YOUCAT Lesson 339
YOUCAT the catechism
for Catholic youth
339 What does God’s grace do
to us?
God’s grace brings us into the inner life of the Holy
Trinity, into the exchange of love between the Father, Son and Holy
Spirit. It makes us capable of living in
God’s love and acting on the basis of this love. [1999-2000,
2003-2004, 2023-2024]
Fr. Chet Artysiewicz, president of
the Glenmary Home Missioners, Cincinnati, Ohio.
“Joy is numbered among the fruits of the Holy Spirit.”--St. Thomas
Aquinas …..339
Grace is infused in us from above and cannot be explained in
terms of natural causes (supernatural
grace). It makes us—especially through Baptism—children of God and heirs of
heaven (sanctifying or deifying grace).
It bestows on us a permanent disposition to do good (habitual grace). Grace helps us to know, to will, and to do
everything that leads us to what is good, to God, and to heaven (actual grace). Grace comes about in a
special way in the sacraments, which according to the will of our Savior are
the preeminent places for our encounter with God (sacramental grace). Grace is
manifested also in special gifts of grace that are granted to individual
Christians (charism) or in special
powers that are promised to those in the state of marriage, the ordained state,
or the religious state (graces of state).
“What have you that you did not receive?” 1 Corinthians 4:7
“Everything is grace.” St. Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)
“My past no longer concerns me. It belongs to divine mercy. My future does not yet concern me. It belongs to divine providence. What concerns me and what challenges me is
today, which belong to God’s grace and to the devotion of my heart and my good
will.” St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
[1999-2000,
2003-2004, 2023-2024]
II. GRACE
1999 The
grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own life,
infused by the Holy Spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it.
It is the sanctifying or deifying grace received
in Baptism. It is in us the source of the work of sanctification(Compare John 4:14; Jn 7:38-39.)48 –Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Second Edition
Therefore if any one is in Christ, he is a new
creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. All this is from
God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself.( 2
Corinthians 5:17-18.)49 –CCC
2000 Sanctifying grace
is an habitual gift, a stable and supernatural disposition that perfects the
soul itself to enable it to live with God, to act by his love. Habitual grace, the permanent
disposition to live and act in keeping with God's call, is distinguished from
actual graces which refer to God's interventions, whether at the beginning of
conversion or in the course of the work of sanctification. –CCC
2003 Grace
is first and foremost the gift of the Spirit who justifies and sanctifies us.
But grace also includes the gifts that the Spirit grants us to associate us
with his work, to enable us to collaborate in the salvation of others and in
the growth of the Body of Christ, the Church. There are sacramental graces, gifts proper
to the different sacraments. There are furthermore special graces, also called charisms after the Greek term used by St. Paul
and meaning "favor," "gratuitous gift,"
"benefit."( Compare Lumen
Gentes 12.)53 Whatever
their character - sometimes it is extraordinary, such as the gift of miracles
or of tongues - charisms are oriented toward sanctifying grace and are intended
for the common good of the Church. They are at the service of charity which
builds up the Church.( Compare 1
Corinthians 12.)54 –CCC
2004 Among the special
graces ought to be mentioned the graces
of state that accompany the exercise of the responsibilities of
the Christian life and of the ministries within the Church: –CCC
Having gifts that differ according to the
grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if
service, in our serving; he who teaches, in his teaching; he who exhorts, in
his exhortation; he who contributes, in liberality; he who gives aid, with
zeal; he who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.( Romans 12:6-8.)55 –CCC
IN BRIEF
2024 Sanctifying grace makes us "pleasing to God." Charisms, special graces of the Holy Spirit, are oriented to sanctifying grace and are intended for the common good of the Church. God also acts through many actual graces, to be distinguished from habitual grace which is permanent in us. –CCC
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