THEOLOGY OF

GRACE
2nd Year – 2nd Semester
Lecture by Fr. Rodel Aligan, OP

Transcribed by Fray Rafael Martin G. Musa, OSA

ORDER OF SAINT AUGUSTINE
 Theology of Grace

ETYMOLOGY

GREEK: Comes from the word charis meaning light or splendor and therefore means the ff:
• Physical loveliness
• Favor or benevolence
• Gifts
• Gratitude or giving thanks

Latin: Means gratia. It could mean the ff:

• Condoning of faults
• Granting of dispensations
• Motive for an action

ASPECTS IN THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE THEOLOGY OF GRACE

There is always a hazard that in the light of an effort of theologians will be tempted to bind the
revealed and defined affirmations to a particular theology. This does not deny the fact that a
particular theological effort may arrive at understanding, in particular areas, which becomes a
permanent part of the Catholic doctrinal tradition.

In the matter of grace, the theological formulations rise out of contemporary and immediate
concern, confusion, controversy or error. Frequently therefore the theological representations
and formulations may concentrate on only one aspect of the doctrine and so form themselves
into counter positions to the position taken by the opposition.

To understand the history of theological development it is of the essence to ask precisely what
the problem was that was the central concern. Why was it a problem, and what exactly were the
questions being asked about. How far was the answer given circumscribed by the particular
controversy out of which it came.

Necessarily integrated into the whole approach is the underlying historical fact of development,
namely, the theological acceptance that growth in Christian understanding finds its dynamism
in the revealed Word of God manifesting itself to man. Hence, for the believer its past is
necessarily incorporated in the living Church here and now.

TESTIMONY OF SCRIPTURES

OLD TESTAMENT

1. DIVINE BENEVOLENCE: Refers to uncreated grace. The necessity and supernatural

nature of internal grace have not been revealed yet. Rather the Old Testament speaks of
mercy, kindness, faithfulness and love of God.

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2. EXTERNAL BLESSINGS OF GOD: Emphasis on prosperity and deliverance of

people from suffering and tyranny and upon the gratuitous graces by which the prophets
were illumined.

3. MERCY OF GOD IN REMITTING SINS: There are many passages in the Old
Testament that refers to the mercy of God as remitting or forgiving sins of the people
which implicitly refer to the grace which causes the justification of sinners (Mic 7:18).

4. GRACE IMPLIED IN ADAM’S FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD: Implied and

foreshadowed in God’s familiar friendship with Adam, with the patriarchs, prophets, and
in their faith and obedience.
Expressed in the ff:
a. Walked with God and were beloved by God (Sir 44-45)
b. Abraham was God’s “friend” (Is 41:8)
c. Prophets promised the gifts of renewed hear and spirits (Ez 11:19, Zach 12:10).

NEW TESTAMENT

WIDE USAGE – Widely used in varying degrees:

• St. Luke (8 x)
• St. John’s Prologue (4x)
• Romans (12x)
• Pauline Epistles (100x)

1. SOMETHING FREELY AND GRATUITOUSLY BESTOWED BY GOD: “Even so

at the present time, there is a remnant left, elected out of grace. And if out of grace, then
not in virtue of works; otherwise, grace is no longer grace” (Rom 11:5).

2. IT IS REVEALED BY GOD: It is an internal reign, revealed to little ones, and only

they can enter it. Conversion is a result of divine call and of divine assistance. Peter’s
confession of faith is due to the father’s revelation (Mt 16:17).

3. GRACE IS RECEIVED THROUGH CHRIST: Christians receive grace from

Christ’s fullness of grace (Jn 10:10). No one can come to Christ to share in this divine
life unless he be drawn by grace of the Father (Jn 6:44).

4. ST. PETER ON GRACE: St. Peter speaks divine grace with incisiveness, the life of
habitual grace (to be partakers of divine nature) and the effects of actual grace (2Pet 1:3,
1Pet 5:10).

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5. ST. PAUL ON GRACE: Speaks of grace in the following ways:

a. Necessity of grace (Rom 2:3, 7:8)
b. Need of grace to believe (Phil 1:29)
c. Calling comes from grace (Gal 1:15)
d. Fruit of apostolate as a result of grace (1Cor 15:10)

THE FATHERS OF THE CHURCH ON GRACE

General Notions
Central to understanding the teaching of the Church on grace is a grasp of the basic problematic
that determine much of its form: how to harmonize the religion received out of the Jewish-
Christian religious life with the Greco-Roman culture.

The Christian teachers were faced with an abundance of religious and philosophical ideas and
images and representations of the Greco-Roman world. Among these they endeavored to find
ways to affirm and present what was primarily an experienced way of life rather than a theory.

And so in the earliest writings what is stressed is that a new life, a new kind of knowledge and
immortality, are revealed through Jesus Christ (Didache 9:3, 10:2).

IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH: Presents salvation as actually achieved through union with Christ,
through whom newness of life flows into men so that He is their true and inseparable life (Magn.
14, Smyrn 4).

JUSTIN THE MARTYR: Two main themes are opened up that directly relate to the patristic
teaching to the Pauline doctrine on grace:
1. Notion of Freedom and Responsibility
2. Redemptive Character of Christ’s Death on the Cross

Grace and Liberty

Based on St Paul, it is the proclamation that the economy of grace has made the Christian truly
free, has freed his liberty that he may act in love. This emphasis is to confront the widespread
and contemporary Greek fatalism with clarity and assurance. Its inner emphasis, has its source
in the conviction that it is precisely through his liberty that man is in the image of God.

Accordingly it is by man’s free choice of light instead of darkness that he renews himself and
remodels himself. It is God’s love that places His liberty on the same level as man’s (PG 7:981,
PG 44:184)

Divinization – Recapitulation
Because of his redemptive work, Christ has become the source of new humanity that he has
regenerated through water, faith and the cross (Dial. 40). It is this profoundly biblical
perspective that Irenaeus takes up from Justin and develops it into a comprehensive theory of
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recapitulation (Adversus haereses 3.18.1, Patrology 1:295-297). “He recapitulated in Himself

the long history of man, summing up and giving us salvation, in order that we may receive
again in Jesus what we have lost in Adam, that is the image and likeness of God”.

It is this basic theme set deeply into the Trinitarian context that gives meaning to the whole
patristic emphasis on divinization. Thus, it is the Son who makes men participate in His eternal
generation through the gift of filial adoption. This runs through from Irenaeus to Cyril of
Alexandria. It is this notion of divinization is assumed the understanding of 2 Pet. 1:4 “sharers
of the divine nature”. It is participation in and communion with the Triune life itself.

Integrated into it is the Johannine and Pauline theme of rebirth and regeneration. To be noted
also is the explanation of this participation in terms of form impressed on the soul. It is through
this that the supernatural character of grace is developed with increasing clarity.

The Greek Fathers clearly delineate the main lines that will structure the history of the theology
of grace. The notion of divinization and the notion of Christ’s liberty will be obscured in
various ways. Yet around these two poles the doctrinal history of grace will revolve.

TEACHING OF THE EASTERN CHURCH ON GRACE

In Eastern Christianity grace is an attribute of God, or a description of how God acts in forgiving
and spiritually healing others. The Church has emphasized the role of the Holy Spirit in
Christian life.

The Teaching of St. Augustine On Grace

As with the Greek Fathers divinization through grace is a basic theme in St. Augustine. The
theme of grace and liberty is integrated in a very important way with the dimension of sin.

Divinization: It is the development of one aspect of recapitulation. This found in his teaching
of the “totus Christus” the whole Christ.

“For Christ is not only in the head and so not in the body, but the whole Christ is in the
head and the Body. “So the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and to that flesh
the Church is joined so that there comes into being the whole Christ head and Body”.
(Epist. John 1.2)

This solidarity and community of the redeemed with Christ is a very important element in the
theology of Augustine concerning grace. (In evang. Joh. 28.1). In the specifically Trinitarian
aspect of the economy of grace Augustine gives prominent place to the presence or indwelling
of the Trinity in the souls of the just. It is this indwelling proper to the regenerated that enables
the Christian in grace to know and love God in a special way. In this life of grace he attributes
to the Son, or Word illumination, which the Greek Fathers attribute to the Holy Spirit.

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To the Holy Spirit he attributes charity, since the Holy Spirit is the gift by which men love God.
To live well is to adhere to the whole Trinity by Christ and the Spirit. In this very personal
reflection St. Augustine gives to his doctrine of grace an orientation.

Augustine clearly teaches elements that are found in the Greek Fathers like men’s union in
brotherhood by reason of filial adoption by God. They are divinized because they are sharers of
the divine nature of the Son who has become a sharer of men’s nature.

Grace and Liberty: It is in the development of this Pauline thematic that St. Augustine exerts
his deepest and most pervasive and tutorial influence on Western theological thought. For
reasons both personal and doctrinal, the grace of Christ strikes him above all as liberative. It is
the grace of Christ that heals the effects of original sin and personal sin so frees men to live a
genuinely Christian life.

Freedom and Free Will: Freedom or “libertas” is the effective engagement of all men’s powers
in tending to his only true end, God; it is love fully implemented. Thus, fallen man possesses
free choice (liberum arbitrium) but he is not truly free to accomplish his true purpose. And this
purpose is to participate in God’s freedom and love Him as He loves us.

Only through the grace of Christ can he overcome sin and be free to love God. As long as free
choice remains, this freedom can be regained through grace (Ench. 32, C. Julian 6.11).

Fallen man can act or not act under grace; but if his actions are to be free in the Christian sense,
then grace is absolutely necessary. Sin has caused the loss of freedom, the power to do that
which deserves eternal life. Only God can restore this because God is love and only God can
give love (Lib. Arb. 2.20).

The Teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas on Grace

His work represents a synthesis of the Christian tradition with the resources and perspectives of
Greek philosophical thought. In a sense, it is the doctrine of Augustine rethought and
reformulated in the perspective of his own theological synthesis called Thomism.

Overall Synthesis.
His teaching on grace must be recognized that this doctrine is subordinate to his overall
theological synthesis and so dispersed throughout the Summa Theologia. Yet the full Patristic
tradition finds proper place in his work. The thematic recapitulation finds full place in the
Summa. The ecclesial emphasis of St. Augustine as to the relation of head and members is
emphasized in his treatment of redemption (ST 3a, 19.4)
Divinization. The theological tradition of divinization he expresses by saying that men are
beatified through participation, so that in a sense they may be called gods (ST 1a-IIae 19:4;
48.2).

