340 GRACE GIVES MAN A LONGING FOR TRUTH AND GOODNESS THAT ONLY GOD CAN SUPPLY

YOUCAT Lesson 340

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

340  How is God’s grace related to our freedom?

God’s grace is freely bestowed on a person, and it seeks and summons him to respond in complete freedom.  Grace does not compel.  God’s love wants our free assent.  [2001-2002, 2022]

One can also say “No” to the offer of grace.  Grace, nevertheless, is not something external or foreign to man; it is what he actually yearns for in his deepest freedom.  In moving us by his grace, God anticipates man’s free response.

The Annunciation by El Greco (1541-1614). …..340

“And Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the handmade of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.’”  Luke 1:38

“Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.”  Romans 3:23-24

2001-2002, 2022]

II. GRACE

2001 The preparation of man for the reception of grace is already a work of grace. This latter is needed to arouse and sustain our collaboration in justification through faith, and in sanctification through charity. God brings to completion in us what he has begun, "since he who completes his work by cooperating with our will began by working so that we might will it:"( St. Augustine, De gratia et libero arbitrio, 17:Patrologia Latina 44,901.)⁵⁰ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

Indeed we also work, but we are only collaborating with God who works, for his mercy has gone before us. It has gone before us so that we may be healed, and follows us so that once healed, we may be given life; it goes before us so that we may be called, and follows us so that we may be glorified; it goes before us so that we may live devoutly, and follows us so that we may always live with God: for without him we can do nothing.( St. Augustine, De natura et gratia, 31:Patrologia Latina 44,264.)⁵¹ –CCC

2002 God's free initiative demands man's free response, for God has created man in his image by conferring on him, along with freedom, the power to know him and love him. The soul only enters freely into the communion of love. God immediately touches and directly moves the heart of man. He has placed in man a longing for truth and goodness that only he can satisfy. The promises of "eternal life" respond, beyond all hope, to this desire: --CCC

If at the end of your very good works . . ., you rested on the seventh day, it was to foretell by the voice of your book that at the end of our works, which are indeed "very good" since you have given them to us, we shall also rest in you on the sabbath of eternal life.( St. Augustine, Conf. 13,36 51:Patrologia Latina 32,868; compare Genesis 1:31.)⁵² –CCC

IN BRIEF

2022 The divine initiative in the work of grace precedes, prepares, and elicits the free response of man. Grace responds to the deepest yearnings of human freedom, calls freedom to cooperate with it, and perfects freedom. --CCC

339 THE EFFECT OF GOD'S GRACE

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

  

2023 Sanctifying grace is the gratuitous gift of his life that God makes to us; it is infused by the Holy Spirit into the soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it. –CCC

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

338 GRACE

YOUCAT Lesson 338, April 10, 2015

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

338  What is grace?

By grace we mean God’s free, loving gift to us, his helping goodness, the vitality that comes from him.  Through the Cross and Resurrection, God devotes himself entirely to us and communicates himself to us in grace.  Grace is everything God grants us, without our deserving it in the least. [1996-1998, 2005, 2021]

Saint  Joan of Arc interrogated in her prison cell by the Cardinal of Winchester. When asked if she knew that she was in God's grace, Joan replied: “If I am not, may it please God to put me in it; if I am, may it please God to keep me there.” Painting by Hippolyte Delaroche, 1824. …..338

“Grace”, says Pope Benedict XVI, “is being looked upon by God, our being touched by his love.”  Grace is not a thing, but rather God’s communication of himself to men.  God never gives less than himself.   In grace we are in God.

“God never gives less than himself.”  St. Augustine (354-430)

[1996-1998, 2005, 2021]

II. GRACE

1996 Our justification comes from the grace of God. Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life.( Compare John 1:12-18; Jn 17:3; Romans 8:14-17; 2 Peter 1:3-4.)⁴⁶ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

1997 Grace is a participation in the life of God. It introduces us into the intimacy of Trinitarian life: by Baptism the Christian participates in the grace of Christ, the Head of his Body. As an "adopted son" he can henceforth call God "Father," in union with the only Son. He receives the life of the Spirit who breathes charity into him and who forms the Church. --CCC

1998 This vocation to eternal life is supernatural. It depends entirely on God's gratuitous initiative, for he alone can reveal and give himself. It surpasses the power of human intellect and will, as that of every other creature.( Compare 1 Corinthians 2:7-9.)⁴⁷ --CCC

