DIVINE GRACE (in English)

[InHocSignoVinces]

Our catechism calls final perseverance
a particular gift of God. It is a gift, i.e.
it is given to men, not for their merits, not
because they have deserved it, but out of
mercy and love. God is our Sanctifier and
Saviour; our sanctification through grace
and our salvation depend entirely on His free
will. We become His children, because He
wills to adopt us ; we become heirs of His
kingdom, because He wills to give it to us;
we are made happy forever, because by His
grace of perseverance He assists us to conquer
sin, and by the disposition of His divine
providence allows death to end the time
of our trial here upon earth whilst we are His
friends. The grace of final perseverance is
not included in sanctifying grace ; otherwise
every one who has been baptized would persevere,
and could, therefore, no longer fall into sin and
be lost. It is true, by sanctifying grace we are
made children of God and receive a right to
the kingdom of heaven; but we must also
remember that our free will is not taken away,
and that consequently we can still sin grievously,
and lose the friendship of God together with
the right to heaven. This right to the
inheritance of the kingdom of heaven is given to
the children of God; heaven is promised to His
friends, and therefore, when through sin we
become His enemies, we lose also our right
to the reward of the obedient sons and
friends of God. As long as we remain in
the state of grace heaven is ours, but just
as soon as we fall into mortal sin then heaven
is lost to us. Final perseverance is a gift
distinct from sanctifying grace ; it is, as the
catechism says, a particular gift of God.
All who possess sanctifying grace do not
persevere in the state of grace until death;
many unfortunately throw aside this precious
gift of divine grace and commit mortal sin.
Unless these do penance and are again
reinstated into the friendship of God, they will
be lost for all eternity. "He that shall persevere
to the end, shall be saved." 1 That
final perseverance is a particular gift of God
is taught by the Catholic Church in the
Council of Trent: " If any one shall say that one
who is justified can persevere in the
justice he has received, without the special
help of God, or that with it he cannot persevere,
let him be anathema," 2 i.e., cut off from
the Church. It is the teaching of the Church
that without the special help of God we cannot
remain in the state of grace until death,
and that with that help we can persevere in
grace until the end of our lives. In order
that we may continue a long time in the state
of grace it is necessary for us to overcome
many temptations and avoid mortal sin;
to do this we need the help of divine grace,
which God is ever ready to give us. Final
perseverance, however, consists especially in
dying in the state of grace. This is not for us
to dispose of; God in His wise providence
regulates the time of our death. The
gift of final perseverance is the grace of God
by which in His providence He so disposes
as to bring about our departure from this
world at a time when we are in His friendship.
With some the gift of final perseverance consists
in the special help of God to overcome temptations
until death; with others it consists in the removal
of the danger of sin ; with others it is a sudden death
that takes them out of life before they sin;
with others again, it consists in a prolonging
of life to give them time for repentance ;
with some it consists in aid to resist sin, and with
others in a timely death.


1 Matt. 24. 13.
2 Con. Trid. Sess. VI, can. 22.


To be continued...

[InHocSignoVinces]

From what has been said we can see
that even in the case of small children
who die before they acquire the use of
reason, and hence the power to sin, final
perseverance is a special gift of God. To
them applies the sentence of Holy Scripture :
"He pleased God and was beloved,
and living among sinners, he was translated.
He was taken away lest wickedness
should alter his understanding, or deceit
beguile his soul." 1 It is
certainly a special gift of God to be taken
out of this world whilst in the state of
grace, before that state is lost by sin.
The same may be said of the sinner who
does penance, and after receiving forgiveness
for his sins dies before he can commit another
sin. He, too, is translated lest sin beguile his
understanding. In the same way one who
has fallen into sin receives a particular
gift of God, when through His mercy he is
given time for repentance. Just as grace
is given us without merit on our part, so also,
God makes us persevere in grace until death ;
so that if we are saved, it is through the mercy
of God that we obtain salvation. " He who hath
begun a good work in you, will perfect it unto
the day of Christ Jesus." 2 As the
beginning of the life of grace is from God,
so is its perfection in the glory of heaven.


1. Wisd. 4. 10, II.
2. Philip. I. 6.


To be continued...