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Through grace and the work of charity man is incorporated in the familial life of the Father, the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Accordingly as sharer in the divine nature man enjoys the Divine
Persons and is therefore deified by them.
For St. Thomas grace is seen as the favor of God, the action of his merciful or gracious
disposition. God, therefore gives Himself to humanity by reason of a vital, creative act of love
(De Ver. 27.1).
This in turn effects a responsive action in the creature so engraced. Finally, taking man in his
actual situation, he incorporates the Augustinian emphasis on the medicinal character of grace
from the fact of original sin (ST 1a-11ae, 109.2).
The Teaching of the Western Church on Grace
Grace is God’s benevolence toward men. The essence of grace is that it is a freely offered gift.
We do not earn or deserve or merit grace we cannot claim it as our right. In general, it is a
supernatural gift of God to men and angels for their eternal salvation.
Belonging to the supernatural order, grace escapes our experience and cannot be known except
by faith. We cannot therefore rely on our feelings or works to conclude that we are justified and
saved (COUNCIL OF TRENT, DS 1533-1534).
The Teaching of The Catechism of the Catholic Church on Grace
It is a 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 eternal life (CCC 1996). It is
participation in the life of God. It introduces us into the intimacy of the Trinitarian life. By
baptism, the Christian participates in the grace of Christ, the Head of the Body (CCC 1997).
Grace is first and foremost the gift of the Holy Spirit who justifies and sanctifies us. 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 Church (CCC 2003).
The Teaching of the Catechism for Filipino Catholics on Grace
Grace is God’s personal presence within us through the Risen Christ in the Spirit. It is primarily
God’s loving presence, the gift of the Spirit within us that justifies and sanctifies us (CFC 952,
1575). Grace is God’s personal presence within us through the Risen Christ in the Spirit. It is
primarily God’s loving presence, the gift of the Spirit within us that justifies and sanctifies us
(CFC 952, 1575).

GRACE AND THE OTHER CHRISTIAN DENOMINATIONS

1. Eastern Christianity
2. Protestant Reformation
3. Protestantism (Calvin, Wesley, Arminianism)
4. Churches of Christ

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5. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons)

Eastern Christianity:

• GRACE AS UNCREATED ENERGIES OF GOD: Grace is the working of God

Himself, not a created substance of any kind that can be treated as a commodity (Michael
Pomasansky, ORTHODOX DOGMATIC THEOLOGY, Platina CA: St. Herman of
Alaska Brotherhood, 1984).
• SACRAMENTS: They are sacred mysteries seen as means of partaking of Divine Grace
because God works through his Church. No distinction between moral and venial sins,
no doctrine of Purgatory and no “treasury of surplus merits”.
• ROLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN CHRISTIAN LIFE: Together with ascetic
disciplines like fasting and prayer they become means of spiritual discipline to help
reduce one’s susceptibility to temptation in the future and to exercise self-control not for
merits.
• NO CONCEPT OF IRRESISTIBLE GRACE: Orthodox theology does not embrace
the concept of irresistible grace, but rather teaches that it is necessary for the human will
to cooperate with divine grace for the individual to be saved (synergy).
Protestant Reformation:
• SOLA FIDE, SOLA GRATIA: It is by faith alone and grace alone that men are saved.
Good works are something the believer must undertake out of gratitude towards their
Savior, but they are not necessary for salvation and cannot earn anyone salvation.
• NO NEED OF MERITS: There is no room for merits. There may be degrees of reward
for the redeemed in heaven. Only the unearned, unmerited grace of God can save
anyone. No one can have claim of entitlement to God’s grace.
Protestantism
JOHN CALVIN. Main Points:
• Total Depravity (Total Inability and Original Sin)
• Unconditional Election
• Limited Atonement (Particular Atonement)
• Irresistible Grace
• Perseverance of the Saints (Once Saved Always Saved)
JOHN WESLEY: The believer who repents and accepts Christ is not “making himself
righteous” by an act of his own will; rather, it is the believers trust in God that he will make
them righteous (Cracknell, Kenneth and Susan White, INTRODUCTION TO WORLD
METHODISM, Cambridge University Press, 2005).
Three Kinds of Grace in Methodist Theology of Grace
1. Prevenient Grace
2. Justifying Grace

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3. Sustaining Grace

• Prevenient Grace: That which is innate from birth. Humanity was not totally
depraved. Everyone is born with a modicum of divine grace –just enough to enable
the individual to recognize and accept God’s justifying grace.
• Justifying Grace: Referred to as “conversion” or being “born again”. God’s
justifying grace brings “new life” in Christ. People have freedom of choice – to
accept or reject God’s justifying grace. It is “the grace of love of God, whence comes
salvation, is free in all and free for all.”
• Sustaining Grace: After accepting grace, a person is to move on in God’s sustaining
grace toward perfection. He did not believe in the eternal security of the believer. He
believes people can make wrong decisions and backslide.

For Protestants, what is the role of the Church in the work of grace?

1. SALVATION NOT ORDINARILY FOUND OUTSIDE THE CHURCH: Though it

is the ordinary teaching, with the increasing emphasis on an experience of conversion
as being necessary for salvation, “sola fide” implies the relationship with Jesus is
intensely individual.
2. WORD RATHER THAN SACRAMENTS: With the belief that men are saved only
and decisively by their belief in Christ’s atonement, they often rank preaching that
message more than sacraments which apply the promises of the gospel to them as
members of the church.
3. ROLE OF SACRAMENTS: Classical Calvinism teaches that sacraments are signs and
seals of the covenant of grace and effectual means of salvation; Lutheranism teaches
that new life, faith and union with Christ are granted by the Holy Spirit working through
the sacraments.
4. Later, de-emphasized, they become ordinances, acts of worship which are required by
Scripture, by whose effect is limited to the voluntary effect they have on the
worshipper’s soul. The Church, then loses its primacy in the believer’s experience.
Other Churches of Christ:

1. PLAN OF SALVATION: The grace of God that saves is the plan of salvation, which
includes two parts:
a. The perfect life, death, burial and resurrection of Christ
b. The Gospel/New Testament/the Faith
2. SPECIFIC CHARACTERISTICS OF GRACE
a. Grace is contrasted with the Law of Moses
b. Grace saves (Eph 2:5); justifies (Rom 3:24, Titus 3:7)
c. Grace cannot be added to (Gal 5:4)
d. Grace teaches (Titus 2:11); can be preached (Eph 3:8)
e. Grace calls us (2Tim 1:9, Gal 1:15)

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f. Grace is brought by revelation (1Pet 1:13)

g. Grace is not salvation but the plan of salvation. Grace presented this gift to man
(Titus 2:11). Christ died for all men (2Cor 5:14-15) and is available to all me.
3. One must hear the Gospel (Rom 10:7), believe the gospel (Mk 16:15-16), repent their
past sins (Acts 2:38), confess their faith in Christ before men (Mt 10:32, Rom 10: 9-10),
be immersed in water into Christ for the remission of sin (1Pet 3:21), and live faithfully
even to the point of death (Rev 2:10).
Church of the Latter-Day Saints

1. COMPLIANCE AND PURE LOVE OF CHRIST: There is a need for compliance

with the laws and ordinances of the gospel and the need for the pure love of Christ in
conjunction with the receipt of the gift of grace, which comes “after all we can do”
(2Nephi 25:23).
2. FINAL JUDGMENT: Jesus’ mention of the final judgment where works will be a
determining factor in personal assignment to degrees in glory. It must be motivated by
love of Jesus and others focused not on appearances but on Christ’s grace and his power
to change men’s hearts.

**THE ESSENCE OF GRACE**

Church Teaching on the Nature of Grace

THEOLOGICAL DEFINITION: Sanctifying or habitual grace is a supernatural

entitative habit by which intellectual creatures participate physically, formally but
analogically in the divine nature as it is in itself.

The Church teaches that grace is a (Council of Trent, “The Nature and Causes of the
Justification of Sinners”, Denz. 821, 483):
1. REAL ENTITY: The justice given by God whereby we are not only regarded as just
but are truly just
2. SUPERNATURAL: By it, men share in the justice of God
3. INTRINSIC: Each receives this justice in himself
4. CREATED ENTITY: Distinct both from God (not the justice whereby he is just, but
distinct from him as effect from cause; the Holy Spirit) and from the soul and its
powers.

The Church makes explicit the intent of God’s revelation in Sacred Scripture as interior
supernatural reality described as our life (Rom 6:4), seed (1Jn 3:9), earnest (2Cor 1:22, 5:5),
seal (Eph 1:13-14), an anointing (Jn 1:13) and regeneration (1Pet 1:23).

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**FORMAL ASPECT OF GRACE**

SUPERNATURALITY OF GRACE

God as Supernatural: That which is connatural to the God head alone and proper only to
God as he is himself – not as conceived by us nor with respect to those perfections he has in
common with his creatures, but precisely as he transcends the entire order of created nature.

(Grace) As a created entity, a reality distinct from God, is not connatural with God. Inasmuch
as God does communicate what is exclusively and properly his to his rational creatures, grace
is truly and intrinsically supernatural. This can only come about when what is communicated is
not fully and adequately what God is, but rather only partially so. Grace is partaking, a
participation of what is connaturally and properly God’s.

What of God do we share by grace?

GRACE: A PARTICIPATION IN DIVINE NATURE

Through Revelation we know that in his love and mercy through grace we participate of that
very nature which is of God’s alone, and thus a communication of that intimately divine life
shared only by Trinity (Acts 17:8, 1Jn 3:12)

GRACE: A FORMAL AND PHYSICAL PARTICIPATION:

If the participating subject and the thing participated share intrinsically and formally in
one common form, the participation is formal. Thus, goodness is a form common to God and
creatures participated in formally by the creature. Such a form might be of the moral order, like
dignity or sanctity or justness, then the participation although formal is moral. Or it may be
of the order of beings and entities, of the physical order, so physical.
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If no common form is shared, then the participation is virtual, either because no one
participating has power to produce an effect proper of the thing participated or participates only
causally and eminently.

Grace is formal participation since it is a true and real sharing of that unique form which
is divine nature, physically and formally imitating that radical principle of properly divine
operations. It is a physical participation, not merely moral, for by it we share not only God’s
sanctity, dignity but their basic root, that is, the physical entity of the divine nature.

It is an analogical participation in the sense that by grace we are in the accidental and
created order what God is in the substantial and created order.