2005 Since it belongs to the supernatural order, grace escapes our experience and cannot be known except by faith. We cannot therefore rely on our feelings or our works to conclude that we are justified and saved.( Cf. Council of Trent (1547): Denzinger-Schonmetzer 1533-1534.)⁵⁶ However, according to the Lord's words "Thus you will know them by their fruits"( Matthew 7:20.)⁵⁷ - reflection on God's blessings in our life and in the lives of the saints offers us a guarantee that grace is at work in us and spurs us on to an ever greater faith and an attitude of trustful poverty. --CCC

A pleasing illustration of this attitude is found in the reply of St. Joan of Arc to a question posed as a trap by her ecclesiastical judges: "Asked if she knew that she was in God's grace, she replied: 'If I am not, may it please God to put me in it; if I am, may it please God to keep me there.'"( Acts of the trial of St. Joan of Arc.)⁵⁸ --CCC

IN BRIEF

2021 Grace is the help God gives us to respond to our vocation of becoming his adopted sons. It introduces us into the intimacy of the Trinitarian life. --CCC

337 HOW ARE WE SAVED?

YOUCAT Lesson 337

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

337  How are we saved?

No man can save himself.  Christians believe that they are saved by God, who for this purpose sent his Son Jesus Christ into the world.  For us salvation means that we are freed by the Holy Spirit from the power of sin and have been brought back from the realm of death to a life without end, a life in God’s presence.  [1987-1995, 2017-2020]

Conversion of Saint Paul by Michelangelo Buonarroti. …..337

Paul observes: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).  Sin cannot exist in the presence of God, who is justice and goodness through and through.  If sin is worth nothing, what about the sinner, then?  In his love, God found a way by which he destroys sin but saves the sinner.  He makes him “right” again, that is to say, righteous or just.  That is why from ancient times salvation has also been called justification.  We are not made just by our own power.  A man can neither forgive his own sins nor rescue himself from death.  For that, God has to act on our behalf—out of mercy, not because we could deserve or merit it.  In Baptism, God grants us “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ” (Romans 3:22).  Through the Holy Spirit, who is poured out into our hearts, we take part in the death and Resurrection of Christ—we die to sin and are born to new life in God.  The divine gifts of faith, hope, and charity come over us and make us able to live in the light and to obey God’s will.

Justification—a central concept from the “doctrine about grace”.  It means the restoration of the right relation between God and man.  Since only Jesus Christ achieved this right relation (“righteousness”), we can come again into God’s presence only if we are “justified” by Christ and so to speak, enter into his intact relationship with God.  To believe therefore, means to accept the righteousness of Jesus for oneself and one’s life.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God—not because of works, least any man should boast.”  Ephesians 2:8-9

[1987-1995, 2017-2020]

CHAPTER THREE
GOD'S SALVATION: LAW AND GRACE 

ARTICLE 2
GRACE AND JUSTIFICATION

I. JUSTIFICATION

1987 The grace of the Holy Spirit has the power to justify us, that is, to cleanse us from our sins and to communicate to us "the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ" and through Baptism(Romans 3:22; compare Rom 6:3-4.)³⁴ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

 But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves as dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.( Romans 6:8-11.)³⁵ –CCC

1988 Through the power of the Holy Spirit we take part in Christ's Passion by dying to sin, and in his Resurrection by being born to a new life; we are members of his Body which is the Church, branches grafted onto the vine which is himself(Compare 1 Corinthians 12; John 15:1-4.)³⁶ –CCC

 [God] gave himself to us through his Spirit. By the participation of the Spirit, we become communicants in the divine nature. . . . For this reason, those in whom the Spirit dwells are divinized.( St. Athanasius, Ep. Serap. 1,24:Patrologia Graeca 26,585 and 588.)³⁷ –CCC

1989 The first work of the grace of the Holy Spirit is conversion, effecting justification in accordance with Jesus' proclamation at the beginning of the Gospel: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."( Matthew 4:17.)³⁸ Moved by grace, man turns toward God and away from sin, thus accepting forgiveness and righteousness from on high. "Justification is not only the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior man.( Council of Trent (1547): Denzinger-Schonmetzer 1528.)³⁹ –CCC

