon earth, have been transferred
to the joys of heaven without first
tasting the bitter cup of death ; mankind
would have occupied the places left vacant
by the fall of the angels. Unfortunately,
Adam and Eve transgressed the command
of God, and ate of the forbidden fruit ; they
lost sanctifying grace and with it their right
to eternal happiness. Just as they were
to transmit their state of grace and the
friendship of God to their descendants, so
they transmitted their human nature,
deprived of grace and infected with sin and
its consequences. No one was able to obtain
heaven and be saved ; all should have
been lost forever, had not God shown mercy
to man, and sent him a Redeemer. God,
moved by pity, promised man a Redeemer
who would atone for the sins of the world.
This Redeemer was the only Son of God,
who became man and suffered for us. He
has atoned for our sins, reconciled us with
God, opened again the gates of heaven
which sin had closed. By His death He
"blotted out the handwriting of the decree
that was against us, . . . fastening it to the
cross." 1 As His death has been our life,
"by His bruises we are healed." 2 When
Jesus died, He died for the salvation of
all men; all are to receive the benefit of
His death. That this might be brought
about, He instituted a Church in which He
left the Sacraments, those channels of grace
through which grace flows to men. By the
Sacraments the benefits of the Redemption
are given to us ; they are the means instituted
to reconcile us with God. This is done first through Baptism.


1 Col. 2. 14.
2 Is. 53. 5.

TBC...

[InHocSignoVinces]

What are the effects of sanctifying grace ?

What happens in the soul when we receive
the grace of God ? God acts on the powers
of the soul by actual grace, but by
sanctifying grace He produces a still deeper
effect. He acts on the soul itself. He
gives the soul a new life and transforms its
nature. Before man receives sanctifying
grace he is a sinner; he lacks the properties
which God looks for in one who is His
friend ; the image of God is blurred. This
soul now receives sanctifying grace; immediately
a great change takes place; sin is
destroyed, everything that is displeasing to
God is removed; he who a little while before
was a sinner is now just, i.e. he is as
Adam and Eve were before they fell into
sin ; he is now an object of God's pleasure,
a friend of God. By grace sin is remitted,
and man from a sinner becomes a friend of
God.

The remission of sin is not the only effect
of sanctifying grace ; its effect is much more
far-reaching. When God forbade our first
parents to eat of the fruit of a certain tree
in the Garden of Paradise, He said, "On
what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou
shalt die the death." 1 The death here
spoken of is a twofold death, the death of
the body by the separation of the soul from
the body, and the death of the soul. They
broke the commandment of God, and the
punishment followed ; the death of the body
did not come at once, but the death of the
soul was inflicted immediately. This death
of the soul consisted in the loss of sanctifying
grace and of all the supernatural gifts
and benefits that accompany grace. Sanctifying
grace is the life of the soul, and by its
loss Adam and Eve became dead in the
sight of God; they lost their supernatural
life. This sin, with all its consequences, has
come down from Adam to all his descendants;
it is called original sin. The first
effect of original sin is the loss of sanctifying
grace, and until one is born again in
Baptism he is spiritually dead ; should he
die in this state, he could never have eternal
life in heaven. Through the operation of
the Holy Ghost who sanctifies us by grace,
received in Baptism, we are brought back to
life again. Thus Baptism is a second birth,
and being born, this time of God, we are
the children of God. After the remission
of sin the chief effect of sanctifying grace
is to make us children of God.


1 Gen. 2. 17.

TBC...

[InHocSignoVinces]