Theological Conclusions in Relation to Grace:

1. By grace we share in God’s own nature, in that essence which is a subsistent being
and that nature which is pure act. Moreover, directly and secondarily we also share in
the essential attributes of God.
2. Immediately, through the virtues and gifts which flow from grace. We also share in the
divine fecundity and inexpressible circulation of divinity which is the Trinity (mediately
by means of virtues and gifts –through divine actions of which we are capable).
3. The image of the Trinity which is our birthright as intellectual creatures is immeasurably
perfected by grace.
4. By grace we share the divine sonship of Christ.
5. Grace enables us to live the life of God himself, sharing in God’s own nature, which is
the root principle of divine knowledge, divine love and beatitude.
6. For those in state of sin, original or personal, grace provides a remission of sin and a
spiritual renovation of the interior man and makes him holy.

THE NECESSITY OF GRACE

NECESSARY ASPECTS OF GRACE
1. Necessity as a remedy, a medicine to heal man of the wounds of sin
2. Necessity for man to achieve his high destiny, his supernatural happiness
REASONS BEHIND THE NECESSITIES
1. Creatures are dependent on God, not only for their creation and for their conservation in
being, their continuing existence, but for their very action, their operation, motion and
movement.
2. Since we distinguish two orders, the natural and the supernatural orders. Obviously, the
needs and necessities of one order may be quite diverse from those of the other order.
3. The historical facts of man’s existence must be taken into account, that is, to distinguish
three states in which man has been found: the state of original justice, the state of fallen
nature and the state of the restored nature.

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For Those Who Lack Grace in Order to Do Good:

Grace and the knowledge of the truth
1. Dependence on God for his intellectual faculties
2. Dependence for God’s pre-motion that actualizes them in knowledge
3. Grace in knowing supernatural truths

Grace and good deeds: in general

Man needs movement from the First Mover to do any good whether natural or supernatural.

1. State of Original Justice: Nature itself under the ordinary movement of God could do
all naturally good works, for these were commensurate with the natural powers given
by God Himself.
2. Fallen State: Though man can do naturally good deeds that are proportioned to his
wounded powers but cannot do every possible good without failing in some respect,
man needs the medicinal remedy of grace.
3. Redeemed State: If man is to desire any supernatural good grace is necessary for him
in whatever state he may be. Divine assistance is necessary to elevate man to the
supernatural level, and to move him to the supernatural order.

TO DO GOOD DEEDS: SPECIFICALLY

1. To love God
2. To keep the Law
3. To obtain Eternal Life
4. To prepare for more graces

Preparing for more graces are of distinct kinds:

1. Preparation for eternal life which consists of being made a friend of God through
habitual grace (attained through baptism).
2. Preparation for receiving habitual grace effected by actual grace.

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For Those Who Lack Grace in Order to Avoid Sin:

GRACE AND REPENTANCE: By grace man is restored to sinless state through:

1. Beauty of soul restored by habitual grace
2. Disorder of the will removed by actual grace
3. Debt of eternal punishment removed by mercy of God

GRACE AND TEMPTATION

1. State of Original Justice: Man is able to avoid all sins against the natural law
2. State of Restored Nature: Man healed by habitual grace is able to avoid all mortal
sins.
In this nature man healed by habitual grace is able to avoid each single venial sin, but not all
of them, except by special divine privilege. Still, the wounds of sin remain in the passions of
those redeemed by grace.

For Those Who Possess Grace for Spiritual Progress:

NEED FOR ACTUAL GRACE: Man needs the transient motion of God whereby he acts in
accord with the supernatural life of grace for two reasons:
1. In the supernatural order God’s assistance is always necessary.
2. The special need for actual grace because the healing effected in wounded human
nature by habitual grace is not complete. The lower appetites retain some of the
disorder; the intellect remains partially under the cloud of ignorance begotten by sin.

NEED FOR THE GRACE OF PERSEVERANCE

• The grace of perseverance is simply a continuation in God’s friendship until death and
such constancy requires that actual graces be supplied continuously to preserve man in
habitual grace.
• Such grace of perseverance should be sought continually in prayer. According to St.
Thomas: “grace is given to many to whom perseverance in grace is not given”
SUMMA THEOLOGIAE, I-II, q. 109, a. 10.

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**DIVISION OF GRACE**

GRACE

CREATED UNCREATED

APOSTOLIC GRACE OF
PERSONAL
GOD
GRACE SANCTIFICATION HIMSELF

SANCTIFYI GRACES ORDERED

FOR
NG SUPERNATURAL
GRACE ACTS

INFUSED VIRTUES ACTUAL

AND GIFTS OF HS
GRACE

UNCREATED GRACE: Uncreated grace is God Himself

CREATED GRACE: It is divided into apostolic graces and the graces of personal
sanctification.
1. GRACE OF THE APOSTOLATE (Charismatic Grace): Also known as “gratia
gratis datae”, they prepare some men to bring other men to God. Accidentally, they
may aid in the recipient’s sanctification, but that is not their primary function:
a. St. Thomas explains them as a means for proclaiming the teaching of Christ,
and for persuading others to accept that teaching.
b. Teaching and persuading require three things: (1) knowledge of the doctrine; (2)
the ability to confirm the doctrine; and (3) the ability to propose the doctrine.
c. The enumeration of these graces (not exhaustive) is given by St. Paul (1Cor.
12:8-10).
d. Division of Graces of the Apostolate:
i. To Insure Adequate Knowledge of Divine Doctrine: Faith, knowledge
and wisdom
ii. To enable the Apostle to confirm his doctrine: Graces of healing and
miracles, prophecy and discernment of spirits.
iii. To be able to communicate his message clearly: He needs the graces
of the gift of tongues and of the interpretation of speech. (ST, II-II, a. 4.
III Contra Gentiles, Chap. 154.)

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2. GRACES OF PERSONAL SANCTIFICATION: Ordered for the sanctification of the

recipient, although accidentally they might help others.
a. These are the principal graces, for through them man is effectively brought to
God and not merely disposed for God, as he is through apostolic grace.
b. From this second nature flows the divine life in man, the supernatural
modifications of his natural powers which constitute the proximate principles of
the participated life.
c. PROXIMATE PRINCIPLES (graces of personal Sanctification):
i. Sanctifying Grace
ii. Theological virtues (faith, hope and charity)
iii. Infused moral virtues (cardinal virtues)
iv. Gifts of the Holy Spirit
v. Actual Grace

1) Sanctifying Grace: It is that grace which confers on our souls a new life,
that is, sharing in the life of God Himself. Through this grace our souls are
made holy and pleasing to God. It is an abiding permanent grace which we
gain by Baptism and lose only by mortal sin. With sanctifying grace we do
not only receive a gift from God but God Himself.
Chief effects of Sanctifying Grace:
i. It makes holy and pleasing to God.
ii. It makes us adopted children of God (Rom. 8:14)
iii. It makes us temples of the Holy Spirit (2Cor. 6:16).
2) Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity: They are infused into the
soul together with sanctifying grace during the moment of justification and
lead us directly to heaven.
3) Cardinal Virtues and Infused Moral Virtues: In the same manner as the
theological virtues, they are infused in the soul during the moment of
justification perfecting man’s action in the supernatural level.
4) Gifts of the Holy Spirit: These gifts are enumerated in the Scripture but are
not definitive. In the Church, we recognize the seven gifts as wisdom,
intellect, science, counsel, fortitude, piety and fear.
5) Actual Grace: A supernatural help of God which enlightens our minds and
strengthens our will to do the good and to avoid evil. It is transient, i.e., given
to us when we need it.

The necessity of Actual Grace for those who have attained the use of reason:
1. To rise from our sin and to persevere in the good.
2. It is given to all men, although not in equal amounts. Some extraordinary graces are
given to men.

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How do we obtain Actual Grace?

Principal ways of obtaining Actual Grace:
1. Good works
2. Means offered by the Church like the Sacraments
3. It is made to act through various means like reading good books.

Accidental Division of Grace (Actual): Since actual graces are activating assistance to bring
his supernatural potentialities into actual operations and sustain these acts to the level of divine
activity. This special divine movement gives rise to an accidental division of grace.

The special divine movement which is actual grace gives rise to an accidental division of grace
(where grace differs from grace not by essence but only under some secondary aspect) of great
practical importance.
On its effect on the will:
a. Operating and Cooperating Grace. Operating when it moves the will to act
and cooperating when it divinely assist the will so moved in the fulfilment of its
action.
b. Sufficient and Efficacious Grace.
i. Sufficient Grace (Preparation): a passing supernatural motion from
God which brings the will to a perfect preparation in the order of
potentiality and makes the will adequately proportioned for the
performance of salutary acts.
ii. Efficacious Grace (Application): It is a passing supernatural motion
from God which applies the prepared will to act, so that man performs a
meritorious of salvation. (ST, I, q. 83, a. 1, ad 3).

**EFFECTS OF GRACE**

Effects of Grace:
1. Justification is an effect of operating grace
2. Merit is an effect of cooperating grace

JUSTIFICATION: Properly speaking, justice implies the giving to each one what is his due;
it means the establishment, conservation or restoration of due order between individuals and
among groups.

Strict Definition of Justification: It is an act whereby a man is made holy and pleasing to
God. It is the first effect of grace, since justification is a pre-requisite of merit.

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Justification Based on Different Traditions

1. Orthodox:
a. Tend to de-emphasize justification. This de-emphasis is historical. The Eastern
Church sees humanity as inheriting the disease of sin from Adam , but not his
guilt; hence, there is no need for forensic justification. The Orthodox see
salvation as a process of theosis.
b. Theosis: It is a process in which the individual is united to Christ and the life of
Christ is reproduced in him. Thus, in one aspect, justification is an aspect of
theosis.
2. Lutheran:
a. They believe justification by grace through faith in Christ’s righteousness alone
is the gospel, the core of the Christian faith around which all other Christian
doctrines are centered and based. Justification is entirely God’s work.
b. Righteousness: It is God’s action of declaring righteous the unrighteous sinner
who has faith in Jesus Christ. The righteousness by which a person is justified is
not his own but that of another, Christ. Faith is that which brings the Holy Spirit
through the merits of Christ.
c. Justification Effects: A divine verdict of acquittal pronounced a believing
sinner. God declares the sinner to be “not guilty” because Christ has taken his
place, living a perfect life according to God’s law and suffering for his sins.
d. It provides the power by which Christians can grow in holiness. Such an
improvement comes about in the believer only after he has become a new
creation in Christ. The improvement is not completed in this life.
3. Anglicans:
a. HIGH CHURCH ANGLICANS/LOW CHURCH: Often follow Catholicism and
Orthodox in believing both man and God are involved in justification. However
the authors of the Thirty-Nine Articles believe that justification cannot be
earned.
b. Anglican Justification: Both has an objective and subjective aspect. The
objective is the act of God in Christ restoring the covenant and opening it to all
people. The subjective aspect is faith, trust in the divine factor, acceptance of
divine mercy.
4. Methodists:
a. Prevenient Grace: God’s work in us consisted of prevenient grace, which
undoes the effects of sin sufficiently that we may then freely choose to believe.
An individual act of faith then results in becoming a part of the body of Christ
which allows one to appropriate Christ’s atonement for oneself.
b. Justification Effects: Once the individual has been justified, one must then
continue in the life given. If one fails to persevere and in fact falls away from
God in total unbelief, the attachment to Christ – and with it justification – will
be lost.