1990 Justification detaches man from sin which contradicts the love of God, and purifies his heart of sin. Justification follows upon God's merciful initiative of offering forgiveness. It reconciles man with God. It frees from the enslavement to sin, and it heals. –CCC

1991 Justification is at the same time the acceptance of God's righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ. Righteousness (or "justice") here means the rectitude of divine love. With justification, faith, hope, and charity are poured into our hearts, and obedience to the divine will is granted us. –CCC

1992 Justification has been merited for us by the Passion of Christ who offered himself on the cross as a living victim, holy and pleasing to God, and whose blood has become the instrument of atonement for the sins of all men. Justification is conferred in Baptism, the sacrament of faith. It conforms us to the righteousness of God, who makes us inwardly just by the power of his mercy. Its purpose is the glory of God and of Christ, and the gift of eternal life(Cf. Council of Trent (1547): Denzinger-Schonmetzer 1529.)⁴⁰ –CCC

 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins; it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus.( Romans 3:21-26.)⁴¹ –CCC

1993 Justification establishes cooperation between God's grace and man's freedom. On man's part it is expressed by the assent of faith to the Word of God, which invites him to conversion, and in the cooperation of charity with the prompting of the Holy Spirit who precedes and preserves his assent: –CCC

When God touches man's heart through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, man himself is not inactive while receiving that inspiration, since he could reject it; and yet, without God's grace, he cannot by his own free will move himself toward justice in God's sight.( Council of Trent (1547): Denzinger-Schonmetzer 1525.)⁴² –CCC

 1994 Justification is the most excellent work of God's love made manifest in Christ Jesus and granted by the Holy Spirit. It is the opinion of St. Augustine that "the justification of the wicked is a greater work than the creation of heaven and earth," because "heaven and earth will pass away but the salvation and justification of the elect . . . will not pass away."( St. Augustine, In Jo. ev. 72,3:Patrologia Latina 35,1823.)⁴³ He holds also that the justification of sinners surpasses the creation of the angels in justice, in that it bears witness to a greater mercy. –CCC

1995 The Holy Spirit is the master of the interior life. By giving birth to the "inner man,"( Compare Romans 7:22; Ephesians 3:16.)⁴⁴ justification entails the sanctification of his whole being: –CCC

 Just as you once yielded your members to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now yield your members to righteousness for sanctification. . . . But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life.( Romans 6:19,22.)⁴⁵ –CCC

IN BRIEF

2017 The grace of the Holy Spirit confers upon us the righteousness of God. Uniting us by faith and Baptism to the Passion and Resurrection of Christ, the Spirit makes us sharers in his life. –CCC

2018 Like conversion, justification has two aspects. Moved by grace, man turns toward God and away from sin, and so accepts forgiveness and righteousness from on high. –CCC

2019 Justification includes the remission of sins, sanctification, and the renewal of the inner man. –CCC

2020 Justification has been merited for us by the Passion of Christ. It is granted us through Baptism. It conforms us to the righteousness of God, who justifies us. It has for its goal the glory of God and of Christ, and the gift of eternal life. It is the most excellent work of God's mercy. –CCC

336 JESUS FULFILLS THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS

YOUCAT Lesson 336

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

336  How did Jesus deal with the Law of the Old Covenant?

“Do not think,” says Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, “that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17).  [1965-1972, 1977, 1983-1985]

The Water of Life Discourse between Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well by Angelika Kauffmann , 17–18th century. …..336

Jesus, being a faithful Jew, lived according to the ethical ideas and requirements of his time.  But on a series of issues he departed from a literal, merely formal interpretation of the Law.

“You are a child of grace.  If God gave you grace, because he gave it freely, then you should love freely.  Do not love God for the sake of a reward: let God be your reward!”  St. Augustine  (354-430)

 [1965-1972, 1977, 1983-1985]

III. THE NEW LAW OR THE LAW OF THE GOSPEL

1965 The New Law or the Law of the Gospel is the perfection here on earth of the divine law, natural and revealed. It is the work of Christ and is expressed particularly in the Sermon on the Mount. It is also the work of the Holy Spirit and through him it becomes the interior law of charity: "I will establish a New Covenant with the house of Israel. . . . I will put my laws into their hands, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."( Hebrews 8:8, 10; compare Jeremiah31:31-34 .)¹⁹ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

1966 The New Law is the grace of the Holy Spirit given to the faithful through faith in Christ. It works through charity; it uses the Sermon on the Mount to teach us what must be done and makes use of the sacraments to give us the grace to do it: 