[InHocSignoVinces]

Final perseverance is a free gift of God
and cannot be merited by us, but it can be
obtained through fervent prayer. Our Lord
admonishes us "to watch and pray." He
taught us the Our Father in which we ask,
" Thy kingdom come " and " lead us not
into temptation but deliver us from evil."
Without the gift of final perseverance His
kingdom will not come to us, nor will we
be delivered from evil ; for certainly there
can be no greater evil than to be separated
from God by sin and to lose heaven for
eternity. Jesus wishes us, therefore, to pray
for the grace of final perseverance. If we
could merit this grace by our good works,
we would not need to pray for it. His
admonition to pray for final perseverance
means, therefore, that we cannot merit it;
but, on the other hand, it also means that
we can obtain it by prayer, otherwise He
should not have told us to pray for it.
The Church in her prayer teaches us the
same lesson; on the third day after Passion
Sunday she prays that God might
" Give us a persevering service in His will."
St. Augustine, who defended this doctrine
against the Pelagians, says, " Is this prayer
then foolish, since we would ask that of
Him, which we know He will not give, and
which without His giving, it is in the power
of man to have.?" 1 If we are to pray for
final perseverance, then God will give us
final perseverance in answer to our prayers;
and if we must pray for it, then evidently
we cannot obtain it through our own works.
The Apostle St. Paul, teaches that it is a
gift of God "to believe in Him but also
to suffer for Him." 2 Speaking of this
sentence of St. Paul, St. Augustine says,
that the first, namely to believe in God,
belongs to the beginning of salvation, and
that the second, to suffer for His sake,
belongs to its perfection, and that both are
free gifts of God. To obtain the gift of
final perseverance, we must, howeyer, pray
rightly ; that is, we must pray in the state of
grace; we must pray piously and perseveringly.
We should not suppose that we
can obtain so great a gift by reciting one
or two short prayers; we must continue to
pray and never cease.


To be continued...


1. De Don, Persev. n. 3
2. Philip. I. 29.

[InHocSignoVinces]

When we consider that our salvation
depends on the grace of final perseverance,
we can easily understand that this is a
most precious gift of God, The Council
of Trent speaks of final perseverance as "a
great gift," and indeed rightly so, for is it
not the perfection of all the gifts of God?
We know what a great gift actual and
sanctifying grace is; and yet the grace of
perseverance is greater, for it includes both
sanctifying grace and a multitude of actual
graces. Final perseverance includes the
state of sanctifying grace together with the
helps to avoid sin and to die a happy
death. " He that shall persevere to the end
shall be saved." Is it not a great mercy
of God so to arrange our death that it find
us in the state of His friendship? The holy
Council of Trent tells us to pray and work
that we obtain this great gift of God,
" Let him who thinks to stand take heed
lest he fall, and let him work his salvation
with fear and trembling, by labors,
by vigils, by alms, by prayers and oblations,
by fasting and by chastity." 1 As long as
we live we cannot be certain whether we
shall persevere to the end or not; hence,
we should pray and fear. We should fear
and tremble, not lest God forsake us, but
lest we forget and forsake God. The Council
enumerates the various good works we
should perform, not as though we could earn
the gift of final perseverance by them, but
that God be moved by them to have mercy
on us, and bestow this great gift upon us.


Although final perseverance is a special
gift of God which cannot be merited by us,
nevertheless no one will be deprived of it except
through his own fault. We know that God
wills not the death of the sinner, but that
he be converted and live. 2 God does not
forget us any more than that "a woman can
forget her infant." 3 He will have all men to
ibe saved and to come to the knowledge of
the truth. 4 He stands "at the gate and
knocks," 5 crying, " Come to Me,
all you that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh
you." 6 He has the gift of perseverance
prepared for all, but they that reject Him by
sin, will not receive it. They say to God,
" Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge
of Thy ways." 7 They are "rebellious to
the light." 8 The light has come
to enlighten them and lead them to heaven,
but they "Loved darkness rather than the
light." 9


To be continued...


1 Con. Trid. Sess. 6. c. 13.
2 Ezech. 18. 23.
3 Is. 49. 15.
4 Tim. 2. 4.
5 Apoc. 3. 20.
6 Matt. 11. 26.
7 Job 21. 14.
8 Ibid. 24.13.
9 John 3. 19.