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5. Reformed Church:
a. Adam and Jesus function as federal heads, or legal representatives, meaning that
each one represented his people through his actions. When Adam sinned, all of
Adam’s people sinned. When Christ achieved righteousness, all his people were
accounted to be righteous.
6. Catholic:
a. Justification is translation, from that state wherein man is born a child of the first
Adam, to the state of grace, and of the adoption of the sons of God, through the
second Adam Jesus Christ including the transforming of a sinner from the state
of unrighteousness into holiness.
b. The transformation is made possible by accessing the merits of Christ, made
available in atonement, through faith and the sacraments. God’s righteousness is
infused in the sinner when or she partakes of Baptism combined with faith, the
entrance to Christian life.
c. As the individual then progresses in his Christian life, he continues to receive
God’s grace both directly through the Holy Spirit as well as through the
sacraments. This has the effect of combating sin in the individual’s life, causing
him to become more righteous.

JUSTIFICATION AND GRACE

Used metaphorically to designate that effect of sanctifying grace whereby man is removed from
sin by having his reason made obedient to God and his lower powers subject to his reason. It is
a restoration of friendship with God.
Elements of Justification
1. Infusion of sanctifying grace
2. Following upon this (subsequent in nature not in time), a movement of man’s free will
toward God, for God moves its creature according to its nature, and man is endowed
with free will.
3. An act of faith is required for justification in adults (Rom 5:1). Psychologically, no one
can desire what he does not know. Hence the mind must first assent to the truths of God
before the will can turn to God. Council of Trent, Chap 8, Denz 801.
4. An act for detestation of sin is required for justification. It is impossible for a man to
turn to God while he clings to sin.
5. Justification requires the forgiveness of sin by God.
These five elements essential to justification take place simultaneously, in an instant. This is
true of the omnipotent God who disposes his creatures perfectly in the instant when he wishes
to justify them.

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The Case of Painful Conversion

Delays are reducible to the divine will, which may leave a man to overcome many obstacles
before returning to God’s grace, possibly to teach us something at the chasm which separates
the sinner from God.
Whatever precedes the infusion of grace is a remote preparation: sometimes it is lengthy,
sometimes instantaneous. But justification occurs in the instant when one begins to be a friend
of God.
Conversions may be miraculous, however, if they occur in a manner beyond the ordinary rules
of spiritual life. However, any kind of miracle is a rarity.
The Excellence of Justification
Justification brings man to a sharing in divine nature, which is an eternal good. “The good grace
of one man is greater than the good of the entire universe”. ST, 1-11, q. 113, a. 9, ad 1.
In the supernatural order, the glorification of the just confers a greater grace upon them than
justification bestowed upon sinners. The grace of the heavenly homeland is more precious than
the grace of the wayfarer.

MERIT AS EFFECTS OF GRACE

MERIT: That property of human act whereby it is worthy of a supernatural reward.
Nature of Merit
All merit are based on an exchange: someone does something for another and receive a reward
in exchange. Sometimes this exchange is based on justice; sometimes on suitability and
fittingness.
Various Kinds of Merit
1. CONDIGN: when the merit rests upon justice.
2. CONGRUOUS: when the merit is based upon mercy and friendship of the rewarder
or the suitableness of the request of him who receives the reward.

Condign could be
1. According to strict justice, that is when one rewarded is entirely independent
2. According to proportionate justice, when the one rewarded has received the principle
of merit from the rewarder.

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Foundations of Merit
• The answer lies in the divine decree whereby God binds himself to grant merits.
• He directs that man’s action under grace shall be worthy of reward; when the reward is
granted God is being just to himself in fulfilling his own decision to reward the
meritorious deeds of men.
• God seeks no profit from man’s acts; rather he seeks his glory, the manifestation of his
own goodness.
• God’s intention to reward man’s acts is revealed throughout Scriptures. Mt. 5:12, Mk
9-40

In what sense can man be said to merit a reward from God?

• Regarding condign merit, which is based on justice, man cannot merit anything from
God according to strict justice.
• For strict justice obtains only between equal and independent parties, and man is
neither equal to or independent from God.
• The only condign merit that is possible for men is that which is based upon justice in a
proportionate sense.
• It is on the supposition that God has ordained that God works shall be meritorious, and
that he gives first man the principle of merit that is grace.
• Thus there is established a proportional equality between God and what there is of God
in man and his works.
Conditions for Merit
1. A positive act is required for merit; omitting to act is not meritorious.
2. A meritorious act must be voluntary and free.
3. A meritorious act must be morally good.
4. A meritorious act must be supernatural in origin, that is it must proceed from grace.
5. A meritorious act must be directed to God as to its end.
6. Merit is limited to acts of this present life.
7. Merit can only be gained by those in the state of grace (Jn 15:5). Council of Trent,
Denz. 812.
Objects of Merit
1. The good deeds of man in the state of sanctifying grace.
2. No one can merit his initial grace in any way. St. Augustine, CITY OF GOD, Bk XV,
Ch. 1.

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MERIT AS AN EFFECT OF DIVINE GRACE

GENERAL: Merit is a property of a good work which entitles the doer to receive a reward
from him in whose service is done.

THEOLOGICAL SENSE: Supernatural merit can only be a salutary act to which God in
consequence of his infallible promise owes a supernatural reward. It consists ultimately in
eternal life which is the beatific vision in heaven.
Nature of Merit
1. The property of merit can only be found in works that are positively good; bad works
deserve punishment.
2. Reward is due to merit and the reward is in proportion to merit.
3. Merit presupposes two distinct persons, the one who acquires the merit and the other
who rewards it.
KINDS OF MERIT
1. Condign Merit or merit in the strict sense
2. Congruous or Quasi-Merit

CONDIGN MERIT: Supposes an equality between service and return and is measured by
commutative justice. Because condign merit is such (commutative justice) it gives a real claim
to a reward.
CONGRUOUS MERIT: Owing to its inadequacy and the lack of intrinsic proportion between
the service and recompense claims reward only on the ground of equity (distributive justice).
In applying these notions of merit to man’s relation to God, it is especially necessary to keep in
mind the fundamental truth that the virtue of justice cannot be brought forward as the basis of a
real title for a Divine reward either in the natural or supernatural order.
The simple reason is that God, being self-existent, absolutely independent, and sovereign, can
be in no respect bound in justice with regards to creatures.

DISTINCTION BETWEEN MERIT AND SATISFACTION

Satisfaction means:
1. atoning by some suitable service for an injury done to another’s honor or for any other
offence
2. paying off the temporal punishment due to sin by salutary penitential works voluntary
undertaken after sins have been forgiven.

• Sin as an offence to God, demands satisfaction in the first sense

• Temporal punishment due to sin calls for satisfaction in the second sense.

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Conditions for Merit:

1. A positive act is required for merit; omitting to act is not meritorious.
2. A meritorious act must be voluntary and free, just as a man cannot be held accountable
for things beyond his control, so neither is he rewarded for acts that are not truly his
own.
3. A meritorious act must be morally good. Sinful acts are opposed to God’s glory.
4. A meritorious act must be supernatural in origin, that is, it must proceed from grace.
5. A meritorious act must be directed to God as its end. Such an act must be related to the
love of God.
6. Merit is limited to act of this present life. Eternal life is the final goal of merit, once it is
possessed (heaven) or assured (as in purgatory) it can no longer be earned.
7. Merit can be gained only by those in the state of grace.

Objects of Merit:
1. Nothing supernatural can be merited condignly according to strict justice because the
equality needed for such justice cannot exist between man and God.
2. Practically all condign merits rest upon proportionate justice.
3. The good deeds of man in the state of sanctifying grace merit eternal life condignly. The
gift of grace establishes a proportion between man’s acts and the reward of eternal life,
which is thus a true reward of justice.
4. No one can merit his initial actual grace in any way.
5. No one can merit his initial sanctifying grace condignly.
6. A man who has received the initial actual grace may, in a wide sense of the term, merit
congruously to receive the initial sanctifying grace. Properly speaking, the foundation
for congruous merits is friendship, which is established through sanctifying grace.
7. In a wider sense, however, it is also fitting that God, entirely on the basis of mercy rather
than friendship, should add gift to gift, mercifully granting sanctifying grace to the
sinner to whom he has previously moved by an actual grace.
8. No man can merit condignly an initial grace for someone else. No one merits the
beginning of the life of grace for himself, nor can anyone do this for his neighbor. To
merit condignly for others is reserved to Christ (Heb. 2:10).
9. A man in the state of grace can merit grace for others congruously.
10. A man in the state of grace cannot merit now the recovery of grace after some future
fall. The restoration of sinners to grace is entirely the work of divine mercy.
11. A man in grace can merit both congruously and condignly an increase of grace and
charity.
12. Men cannot merit condignly to persevere in grace until death. To claim perseverance as
due in justice would be to insist upon impeccability as man’s due in this life. It comes
as a special gift from God; it cannot be earned as payment.
13. Temporal things can be merited only in so far as they are truly necessary or useful for
eternal life.

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THE SACRAMENT AS SYMBOLS OF GRACE

What is a Sacrament?

1. GREEKS: A “mysterion” or mystery.

2. ROMANS: Connected to the Latin word “sacrare” and “sacrum” meaning what made
someone or something holy.
3. ST. AUGUSTINE: Visible signs that represented an invisible reality. Signs designated
by God to point to a divine reality and containing that reality within itself.
4. CATHOLIC CHURCH: Efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted
to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed in us. CATECHISM OF THE
CATHOLIC CHURCH, 1131.

