FAUSTO GOMEZ OP
For a Christian, grace is the fundamental power towards his/her self-realization as a human person, God’s creature, and principally as a child of God and a brother or sister of all humans. Grace is the gift of gifts: a totally unmerited, gratuitous gift. The just receives from God the created gift of grace with the uncreated gift of the Holy Spirit (the indwelling of the Blessed Trinity), as clearly expressed in Revelation.
The Holy Spirit (we live in the age of the Holy Spirit) enlightens us and moves us to know and do the right thing (cf. A. Royo Marin, We are children of God). The Holy Spirit inspires us indirectly too. How? Through various instruments, such as the guardian angels, preachers, good books, friends – the cross! Our Lady, Mother Mary aids us in a unique way – above all the saints, and after Christ: she is “full of grace.”
In the present state of our wounded nature, we need grace in two ways: relatively at the natural level, to be able to do all the possible good of nature (healing grace), and absolutely at the supernatural level, to be elevated to the level of God as God (elevating grace).
God wants the salvation of all, and Christ died for all. Thus, God has bound himself to give sufficient graces to all. No one will be able to say: “Lord, You did not give me enough graces to reach salvation.” Divine grace was and is available to all: “God lavished a profusion of graces and blessings, and continues giving sufficient graces to all for our salvation. There is a variety of graces – of vocations and charisms, but everyone has enough and more than enough graces to save his soul.” “Each one has its values, its charm, its gaiety while the whole vast cluster of these variations makes for beauty in its most graceful form” (St. Francis of Sales, The Love of God).
Christ is the only Mediator of all graces: before His Incarnation, by anticipation; after His Passion and death, by derivation. All graces flow from Christ: from His Humanity as conjoined instrument; from the Sacraments as separate instruments. To the end of time, the Holy Spirit will make the grace of Christ flow into the Church and the world.
As free human beings, we may say no to God – He respects the freedom He gave us – and thus commit sin, which is a betrayal of God’s grace and love. No one can truly boast of the good labor or deeds he or she performs: “What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?” (1 Cor 4:7). Our merits, St. Augustine writes, “are God’s gifts” (CCC 2009). With God’s grace and gifts, we can “merit” eternal glory, the increase of grace, and – only if helpful on the way to heaven – temporal goods. God loves and asks for our free cooperation. There are many texts in the Bible that speak of reward for work well done: There is a reward for your work (Jr 31:16); “Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last arrivals and ending with the first” (Mt 20:8; cf. 1 Cor 3:8). Jesus’ Parables of the Ten Virgins, the Talents and the Last Judgment speak of different rewards or merits from God.
We have to be faithful to divine grace: “By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace towards me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Cor 15:10). Fidelity to grace is “the loyalty or docility in following the inspirations of the Holy Spirit in any form that He shows himself” (A. Royo-Marin).
Being faithful to God’s grace leads us to growth in grace. Remember: God gives the increase of faith, hope and love – and other gifts – “in proportion to the use we make of his grace.” Our cooperation, then, is “essential” (St. Francis of Sales).
May we know if we are in the state of grace? St. Thomas Aquinas states that the knowledge of the state of grace is possible by revelation (special privilege of God), by certitude (not possible), or by conjectural knowledge, when these criteria are present: (1) There is joy in God; (2) there is despising of worldly things; and (3), one is not conscious of being in mortal sin (I-II, 112, 5).
Through Christ, baptismal grace can grow and develop in a threefold manner: through the sacraments, the practice of infused virtues, and prayer of petition.
Growth in Grace through the Sacraments. The sacraments are sensible signs, instituted by Jesus, to signify, strengthen and increase sanctifying grace in those who receive them worthily. Its worthy reception helps us become more fully adopted children of God.
Growth in Grace through the Practices of Infused Virtues centered on Charity. Our supernatural motive (at least virtual, and actualized often) must be the love of God and neighbor. To grow in grace, we put more intense acts of virtues. In this context, then, what count is not so much the “things” we do, or prayers we recite, but why and how we do them. “Let us not build towers without bases; the Lord does not look so much the grandeur of the works but the love with which they are performed” (St. Teresa, Interior Castle, Las Moradas).
Growth in Grace through Prayer of Petition. Prayer – when it is an act informed by Charity – merits. Through the prayer of petition alone, when not vivified by charity, we may obtain from God’s mercy the increase of the infused virtues and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit – that perfect the infused virtues – and the final perseverance (which is absolutely gratuitous).
We may also grow in grace by ascending the ladder of prayer: vocal, mental, contemplative and unitive prayer. A marvelous description of the development of grace is found in the Interior Castle of St. Teresa of Avila, where she explains the seven mansions of the soul on its way to spiritual marriage and deepest union with God.
And in closing! Grace is “a divine seed” (cf.1 Jn 3:9) that we have to water, nurture, and care for through life. A young man entered a beautifully lit store, which announced itself thus: “Everything you wish.” He asked the angel managing the store: “I wish the end of all wars, justice for the exploited of the earth, tolerance and generosity towards all foreigners, profound love in the families, decent work for all the unemployed, and… and…” The angel interrupted him kindly: “Excuse me, young man, I think you did not understand me. Here, we do not sell fruits; we only sell seeds.” Only seeds! Grace and graces: divine seeds!
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