If anyone should meditate with devotion and perspicacity on the sermon our Lord gave on the mount, as we read in the Gospel of Saint Matthew, he will doubtless find there . . . the perfect way of the Christian life. . . . This sermon contains . . . all the precepts needed to shape one's life.( St. Augustine, De serm. Dom. 1,1:Patrologia Latina 34,1229-1230.)²⁰ –CCC

1967 The Law of the Gospel "fulfills," refines, surpasses, and leads the Old Law to its perfection.( Compare Matthew 5:17-19.)²¹ In the Beatitudes, the New Law fulfills the divine promises by elevating and orienting them toward the "kingdom of heaven." It is addressed to those open to accepting this new hope with faith - the poor, the humble, the afflicted, the pure of heart, those persecuted on account of Christ and so marks out the surprising ways of the Kingdom. –CCC

1968 The Law of the Gospel fulfills the commandments of the Law. The Lord's Sermon on the Mount, far from abolishing or devaluing the moral prescriptions of the Old Law, releases their hidden potential and has new demands arise from them: it reveals their entire divine and human truth. It does not add new external precepts, but proceeds to reform the heart, the root of human acts, where man chooses between the pure and the impure,( Compare Matthew 15:18-19.)²² where faith, hope, and charity are formed and with them the other virtues. The Gospel thus brings the Law to its fullness through imitation of the perfection of the heavenly Father, through forgiveness of enemies and prayer for persecutors, in emulation of the divine generosity.( Compare Matthew 5:44,48)²³ –CCC

1969 The New Law practices the acts of religion: almsgiving, prayer and fasting, directing them to the "Father who sees in secret," in contrast with the desire to "be seen by men."( Compare Matthew 6:1-6; Mt 6-18.)²⁴ Its prayer is the Our Father.( Compare Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4)²⁵ –CCC

1970 The Law of the Gospel requires us to make the decisive choice between "the two ways" and to put into practice the words of the Lord.( Compare Matthew 7:13-14,21-27.)²⁶ It is summed up in the Golden Rule, "Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; this is the law and the prophets."( Matthew 7:12; compare Luke 6:31.)^{27 --CCC}

The entire Law of the Gospel is contained in the "new commandment" of Jesus, to love one another as he has loved us.( Compare John 15:12; Jn 13:34.)²⁸ –CCC

1971 To the Lord's Sermon on the Mount it is fitting to add the moral catechesis of the apostolic teachings, such as Romans 12:15, 1 Corinthians 12-13, Colossians 3-4, Ephesians 4-5, etc. This doctrine hands on the Lord's teaching with the authority of the apostles, particularly in the presentation of the virtues that flow from faith in Christ and are animated by charity, the principal gift of the Holy Spirit. "Let charity be genuine. . . . Love one another with brotherly affection. . . . Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints, practice hospitality."( Romans 12:9-13.)²⁹ This catechesis also teaches us to deal with cases of conscience in the light of our relationship to Christ and to the Church.( Compare Romans 14; 1 Corinthians 5-10.)³⁰ –CCC

1972 The New Law is called a law of love because it makes us act out of the love infused by the Holy Spirit, rather than from fear; a law of grace, because it confers the strength of grace to act, by means of faith and the sacraments; a law of freedom, because it sets us free from the ritual and juridical observances of the Old Law, inclines us to act spontaneously by the prompting of charity and, finally, lets us pass from the condition of a servant who "does not know what his master is doing" to that of a friend of Christ - "For all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you" - or even to the status of son and heir.( John 15:15; compare James 1:25; James 2:12; Galatians 4:1-7,21-31; Romans 8:15.)³¹ –CCC

IN BRIEF

1977 Christ is the end of the law (compare Romans 10:4); only he teaches and bestows the justice of God. –CCC

1983 The New Law is the grace of the Holy Spirit received by faith in Christ, operating through charity. It finds expression above all in the Lord's Sermon on the Mount and uses the sacraments to communicate grace to us. –CCC

 

1984 The Law of the Gospel fulfills and surpasses the Old Law and brings it to perfection: its promises, through the Beatitudes of the Kingdom of heaven; its commandments, by reforming the heart, the root of human acts. –CCC

1985 The New Law is a law of love, a law of grace, a law of freedom. --CCC