Nature of the Christian Sacrament:

• DIMENSIONS OF THE SACRAMENT
o Two dimensions: the sign which is visible and grace which is invisible. The
relation between sign and grace in the sacrament is similar with that of the
Church and the Holy Spirit.
• SIGNS IN THE SACRAMENT
o Can be words or actions. It is a religious sign which has history in Church
tradition, and which bears an intrinsic connection with the signified reality which
is the grace bestowed. Thus, it can also be named a symbol.

The Special Characteristics of the Christian Sacraments:

• Efficacious symbol of Grace: Its special characteristic is efficacy: they cause what they
represent. They surpass other symbols in that they offer grace “ex opere operato”, that
is by the intrinsic merit of their being performed.

What is the Warranty that the Grace of the Sacrament is Efficacious?

1. Foundation in Jesus Christ and His Church: The efficacy of the sacraments has its
foundation in Jesus Christ and his Church.
2. Jesus Christ – Symbol of God: By and through Jesus Christ, Christians recognize
God’s love for them, because God gave his Beloved Son and his Holy Spirit to human
beings. He is the symbol of God for human beings.
3. Church – Symbol of the Total Christ: If Jesus celebrated the sacraments, surely they
would be efficacious actions. However, Jesus is in heaven, so how come these symbols
be efficacious?
4. Jesus Christ acts through the Church and concretely through ministers of his Church.
5. The Holy Spirit is active in the Church as guide, as dynamic principle.
6. The efficacy of Christian sacraments has its foundation in Jesus Christ because he is
efficacious symbol of God and God’s love for human beings.

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7. The Church as Total Christ, with his presence and activities, in the Holy Spirit, is
fundamental and efficacious symbol of grace for human beings today.

GRACE AND THE SACRAMENTALS

What does it mean to say that the Sacraments is something which effectively conveys
grace?
The sacraments as understood in traditional Christian theology, actually are vehicles of the
grace they symbolize. They are not dependent mainly on the holiness of the minister or the
worthiness of the recipient, but on God himself who is the chief actor in each of them.
Sacramentals
They are holy signs and gestures, which through the intercessory power of the Church and the
power of the priesthood (whether hierarchical or common) also contribute to the sanctification
and welfare of the faithful. CCC 1667-1679
ORIGIN OF SACRAMENTALS
1. Christ blesses little children
2. Woman with hemorrhage
3. Apostles anointing the sick
4. Christ driving out demons
5. Exorcism
6. The wood of the Cross
THEOLOGICAL ORIGIN
If believing contact with Christ is salvific, and if believing his sacraments is salvific, then too
may our contact through prayers, gestures and objects blessed in his name and of the power of
the cross be salvific for us.
Evidently, all human contact is sacramental, i.e., all our communication is through signs which
convey our thoughts and affection. What is true of our natural converse, remains true for our
life of faith, since God communicated to us Christ in this fashion.
How do sacramentals effect grace?
The sacramentals communicate the grace of the Holy Spirit, though not in the same way as the
sacraments. It derives its sanctifying power from the Church and her prayer, and contingent
upon the proper disposition of the faithful.

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VARIETY OF SACRAMENTALS
1. BLESSINGS: Such blessings include persons, objects, places or meals. Every blessing
is an act of divine praise. These blessings may be permanent, as in the case of
consecration of churches, liturgical vessels, etc. CCC 1671.

2. SACRAMENTALS AGAINST EVIL: The Church provides a number of sacramental

exorcisms, some reserved, others are prayers and blessed objects placed at the
disposition of the faithful. It is fitting that the faithful avail themselves of the many
sacramental helps offered by the Church in order to defend themselves and their loved
ones against the spiritual powers that threaten them.
a. MEANS OF GRACE AND PROTECTION
i. Faith Itself: The frequent renewal of our Baptismal Vows and the
recitation of the Creed could greatly strengthen the light of faith within
us against surrounding darkness.
ii. Prayers of Contrition: Includes other prayers associated with the
Sacrament of Penance. Many times, people come seeking a blessing for
themselves, their car and their home, yet their life is not in order with
God.
iii. Priestly Blessing: It is anchored in the hypostatic union, in virtue of
which Christ is our High Priest and the power of the Church. The greater
the esteem for priestly blessing, the greater will be its efficacy.
1. The greater the sanctity of the priest, the greater the blessing
communicated. Among these, special mention should be made for
the blessing of the sick, expectant mothers for safe delivery.
iv. Prayer and Fasting: The Lord explains some evils spirits can only be
cast out by prayer and fasting. Aside from freeing the soul of all desire,
the soul humbles itself before God, removing the greatest impediment to
grace.
v. Deprecatory Exorcisms: These prayers in contradistinction to the
ordinary exorcisms which abjure the evil to be gone, are addressed to
God, to the Blessed Mother, to the angels and saints to deliver them from
the Evil One. Example is the Prayer to St. Michael.
vi. Spiritual Shield Prayers: The more our prayers express our adherence
to the mysteries of salvation or expresses praise for the Trinity, the more
we are assimilated to them and be protected by them.
1. The same holds true for special Marian prayers. Hence the
Magnificat, the Litanies of Our Lord and His Blessed Mother are
powerful helps of this kind. Let us not forget St. Joseph, the terror
of demons and protector of the Church.
vii. Exorcised Sacramental Objects: Includes holy water, blessed salt,
blessed oil, etc. All these were exorcised and imbued by the blessing with
special powers for the extirpation of evil.

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viii. Blessed Images: Images like that of the saints and most especially the
crucifix are blessed instruments for warding off especially in instances
of diabolical obsession and therefore also sources of grace.
ix. Special Protective Sacramentals: The most powerful of which are the
Miraculous Medal of the Immaculate Conception and the medal of St.
Benedict. When carried with faith and devotion they offer great
protection.
On Amulets, Talisman, Etc…

• AMULETS: Literally, it means an object that protects a person from trouble. The
Catholic Church and Christian authorities in general, have always been wary of amulets
and talismans.
• TALISMANS: Literally, it means “to be initiated into the mysteries”. They consist of
any object intended to bring good luck and also for protection. They include gems
(especially engraved), coins, pendants, etc.

INTERCESSION OF THE SAINTS

Christian doctrine: It is a common Christian doctrine common to the vast majority of the
world’s Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, and a number of Reformed Churches.
Nature of Intercession: It is a petition made to God in behalf of the others. The believer may
pray to a saint for them to intercede with God to fulfill the believer’s request.
Intercessory Justification: The justification for calling upon a saint in prayer is that the saints
are both close to God, because of their holiness, and accessibility to humans.
Biblical Basis for Intercessions: The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Lk 16:19-31)
indicates the ability of the dead to pray for the living. Others are in Rom 8:34, Heb 7:25, Jn
11:25, etc..

The Views on the Intercessions of the Saints

1. ANGLICANS: The Anglican Communion makes a distinction between a “Romish” and
a “Patristic” doctrine concerning the invocation of the saints, permitting the latter,
forbidding the former. Thirty Nine Articles of the Church of England (Article XXII).
2. PROTESTANTS: Many Protestant Churches reject all saintly intercession inasmuch as
Jesus is the sole mediator (1Tim 2:1-5). The Calvinists and Zwinglians were particularly
zealous in their rejection of saintly intercession.
3. LUTHERANS: Saints pray for the Church in general but are not mediators of
redemption. Luther approved honoring the saints in three ways: thanking God for

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examples of mercy, examples for strengthening our faith, and imitating their faith and
other virtues.

The Church’s View in Praying to the Saints

• ACTIVE INTERCESSION: It is clear from the Scripture (Rev 5:8) that the saints in
heaven do actively intercede for us. The incense offered to God are the prayer of the
saints.
• ONE MEDIATOR: The intercession of fellow Christians does not interfere with
Christ’s unique mediatorship (1Tim 2:5). It is something good and pleasing to God and
not infringing on Christ’s sole mediatorship.
• CHRISTIAN PRACTICE: Praying for each other is simply part of what Christians
should do. St. Paul encouraged Christians to intercede for many different things (1Tim
2:1-4, Rom 15:30-32, Eph 6:18-20, Col 4:3, 1Thess 5:25, etc..)
Popular Devotions to the Saints
• CATHOLIC DEVOTIONS: Prayer forms which are not a part of the public liturgy of
the Church but are part of the popular spiritual practices of Catholics. Many are officially
sanctioned by the Church as profitable for spiritual growth but not necessary for
salvation.
• Some take the form of formalized prayers, sacred objects or sacred images that arise
from private revelations, apparitions of Mary or Christ and include the veneration of the
saints.
• VENERATION OF SAINTS: The relationship of Catholics to saints is one of honor
and to request intercessory prayer, not worship in the modern sense of the word. It is
absolutely forbidden to give anything adoration except to God alone.
• RELIGIOUS CULT: Refers to accumulated literature, music, and gestures of local faith
community or particular church in the veneration of a saint.

Factors Shaping Effects of Cults

a) Association with private revelations of others
b) Strong appeal they make to the emotions
c) Simplicity of form which puts them within reach of all
d) Association with many others engaged in the same practices
e) Their derivation from the example of others considered to lead to a holy
life.

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ST. AUGUSTINE AND GRACE

DOCTOR OF GRACE: Due to his miraculous transformation out of sin to the service of God’s
creatures.
SOURCE OF GRACE: Source of grace for many doctors of the Church including St. Teresa
of Avila. She was moved after reading his famous book and became a signal for her to change
her own patterns, minor as they were.

Lessons from St. Augustine on Grace:

1. THE STRENGTH OF GRACE: Each of our bodies and soul needs to be strengthened
by grace. Grace is not only for the soul. They free the body from their own laws and
tendencies.
2. ALL NEED CONVERSION: Through grace, conversion is ongoing. We are constantly
challenged by God according to our strength and his mercy.
3. CHRIST IS THE BEST BESTOWER OF GRACE: This Augustine recognized,
asked for, begged and received. We are all endowed with grace to change our human
nature to become as children of God.
4. MARY FULL OF GRACE: He affirmed that Mary was the mother of Jesus and the
Mother of God, and therefore, she was full of grace. She is the type of the Church
affirming her virginity.
5. VIRTUES OF MARY: Augustine emphasized Mary’s humility or holy modesty. She
manifested her glorious behavior and action throughout the Gospel and in her hidden
life.
6. MARY, MOTHER OF GRACE: She is the mother of grace, diffuser of grace and the
graceful mother for Jesus and for all of us. God’s power of grace through Mary, bestows
abundant blessings on us.