A child has certain rights. It has a
certain right to the possessions of its father,
it has a certain right to be his heir. If
then, in Baptism we receive grace which
makes us children of God, we receive also
the right to the possessions of God. God
is our Father; hence we have a right to
live in His house, to enjoy the pleasures
and happiness of His home. We become,
through sanctifying grace, heirs of heaven.
"For the Spirit Himself giveth testimony
to our spirit, that we are the sons of God ;
and if sons, heirs also ; heirs indeed of God
and joint-heirs with Christ ; yet so, if we
suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified
with Him."1 This means that if we
remain true to God, and preserve sanctifying grace
despite all the sufferings, temptations and allurements
of the world, then we shall also possess heaven as our
inheritance, then we shall possess God and all
the riches, pleasures, and happiness which
belong to Him, because we are His children.
Such a promise is certainly worth
our best endeavor, for "The sufferings of
this present time are not worthy to be
compared with the glory to come, that shall
be revealed in us."2 When a man receives
sanctifying grace, there is no change outwardly
visible to the eye, the change is all
within ; but in eternity we shall see the
beauty of the soul in sanctifying grace;
then its beauty and glory shall be revealed.
With the eye of faith we can see, even
now, the excellence of grace ; through faith
we understand the greatness of the effects
produced: it makes us just before God, i.e.
our sins are blotted out; it makes us children
of God and heirs of heaven. By grace
we are preserved from eternal punishment
which was our due — instead of eternal punishment
eternal happiness awaits us. This
change is worthy of our admiration and
gratitude. Who can appreciate sufficiently
the value of this gift, since it makes us
worthy to call God our Father? It is,
indeed, above every other gift, and God gives
it to us, not because we have deserved it,
but out of pure mercy and love.


1 Rom. 8. 16, 17.
1 Rom. 8. 18.

To be continued...

[InHocSignoVinces]

Sanctifying grace is a gift of love — it is
not earned by anything that we have done.
God, seeing our miserable condition, was
moved by mercy, and gave us the aid of
His grace that we might be enabled to do
good and merit heaven as a reward, and
so be eternally happy. If God had not
taken pity on us, we should have perished
forever. "But when the goodness and
kindness of God our Saviour appeared, not by
the works of justice which we have done,
but according to His mercy He saved us,
by the laver of regeneration and renovation
of the Holy Ghost, whom He hath poured
forth abundantly through Jesus Christ, our
Saviour, that being justified by His grace,
we may be heirs, according to hope, of life
everlasting."1

When did we receive sanctifying grace?
Was it not when we were small, and unable
to do anything good or bad, that we were
baptized and cleansed from original sin, and
so from sinners were made sons of God?
The sinner, too, who, being baptized and
having lost sanctifying grace by mortal sin,
is again reinstated in grace and the friendship
of God at a time, when, on account of
the state of sin in which he is, he cannot
do anything to please God. Grace is therefore
evidently an undeserved gift of God.

There are many children born in distant
countries, where paganism still reigns ; these
do not receive the gift of Baptism with the
benefits attached to it. Why were we
chosen? There can be no other reason
than the free will of God, who had mercy
on us. "It is not of him that willeth, nor of
him that runneth, but of God that showeth
mercy. . . . Therefore He hath mercy on
whom He will." 2 On some of the islands of
the South Sea there are now many good,
believing Catholics; when the first Catholic
missionaries arrived in those places
they were persecuted and put to death.
Did these people deserve the gift of faith
and grace ? Certainly not ; they opposed
the mercy of God calling them to grace,
and yet finally they received the gift of
faith, and were baptized. It was the love of
God that was the cause of all this ; of themselves
they had deserved the very opposite.


1 Titus 3. 4-7.
1 Rom. 9. 16-18.

To be continued...

[InHocSignoVinces]

When we say that sanctifying grace is an
undeserved gift we mean to say that it is
undeserved on our part; we do not say
that it has not been deserved at all. Jesus
died to obtain grace for us. God gives us
grace on account of the superabundant
merits of Christ. "Justified freely by His
grace, through the Redemption that is in
Christ Jesus." 1 Justification does not come
to us through our own merits; it is gratis ;
it comes to us through the Redemption of
Christ.

Since we have received this grace in Baptism
without any merits of our own, purely
through the kindness and mercy of God, we
should show our gratitude to God for the
love He has shown to us by looking upon
grace as the most valuable gift that we can
possess. We should be anxious to preserve
it and to have it ever in our hearts. Sanctifying
grace differs from actual grace in this,
that, whereas actual grace is only a passing gift,
sanctifying grace remains in our soul
until it is driven out by mortal sin. For this
reason it is also called habitual grace.


1 Rom. 3. 24.

To be continued...