[InHocSignoVinces]

CONCLUSION


In the beginning God created man in the
state of grace ; man enjoyed the friendship of
God and was surrounded by supernatural
helps ; he was to live a short time upon earth
to prove his faithfulness to God, and was
then to be taken into heaven to be eternally
happy with God. This was the end God appointed
for us. Our first parents, however,
transgressed the commandment which God
had given them, and fell into sin. By this
they lost the grace of God ; instead of being
His friends, as they had been, they now
became His enemies. With grace they lost
at the same time the other supernatural
gifts they had received ; even their natural powers
were weakened. By original sin man's intellect
was darkened, and a great inclination
to sin was left in his will. This sin of Adam
and its consequences we, his children, have
inherited. We are born subject to sin,
enemies of God, incapable of ourselves to do
anything to reach heaven. Our lot would
have been hopeless had not God in His
mercy sent us a Redeemer to satisfy for the
sin of Adam and for our sins. Christ came. He was
God and man ; as man He could
suffer, and as God He could make ample
satisfaction for sin. These two truths we
must ever have in mind when studying the
teaching of our holy Church on grace, namely,
the helplessness of man on account of
original sin, and the Redemption of mankind
by Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Christ not
only made satisfaction to God for sin, but He
also obtained grace for us. By grace we who
by nature were servants of God and by sin
enemies, become His sons. We are raised to
a supernatural life ; all our actions performed
according to the promptings of grace, become
meritorious for heaven ; Jesus, the true Son
of God, becomes our brother. Through the
merits of Jesus Christ we receive a super-
abundance of grace; we receive sanctifying
grace which makes our souls beautiful and
pleasing in the sight of God; we receive
actual grace which prepares us for the
reception of sanctifying grace and helps us
perform good works, meritorious for heaven
when we are in the state of grace.


To be continued...

[InHocSignoVinces]

Grace is the foundation of the supernatural
life. Man may lead three kinds of life ; he
may lead a life of the senses, seeking only
the pleasures of this world, resembling the
animals. There is in our bodies the law of
the flesh, impelling us to seek those things
which please the senses, such as wealth and
sensual pleasures. To follow this inclination
and to forget everything that is higher, is to
forget the dignity of man, and to become
Hke the brute animals ; such a one destroys in
himself the image of God impressed on the
soul. Above the life of the senses is
life of the intellect. One who lives this life
forgets the kingdom of heaven and seeks
only the improvement of his mind by
knowledge. Such a one loves literature
and art, he tries to live respectably before
his neighbors. Such a one is living entirely
for this world and not for heaven; he will
receive his reward also in this world in the
praise and admiration of his fellow-men.
He can expect no reward from God because
he has not lived for Him ; of him it will be
said, " Amen, I say to you, they have received
their reward." 1 Higher than this is the life
of grace; it is a supernatural life. It is the
life of a man who does not seek the pleasures
of the senses, nor is satisfied with the higher
goods of the world, but seeks the highest good,
God Himself. Its foundation is divine grace ;
its faculties, the divine virtues of faith, hope,
and charity ; its end, the glory of God. This
is the life the Christian should lead, for he
is not a mere man ; he has been made a son of
God and a brother of Jesus Christ. His
life must be in conformity with his dignity;
it must be heavenly, because heaven is his
true home ; it must be holy, because God,
his Father, is holy; it must be divine,
because by grace he has become a
"partaker of the divine nature."


To be continued...


1 Matt. 6. 2.

[InHocSignoVinces]

We are sons of God by grace, not by
nature; we are adopted sons of God. As
sons of God we must also lead the life of
sons of God, i.e, a life higher than our natural
life. What this consists in we can learn
from Him who is the Son of God by nature,
Jesus Christ. Jesus, the only-begotten Son
of the Father, has come, not only to redeem
us from sin and obtain grace for us, but also
to give us an example. For this reason He
wished to remain for thirty-three years upon
earth; had He come only to redeem us,
it would not have been necessary for Him to
live amongst us so long, a much shorter
time would have been sufficient. He wanted
to make us sons of His Father, and at the
same time teach us how we are to live in
conformity with this great dignity. If a
peasant boy were to be adopted by a king,
he would not know how to act in his new
surroundings; he would have to learn from those
that are accustomed to court life. So it is
with us ; we must learn the manner of living,
which is proper for us in our new capacity of
sons of God, from Jesus who came from
heaven to teach us this. He is our Pattern,
our Teacher and Guide. We must assimilate
His spirit ; we must imitate His virtues ; we
must learn from Him what is pleasing to
His heavenly Father. Like Jesus we must
learn to do all things for the glory of God;
like Him we must in all things seek to do
the will of our heavenly Father; like Him
we must pray without ceasing ; like Him we
must forgive our enemies ; like Him we must
love God above all things and our neighbor
as ourselves. All that we do must be done
out of a motive that springs from faith.
If we do this, then we live from faith ;
and if we persevere in this manner of life,
we shall be saved.


THE END