THEOLOGY OF INDULGENCE

CATHOLIC TEACHING: It is the full or partial remission of temporal punishment due for
sins which have already been forgiven. They are granted for specific good works and prayers.
Theologians looked to God's mercy, the value of Church's prayers, and the merits of the saints
as the basis on which Indulgences could be granted. The theses of great Scholastics like St.
Albert the Great and St. Thomas Aquinas remains the basis for the theological explanation of
indulgences.

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ORIGIN OF INDULGENCES:
1. Early and Medieval Beliefs:
a. In the early Church (3rd) ecclesiastical authorities allowed a confessor or a
Christian awaiting martyrdom to intercede for another Christian in order to
shorten the other's canonical penance.
b. The Council of Epaon in 6th century replaced severe canonical penances with
something new and milder: commute penances to less demanding works such as
prayers, alms, fasting and even the payment of fixed sums of money.
c. In the 10th century some penances were not replaced but merely reduced in
connection with pious donations, pilgrimages and similar meritorious works. In
the 11th to 12th centuries they become associated with temporal remission of
sins.
2. CRUSADES:
a. The earliest record of plenary indulgence was Pope Urban II declaration at the
Council of Clermont (1095 AD) that he remitted all penance incurred by
crusaders who confessed their sins, considering participation in the crusade
equivalent to a complete penance.
3. ABUSES:
a. Because of the great demand from associations that their favorite prayers,
devotions, places of worship or pilgrimage, their procession and meetings be
enriched with indulgences, there was a tendency to forge documents declaring
that such indulgences had been granted.
b. Indulgences were attached to many works that were not only good but also
served the common good, both religious and civil: churches, hospitals,
leprosaria, charitable institutions and schools and even roads and bridges.
c. Sale of Indulgences:
i. The latter Middle Ages saw the growth of considerable abuses, such as
the unrestricted sale of indulgences by professional "pardoners" who
were sent to collect contributions to the project.
ii. Permission began to be granted to Catholic kings and princes,
particularly on the occasion of the Crusades, to retain for themselves a
considerable part of the alms collected for the gaining of indulgences.
iii. Construction of St. Peter's Basilica The most well-known and debated
question is the indulgence granted for building the new St. Peter's
Basilica in Rome.
d. The Fourth Lateran Council (1215) suppressed some abuses connected with
indulgences, spelling out for example, that only a one-year indulgence would be
granted for the consecration of churches and no more than 40-days indulgence
for other occasions.
e. In 1392 Boniface IX wrote the Bishop of Ferrara condemning the practice of
certain members of religious orders who falsely claimed they were authorized
by the pope to forgive all sins, and exacted money by promising them perpetual
happiness in this world and eternal glory in the next.
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4. PROTESTANT REFORMATION: Caused by Pope Leo X offering indulgences for

those giving alms for rebuilding St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. The aggressive marketing
practices of Johann Tetzel in promoting the cause provoked Martin Luther to write his
Ninety-Five Theses.
5. COUNCIL OF TRENT: On July16, 1562, the Council suppressed the office of
"pardoners" and reserved the collection of alms to two canon members of the chapter,
who were to receive no remuneration for their work.
6. CHURCH CONCERNS: All through the years from Pope Pius V to Benedict XV
matters about indulgences were of grave concern for the Church. The Motu Propio of
March 25, 1915 transferred the Holy Office Section for Indulgences to the Apostolic
Penitentiary but maintained the Holy Office responsibility for matters regarding the
doctrine of indulgences.

NECESSITY OF INDULGENCE
1. Teaching on Sin:
o Mortal Sin. It is equivalent to refusing friendship with God and communion with
the only source of eternal life. The loss of eternal life that this rejection entails is
called eternal punishment.
o Venial Sins. Cause turning away from God because of unhealthy attachment to
creatures, which must be purified either here on earth or after death in the state
called purgatory which results in temporal punishment.
2. Temporal Punishment: Punishment due to not total rejection of God and can be
overcome in time. Even when the sin is forgiven, the associated attachment to creatures
may remain.

THE MECHANICS OF INDULGENCES

1. COMMUNION OF SAINTS
a. The doctrine teaches that this work of cleansing or sanctification does not have
to be done entirely by the person directly concerned because we are united as
one Mystical Body.
b. The holiness of one profit another, well beyond the harm that the sin of one cause
others. Thus, through the communion of saints, recourse not only to the merits
of saints in heaven but above all those of Christ himself lets the sinner be purified
of his sins.
2. POWER OF THE CHURCH TO ADMINISTER
a. In view of the Church's power of binding and loosing granted by Christ, the
Church considers that it may administer to those under its Jurisdiction the
benefits of these merits in consideration of prayer or pious works undertaken by
the faithful.

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b. Indulgences only relieve the temporal punishment due because of sins. The
person is still required to have his grave sins absolved, ordinarily through the
Sacrament of Penance to receive salvation.
3. THOSE IN PURGATORY
a. Since those who have died are also members of the communion of saints, the
living can help those whose purification from their sins is not yet completed not
only by prayer but also in obtaining indulgences for them.

KINDS OF INDULGENCE
1. PLENARY: Remits all temporal punishment. To gain a plenary indulgence, a person
must exclude all attachment to sin of any kind, even venial, and must perform the work
or say the prayer for which the indulgence is granted and must fulfill three conditions:
sacramental confession, Eucharist and praying for the Pope.
2. PARTIAL: The minimum condition is to be contrite in heart: on this condition, a
Catholic who performs the work or recites the prayer in question is granted, through the
Church, remission of temporal punishment is obtained.

ACTIONS FOR WHICH INDULGENCES ARE GRANTED

1. PARTIAL INDULGENCES
a. Raising the mind to God with humble trust when performing one's duties and
bearing life's difficulty, and adding at least mentally, some pious Invocation
b. Devoting oneself and one's goods in a spirit of faith to the service of one's brother
and sister in need
c. Freely abstaining in a spirit of penance from something licit and pleasant
d. Freely giving open witness to one's faith before others in life
2. PLENARY WHICH CAN BE GIVEN EVERYDAY
a. Piously reading or listening to Sacred Scripture for at least half an hour
b. Adoration of Jesus in the Eucharist for at least half an hour (Enchiridion
Indulgentiarum).
c. Pious exercise of the Stations of the Cross
d. Recitation of the Rosary in a church or oratory, or in a family, a religious
community, an association of the faithful and in general, when people come for
a noble purpose.
3. PLENARY INDULGENCE ON SOME OCCASIONS
a. Receiving, even by radio or TV, the blessing given by the Pope (Urbi et Orbi) or
that which a bishop is authorized to give three times a year to the faithful of his
diocese.
b. Taking part devoutly in a celebration of a day devoted on a world level to a
particular religious purpose.
c. Taking part at least for three days in a spiritual retreat.

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d. Taking part in some functions during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
including its conclusion.
4. OTHERS
a. Spiritual indulgences granted on occasions of special spiritual significance like
the Jubilee Year or the centenary or similar anniversary of an event such as the
apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes.
b. Plenary indulgence attached to the apostolic blessing that a priest is to impart
when giving the sacraments to a person in danger of death, or if he is not
available to any rightly disposed Christian at the moment of death.

MARY AND GRACE

Mary as the Source of Grace. As source of Grace:

1. Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces
2. Mary as Co-redemptrix

1. Mary as Mediatrix of All Graces. Mary gave birth to the Redeemer, who is fountain
of all grace. Therefore, she participated in the mediating grace. Mary, assumed into
heaven, participates in the mediating graces of her Son. Popes such as Leo XIII through
Pius XII have traditionally supported both interpretations.
a. Rationale for Mediatrix:
i. Papal Bulls and Encyclicals.
1. The word mediatrix appears in the papal bull “Ineffabilis Deus”
and several Rosary encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII. Pope Pius X
used it in the encyclical “Ad Die Illum” and Pope Benedict XV
introduced it in his new Marian Feast Day Mary, Mediatrix of All
Graces.
2. There is a mediation: Mary Places herself between her Son and
mankind in the reality of their wants, needs and suffering. She
puts herself in the middle, that is to say she acts as mediatrix not
as an outside, but in her person as Mother.
3. She Knows that as such she can point out to her Son the needs of
mankind, and in fact, she “has the right” to do so. Her mediation
is thus in the nature of intercession: Mary intercedes for mankind
(Redemptoris Mater)
ii. St. Thomas Aquinas: Only Christ can be a perfect mediator between
God and mankind. But, this does not hinder the fact that other are called
mediator because they assist and prepare the union between God and
men.

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2. Mary, Co Redemptrix: Refers to an indirect or unequal but important participation by

Mary in the redemption process. She gave free consent to give life to the Redeemer, to
share his life, to suffer with him under the cross and to sacrifice him for the sake of the
redemption of mankind.
a. Rationale for Co-Redemptrix.
i. St. Thomas Aquinas: Mary in the hour of Annunciation, assumed the
role of helper in the mystery of redemption. Thus, all Christians are born
through Mary. With Jesus, Mary carried all in her womb. Therefore, all
Christians are her children.
ii. John Paul II: Mary conceived and born without taint of sin, participated
in a marvelous way in the suffering of her divine Son, in order to be co-
redemptrix of humanity. (General Audience, Sept. 8, 1982)
iii. Benedict XVI: He puts strong emphasis on co-redemption in his prayer
to Our Lady of Shesha, the Mother of China and of all Asia.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEEN GRACE AND CHARITY

How Charity Increases. Charity increases not by addition of one form, but by a greater
radication of the virtue in a subject.
Increases Through Intensification
1. Charity is not increased by an act whatever, but only by an act that is more intense than
the habit as actually possessed here and now.
2. Charity increases by intensification, by being shared more and more, to a greater and
greater degree, by those who are the friends of God. To say that the charity of one is
greater than that of another is to say that one’s person’s acts of charity are more intense
than another.
Acts Increasing Charity. The degree of man’s love for God is measured by his most intense,
his greatest act of charity. To increase charity, then, he must dispose himself by an act more
intense than the level which he has already attained.
The Cases of Remiss Acts. Not useless and sterile. They serve a dual purpose, one in this life
and other one in glory.
1. In this life: They prevent the disposition of the soul from becoming completely cold.
2. In the Life to Come:
a. Remiss acts do not remain without their proper reward, although it is certain, that
however numerous, they do not increase the degree of essential glory, which
corresponds exactly to the habitual degree of one’s grace and charity at the time
of death.