"Since we have received this grace in Baptism
without any merits of our own, purely
through the kindness and mercy of God, we
should show our gratitude to God for the
love He has shown to us by looking upon
grace as the most valuable gift that we can
possess. We should be anxious to preserve
it and to have it ever in our hearts."

[InHocSignoVinces]

Sanctifying grace is called grace of justification
or simply justification. The Apostle
says of Baptism by which we receive sanctifying
grace: "But you are washed, but you
are sanctified, but you are justified, in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the
Spirit of our God." 1 What do we mean by
justification ? A boy goes into an orchard
and takes some apples. The orchard does
not belong to his parents, and hence he is
accused of stealing. He excuses himself
by saying that the orchard belongs to his
uncle, who told him that he might take all
the apples he wished. If this story is true,
is the boy deserving of punishment for taking
the apples ? Evidently not ; he proved
that what he did was not wrong ; he justified
himself. To justify one's self means, then, to
clear one's self of the accusation of having
done wrong. When our first parents sinned,
God came to them and showed them their
sin. They tried to justify themselves ; Adam
put the blame on Eve, and she blamed the serpent
— but they could not justify themselves
because they had only idle excuses to give.
God punished them for their sin, but taking
pity on them He promised to send them a
Redeemer, who was to take away their sin
and regain grace for them ; He was to make
good the harm done ; He was to justify them.
To justify can, therefore, also mean to make
good a wrong. Justification does away with
sin and makes good the harm done by sin ;
it restores us to the state of friendship
with God, from which we fell through sin.
Because by sanctifying grace sin is destroyed
and man is made holy and just, it is called
justifying grace.


1 1 Cor. 6. 11.

COMING NEXT... Justification includes two things — the
cleansing from sin and interior sanctification.

[InHocSignoVinces]

Justification includes two things — the
cleansing from sin and interior sanctification.
Hence the Apostle says, "You are
washed," i.e. you are freed from sins, " You are
sanctified," i.e. you have been made holy and
pleasing to God, you have been born again,
" You are justified," i.e. freed from sin and
sanctified. To be "justified in the name of
our Lord, Jesus Christ," signifies that, through
the merits of Jesus Christ, we receive forgiveness
of our sins, and are made holy and just
in the eyes of God. " Justified in the Spirit
of our God," means that we receive forgiveness
of our sins and interior sanctity from
the Holy Ghost, because to Him, as the love
of the Father, is ascribed sanctification.

The teaching of the Catholic Church on
justification is, as we have seen, that by
sanctifying grace the sinner is placed in a
state of interior supernatural sanctity. By
justification we mean that the soul is freed
from sin, reborn to a new life, and renewed ;
that it is made holy and pleasing in the
eyes of God.

The heretics of the sixteenth
century said that justification was not a
remission of sins, but consisted in covering
them up ; that God, on account of the
merits of Jesus Christ, did not punish our
sins, if we believed in the Redemption of
Christ. According to them the sins are not
forgiven, but only overlooked ; they are still
in the soul, but on account of the merits of
Jesus we are not punished for them. If this
were true, there would be no real justification,
there would be no raising of the sinner to
a supernatural life, the soul would not be
really healed of its infirmities.

But we know from Sacred Scripture that
"by His bruises we have been healed." 1
St. Paul teaches the Christians, " You have been washed, you
have been sanctified," and again, " We were
by nature the children of wrath, even as the
rest ; but God (who is rich in mercy), for
His exceeding charity wherewith He loved
us, even when we were dead in sin, hath quickened
us together in Christ (by whose grace
you are saved), and hath raised us up together ;
and hath made us sit together in the
heavenly places, through Christ Jesus." 2
Here the Apostle clearly teaches that justification
consists in raising the spiritually dead
to life, that it consists in transferring the
sinner from a state of wrath to a state of
the love of God, that it is a uniting of him
who was a sinner with Jesus, and making
him worthy of the kingdom of heaven. This
is evidently a good deal more than merely
covering over sin, and not punishing sin,
which still remains in the soul.


1 Is. 53. 5.
2 Eph. 2. 3 seqq.

COMING UP... Sanctifying grace is often compared to a
garment.