Grace is a word used frequently in church. But what do we actually mean by the word? And how important is this concept to our life of faith? As we’ll see, grace is at the heart of the entire Christian life. 

A sharing in God’s own life 

The Catechism begins with an astounding claim: “God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created [us] to make [us] share in his own blessed life.” (1) In other words, the infinite, invisible God wishes to share his own life with finite creatures of his own making. But between us and God there is an infinite difference and so God himself has to bridge the gap, raising our lowliness so that we can participate in divine life. 

The word we use for the way God extends a share of his divine life to us is grace. Grace is the free, unmerited help God gives us to make it possible for us to respond to his call to eternal life in communion with the Trinity. 

Digging deeper into grace

Through baptism, we receive the gift of participating in the grace, or favor, of Christ. This grace of Christ, again, is an unmerited gift of God’s own life. Through baptism, we become adopted sons and daughters of the Father, and the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in our souls, healing  us of sin and making us holy. As the Catechism puts it, we receive sanctifying or deifying grace in baptism. Because this sanctifying grace is a gift of “permanent disposition to live and act in keeping with God’s call,” it is also called habitual grace. (2000) 

In contrast, when God intervenes at any point in the work of sanctification, the Church calls such graces actual graces. For example, apart from sanctifying grace, which we receive in baptism, God also works through actual graces to draw us toward conversion. Consider, for example, an adult convert to the Church. The inner force that begins to draw him or her to ask bigger questions – that leads him or her to come to the Church and seek baptism – is itself already a work of grace: “The preparation of man for the reception of grace is already a work of grace.” (CCC 2001)

At every moment, God is offering his grace to every human person, even those outside the Church. Lumen Gentium, the Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, speaks about persons “who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ.” These individuals who "sincerely seek God” are “moved by grace” and “strive by their deeds to do his will as it is known to them through the dictates of their conscience.” Along the way, Divine Providence does not “deny the helps necessary for salvation to those who … with his grace strive to live a good life.” (16) 

Gifts for God’s people

At the same time, our membership in the Church opens up the possibility for many other graces which we receive in the other sacraments and through our participation in the life of the Church. As in baptism, there are graces proper to each of the sacraments. A quick glance at the sections of the Catechism on the effects of each sacrament gives a clear perspective of the immense grace on offer in these sacramental encounters with the Lord.

Another specific type of grace that God pours out upon the baptized are charisms. Charisms are special graces intended for the building up of the Church. Scripture speaks of charismatic gifts of wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, mighty deeds, prophecy, discernment of spirits, tongues and interpretation of tongues (1 Cor 12:8-11), though this is not meant to be an exhaustive list. Certainly, other charisms can be discerned in the lives of the saints throughout the Church’s history.  

Graces of state are other special graces that go with the exercise of the responsibilities of the Christian life and the Church’s ministries. For example, the office of the papacy has specific graces (for example, infallibility) that are specific to that role and which are for the benefit of the whole Church. Of course, all graces are at the service of charity.

Grace upon grace

What becomes apparent is that our entire life as human beings is, as it were, “bathed in grace.” “From [Christ’s] fullness we have all received grace upon grace,” the evangelist John tells us. (Jn 1:16) Even in moments of sin, Scripture reassures us that “where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more.” (Rom 5:20) No matter what our circumstances, God is always making his supernatural help available to us, as he works to draw us to share in his own divine life.  
 

FOR FURTHER REFLECTION

Take a few moments to prayerfully reflect on the following passage from St. Augustine’s great work, The City of God, Book XXI, Chapter 15:

“For ‘the Lord knoweth them that are his,’ (2 Tim 2:19) and ‘as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are sons of God,’ (Rom 8:14) but by grace, not by nature. For there is but one Son of God by nature, who in his compassion became Son of man for our sakes, that we, by nature sons of men, might by grace become through him sons of God.”

“From [Christ’s] fullness we have all received grace upon grace.” (Jn 1:16)

 

Doug Culp is the chief operating officer for the Pontifical Mission Societies of the United States.