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b. In addition to the essential rewards in heaven, there are many different accidental
rewards. Each remiss act since it was good and meritorious for having been
performed in a state of grace and under the influence of charity will receive its
corresponding rewards in heaven.
Degrees of Charity and the Increase in Grace:
Degrees of Charity. These are the different stages of growth in charity according to the different
pursuits to which man is brought by the increase of charity.
1. Charity of Beginners
2. Charity of the Proficient
3. Charity of the Perfect’

1. Beginners: Purgative Way. Those who are in the Purgative way. They are principally
concerned with avoiding sin and with resisting the appetites which move man in
opposition to charity.
2. Proficient: Illuminative Way. Thise who are in the illuminative way. They are chiefly
preoccupied with strengthening charity by more intense acts. “Proficients” feel the
onslaught of sin less, and tend to perfection with a greater charity.
3. Perfect: Unitive Way. Those who are in the unitive way. They aim chiefly at union with
and enjoyment of God. This degree is exemplified by St. Paul who desired “to depart
and to be with Christ” (Phil 1:23).
Lessening and Loss of Charity
In the case of the ff:
1. Directly, the degree of charity cannot be lessened by venial sins of the man who has
charity.
2. Indirectly, man can dispose himself for a decreased in the fervor of his habit of charity.
By sinning venially:
1. One makes it impossible to act out of charity at the same time
2. Disposes the soul for the lessening the intensity of charity
3. Disposes for mortal sin
4. Occasion for God to withhold the actual graces.
Loss of Charity. Charity is never lost by accident. We acquire charity by freely cooperating
with God’s grace. To lose it, we must freely give it away. Through Mortal Sin man chooses
something contrary to God with full knowledge and consent. The chouse of mortal sin destroys
God’s friendship. It is completely opposed to charity. The mortal sinner as a result exclude God
from his rightful place as the principal love of his life. When we close ourselves to the light of
God’s grace we plunge into spiritual death (Rom 6:23).

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WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE IN THE STATE OF GRACE

Common Understanding: Many people define “state of grace” as the absence of mortal sin.
True, grave sin is incompatible with the state of Grace. But there is much more to the state of
grace than avoiding mortal sin. To understand the beauty of living in the state of grace we need
a clear definition of grace.
Grace is God and that God freely communicated himself to human beings, thereby enabling
human beings to become like God. Grace actually transforms human beings into “gods” by
adoption.
Through the sanctifying grace which is created, God draws close to us, even to the point of
union, somewhat like the marriage of a man and woman. The presence of this grace – God’s
own life – restores us to God’s own image and likeness thereby empowering us to become truly
God-like notably through mercy and love.
Moreover, God draws us into the life of the Trinity. When we pray, for example we always pray
in union with Christ. Who speaks to the Father ceaselessly. The state of grace which begins on
earth at the moment of Baptism, extends forever into eternity. Here we find the essential
connection between grace and liberation from death. By nature human beings die. However,
when God touched us through grace we begin to share in his qualities, one of which is
immortality.
Being in the state of grace liberates us from eternal death. A person who falls out of the state of
grace though mortal sin loses the necessary linkage with God and is necessarily excluded from
the joy of eternal life.
To commit mortal sin refers to a free, conscious, informed, consensual decision to do something
gravely wrong. It is a choice against the goodness of God. God does not move away from the
sinner rather the sinner, through his or her free act, block off God’s life-giving grace. This kills
the relationship with God who is the source and preserver of life.

How do we know when we are in the state of grace?

We can never do this with absolute certainty. Nor should we conclude thar any person is not in
the state of grace. The practice of confession is an enormous help. A frequent, thorough and
honest examination of conscience will compel us to see habits, attitudes and specific serious
sins that pull as away from God’s goodness.
The state of grace Is not just the absence of sin. It is also an amazing opportunity to live fully
as “deified” child of God, sharing fully in God’s life now and forever.

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How to Recognize Grace From Temptation?

God’s grace is active in our souls, impelling and inviting us in the practice of virtue. On one
hand, we are being tempted by evil spirits, on the other hand we are invited by God’s grace.
Realizing that life is concretely lived, it is important to be able to recognize the one impulse
from the other, inspiration from instigation, or grace from temptation.
Many of our critical problems today are due not much to ill will, or malice, but to failure of
discernment. I think it is important to become more alert to being able to discern between the
two.
Points of Consideration for Discernment
1. Attitude:
a. it must be an attitude of the will. It means an honest and sincere desire to do
God’s will.
b. The index of our honest is our willingness before God to take the means and
knowing fully well they are going to const us. A habit is hard to acquire if it is a
good one, and hard to break if it is a bad one.
2. Peace:
a. The beat way of distinguishing between temptations and graces is to find out
whether they bring peace or anxiety to the soul. The sound of grace is peace.
b. The form of grace is peace. The taste of grace is peace. The effect of grace is
peace or summarily the name of grace is peace. It is not a casual title when we
call Christ the “Prince of Peace.”
c. On the other hand, temptations of the devil cause confusion, doubt, insecurity,
despondency, anxiety, worry, and if we allow him, despair.
3. Confidence:
a. If the precondition for being able to distinguished inspiration from temptation is
the ready willingness to do God’s will, we should have a sustained attitude to
carry it into effect.
b. The sustained post condition which must continue is confidence. Otherwise, we
are going to weaken. This presupposes trust and perseverance.

TREATISE ON GRACE BY ST. THOMAS AQUINAS

On the Necessity of Grace (Q. 109)

1. Can we know truth without grace?
a. In his metaphysical thesis, no nature be it corporeal or spiritual, can perform its
characteristic actions unless it is moved by God.

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b. Thus, every action by a created agent depends on God as the source of the form
by which it acts and as the first mover cooperating of truth, the intellect has its
natural form, the intelligible light or the light of natural reason from God.
c. It can also by a special gift have the light of grace which is added to its nature.
However, the light of grace is not in principle required for the cognition of every
truth: rather, it is required only in the case of the mysteries of the faith, which
exceed our natural cognition. (109,2)
2. Can we will and do good without grace?
a. In the case of integral nature (Adam before the fall with respect just to the
principle intrinsic to human nature) man needed God’s help as first mover to will
and do good, but man was able through his own natural principles, to will and
do the good proportioned to his nature, which is he good of the acquired virtue,
though not the good exceeding his nature, which is the good of infused virtue.
b. However, in the state of fallen nature man needs grace even to achieve the full
good of acquired virtue, since he must be healed; in addition, he needs grace to
achieve the good of infused virtue. (109, 2)
3. Can we love God above all things without grace?
a. In the state of integral nature man was able to love God above all things, since
this is connatural to men and to all intelligent creatures as well.
b. Grace in needed to elevate this love to supernatural beatitude, which is sharing
in the very life and happiness of the Trinity.
c. But in the state of the fallen nature, we need healing grace even in order to attain
the good that is connatural to us – that is, the good that is in principle attainable
by our natural powers – and so in the state we need grace in order to love God
above all things. (109, 3).
4. Can we fulfill the precept of the natural law without grace?
a. As far as the substance of work is concerned, in the state of integral nature man
was able to fulfill the precepts of the law without grace.
b. In the state of the fallen nature needs grace to do this. However, as far as the
mode of acting is concerned, in neither state can we fulfill the precepts out
charity without grace. (109,4).
5. Can we merit eternal life without grace?
a. The acquisition of eternal life exceeds our natural powers. Grace is necessary for
us to know God in his essence and to act out of charity as participants in the
divine life. (109, 5)
6. Can we prepare ourselves for grace without the external help of grace?
a. The question forces us to distinguish that sort of preparation that presupposes
habitual (sanctifying) grace. Which heals us and served as the principle of
meritorious works, that is, the works of the infused virtues, and the sort of
preparation which precedes the reception of the gift of habitual grace.
b. The latter sort of preparation does not presuppose a further habitual grace, but it
does presuppose some gratuitous divine assistance by which God moved the soul
from within or inspires us with respect to some proposed good”. This demands

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divine assistance because in our postlapsarian state we are not naturally turned
to God as our special end who is desired as our own proper good. (109, 6)
7. Can we recover from sin without the assistance of grace?
a. To recover from sin is not merely to stop the act of sinning, but to have restored
what is lost through sinning.
b. Three Elements of the Loss Associated with Sinning:
i. “Macula Peccati” or the stain or the blemish of sin that is, the loss and
privation of beauty and grace.
ii. “Corruptio Boni Naturae” or our nature is disordered by a will that is not
subject to God.
iii. “Reatus Poena” that is the meriting of eternal damnation. The
punishment can be remitted only by God, against whom every sinful
offense is committed. (109, 7).
8. Are We able not to sin without grace?
a. In the state of integral nature – even without habitual grace – was able not to sin.
But in the state of fallen nature we need habitual grace in order to avoid sin
altogether – and this because in such state man’s reason is not subjected to God.
b. Hence, either habitually or impulsively goes off after commutable goods as his
chief end, even though one is able in any given case to impede acting in
accordance with such habit or impulse. Even with grace, we are unable to avoid
all venial sin that is because habitual grace does not in this life does not restore
the subjection of the passions to reason and the law of God (109, 8).
9. Is one in the state of grace able to do good and avoid sin without any further
assistance of grace?
a. The answer is that such a one does not need another type of habitual grace, but
nonetheless thus need actual grace. This is because habitual grace does not
completely remove our self-knowledge, our ignorance of particular
circumstances (109, 9).
10. Does one who is in the state of grace need the assistance of grace to persevere?
a. If by perseverance we mean not the habit by which we stand firm against
difficulties or the resolve to persevere in the good until the end of our lives, but
out actual continuation in good until the end of our lives, the for this we need
actual grace to direct us and protect us against temptation, but we do not need
any further habitual grace (109, 10).

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RELIGIOUS COOPERATION

Religious Cooperation: It is any kind of sharing in non-Catholic religious exercises and

worship. Includes attendance at church services, common prayers, reception of sacraments,
contributing to religious causes.
1. Public – when Catholics engaged as an organized religious group in a specifically non-
Catholic religious worship or services.
2. Private – When Catholics do so as an individual
3. Active – When positive actions are performed in specifically non-Catholic religious
worship and services.
4. Passive – when one is present but not contributing any positive acts.
Church Position on Religious Cooperation
1. Pre-Vatican – all catholic practice in associating with non-Catholics in religious
activities is governed by the principle that the Catholic Church, and she alone, has
received from God the fullness of teaching and the perfection of worship whereby man
must be saved.
2. Vatican II – All men are called to the Catholic unity of the people of God. To it in
different ways, belong to or are ordered: the Catholic faithful, others who believe in
Christ, and finally all mankind, called by God’s grace to salvation (LG13).
a. Vatican II Interreligious Dialogue and Ecumenism - Ways by which the
Church reaches out to the different degrees of membership in the Church to
foster Christian unity undertaken through common prayers, worship. Study, and
even through social activities.
b. Vatican II Common Worship – Worship in common is not to be considered as
means to be used indiscriminately for the restoration of Christian unity. Thera
are two main principles governing the practice of common worship:
i. Bearing witness to the unity of the Church.
ii. Sharing in the means of grace.
iii. Unity and Grace – witness to the unity of the Church generally forbids
common worship, but the grace to be had from it commends this practice.
(The Decree on Ecumenism).
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
Prudence of Judgement are needed in the following:
1. Non-Catholic baptism
2. Reception of sacraments
3. Service to non-Catholics (nurses, hotel owners)
4. Non-Catholic Services.

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Charity yet Loyalty: It is important to be mindful of the great difference between charity and
tolerance toward people of other beliefs, on the one hand, and compromise religious truths in
the other. We are obliged to show charity and at the same time loyalty to our faith.

GRACE AND THE OTHER CHRISTIAN DENOMINATIONS

EASTERN CHRISTIANITY
1. Grace as uncreated Energies of God – Grace is the working of God Himself, not a
created substance of any kind that can be treated as a commodity. (Michael Pomasansky,
Orthodox Dogmatic Theology, Platina CA: St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 1984).
2. Sacraments – they are sacred mysteries seen as means of partaking of Divine Grace
because God works through his Church. No Distinction between moral and venial sins,
no doctrine of Purgatory and no “treasure of surplus merits.”
3. Role of the Holy Spirit in Christian life – together with ascetic disciplines like fasting
and prayer they become means of spiritual discipline to help reduce one’s susceptibility
to help reduce one’s susceptibility to temptation in the future and to exercise self-control
not for merits.
4. No Concept of irresistible Grace – Orthodox theology does not embrace the concept
of irresistible grace, but rather teaches that it is necessary for the human will to cooperate
with divine grace for the individual to be saved (synergy).
LUTHERANISM PROTESTANT REFORMATION
1. Sola Fide, Sola Gratia – it is by faith alone and grace alone that men are saved. Good
works are something the believer must undertake out of gratitude towards their Savior,
but they are not necessary for salvation and cannot earn anyone salvation.
2. No Need of Merits – there is no room for merits. There may be degrees of reward for
the redeemed in heaven. Only the unearned, unmerited grace of God can save anyone.
No one can have claim of entitlement to God’s grace.
PROTESTANTISM
1. John Calvin: Main Points
a. Total Depravity (Total Inability and Original Sin)
b. Unconditional Election
c. Limited Atonement (Particular Atonement)
d. Irresistible Grace
e. Perseverance of the Saints (Once Saved Always Saved)
2. John Wesley
a. The believer who repents and accepts Christ is not “making himself righteous”
by an act of his own will; rather, it is the believer’s trust in God that he will make

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them righteous. (Cracknell, Kenneth and Susan White, Introduction to World

Methodism, Cambridge University Press, 2005)
b. Three Kinds of Grace in Methodist Theology of Grace
i. Prevenient Grace – That which is innate from birth. Humanity was not
totally depraved. Everyone is born with a modicum of divine grace – just
enough to enable the individual to recognize and accept God’s justifying
grace.
ii. Justifying Grace – Referred to as “conversion” or being “born again”.
God’s justifying grace brings “new life” in Christ. People have freedom
of choice – to accept or reject God’s justifying grace. It is “the grace of
love of God, whence comes salvation, is free in all and free for all.”
iii. Sustaining Grace – After accepting grace, a person is to move on in
God’s sustaining grace toward perfection. He did not believe in the
eternal security of the believer. He believe people can make wrong
decisions and backslide.

FOR PROTESTANTS, WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH IN THE WORK OF

GRACE?
1. Salvation not ordinarily found outside the Church – Though it is the ordinary
teaching, with the increasing emphasis on an experience of conversion as being
necessary for salvation, “sola fide” implies the relationship with Jesus is intensely
individual.
2. Word Rather than Sacraments – With the belief that men are saved only and decisively
by their belief in Christ’s atonement, they often rank preaching that message more than
sacraments which apply the promises of the Gospel to them as members of the Church.
3. Role of Sacraments – Classical Calvinism teaches that sacraments are signs and seals
of covenant of grace and effectual means of salvation; Lutheranism teaches that new
life. Faith and union with Christ are granted by the Holy Spirit working through the
sacraments. Later, de-emphasized, they become ordinances, acts of worship which are
required by Scripture, by whose effects is limited to the voluntary effect they have on
the worshipper’s soul. The Church then loses its primacy in the believer’s experience.

OTHER CHURCHES OF CHRIST

1. Plan of Salvation – the grace of God that saves is the plan of salvation, which includes
two parts:
a. The perfect live, death, burial and resurrection of Christ
b. The Gospel/ New Testament/ The Faith
2. Specific Characteristics of Grace
a. Garce is contrasted with the Law of Moses
b. Grace saves (Eph 2:5); Justifies (Rom 3:24, Titus 3:7)
c. Grace cannot be added to (Gal 5:4)

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d. Grace teaches (Titus 2:11); can be preached (Eph 3:8).

e. Grace calls us (2 Tim 1:9, Gal 1:15)
f. Grace is brough by revelation (1 Peter 1:13)
g. Grace is not salvation but the plan of salvation
h. Grace is presented this gift to man (Titus 2:11). Christ died for all men (2 Cor
5:15-15) and is available to all men.
i. One must hear the Gospel (rom 10:7), believe the Gospel (Mk 16:15-16), repent
their past sins (Acts 2:38), confess their faith in Christ before men (Mt. 10:32,
Rom 10:9-10), be immersed in water into Christ for the remission of Sin (1 Peter
3:21), and live faithfully even to the point of death (rev. 2:10).
CHURCH OF THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS
1. Final Judgment – Jesus’ mention of the Final judgement where works will be a
determining factor in personal assignment to degrees in glory. It must be motivated by
love of Jesus and others focused not on appearances but on Christ’s grace and his power
to change men’s hearts.

GRACE AND CONVERSION

Conversion – Turning toward God and away from sin. The Christian reflection on the nature
of conversion is derived largely from St. Paul. The need for conversion is expressed through his
writings. For the pagans, conversion means turning away from, leaving service of, idols to be
in God’s service (Gal. 4:9).
Conversion is the fruit of divine initiative. God calls man to his kingdom and to his glory (1
The. 2:12). One of the essential elements in every conversion to the life of grace is the
knowledge of God. It is a knowledge that includes a total commitment of self to God. When
turned away from God, one is unable to discern the things of God (1 Cor. 2:14). As a result,
one’s moral judgements are perverted.
Conversion effects a renewal of the mind so that one becomes capable of discerning all that is
good, pleasing to God, perfect (Rom 12:2). The principal effect of conversion according to Paul,
is that one becomes a new creature (Gal. 6:15).
Baptism is, of course, the primary source of this new creaturehood. By it, man is united to the
death and resurrection of Christ, and is thus enabled to live a new life.

THE KIND OF GRACE BEFORE CONVERSION

What would be the grace that precedes conversion? Some theologians speak of it as elevating
actual grace by which a man performs an act of faith or hope or repentance. Infused habit of
faith, hope and charity come in the moment of justification. Others insist that according to St.

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Thomas no acts that is supernatural can proceed other that from infused habit. According to the
Summa, conversion begins, strictly speaking, with faith which is a prevenient grace, gratuitous.
Divine motion does not add power to created being. It simply actuates those that it has already.
The supernaturality of an act, comes from its form; the divine motion only actuates the form.
Therefore, the divine motion toward conversion is always in relation to infused habit, whether
of faith, hope and repentance. This latter opinion infused habit would either be a natural act, or
it would not be accomplished actively by the subject. St. Thomas seems to admit that the habit
of faith is sometimes infused before and without the virtue or charity or moral virtues.

STAGES OF CONVERSION

ON THE PART OF GOD

The initiative comes from God by posing problems about meaning of life. God reveals himself
to man (Rom. 4:16) through the external proclamation of Christ’s coming through the internal
grace which move the heart to put absolute trust in Christ’s love and in his power to be partaker
of the personal destiny of Jesus Christ.
ON THE PART OF MAN

• A realization of man to amend his motives for living.

• Becomes a passionate decision of the heart assenting to grace
• Involves the risk of giving up the visible and tangible certainties.

CONVERSION AND GRACE

The act if conversion coincides with the act of grace through which God starts to realize his
promise to eternal life (Rom. 5:1-12).

CONDITIONS NECESSARY FOR THE ACT OF CONVERSION

1. Psychological Disposition – Implies pre-conversion of the heart. To have an open
disposition.
2. Words and Signs – in order to convert this open disposition to Christian faith one has
to understand and see the Gospel. To understand means the testimony of the Word; to
see means testimony of action.
3. Grace – It is God, through His Word who converts man. The interiorization of the
Eternal Word is attributed personally to the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:3). It is the Holy Spirit
who performs an actual Pentecost in all the believers. Conversion is a free response to
this triple calling.

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SOCIOLOGY OF CONVERSION

• It is in the Church where the testimony of God concerning Christ is maintained

permanently as both divine and historical, being a community of believers and ta the
same tome a hierarchical institution.
• It is in human communities and on sociological fact where open-mindedness or
prejudice to the transcendental message is developed.
• It is in Christian communities, maintained in the state of continuous conversion, wherein
the same converts deepen their faith and encounter new motive for their belief.

CONVERSION IN THE WORLD

The conditions of spiritual life in the world make conversion more difficult but without doubt
more solid and personal than the conversion made during the Christian Era. The evolution of
human consciousness and sciences favor a more severe criticism of the faith.
DIFFICULTIES IN CONVERSION TODAY
1. The New Dimension of the World – Man’s task acquire an unknown magnitude and
give a feeling of a certain infinite capability to employ and to fill the projects with
human glory that makes a sort of human intoxication possible which demands a clearer
and purer testimony of Christ.
2. Spiritual Liberalism – Danger of practical skepticism due to the interplay of non-
Christian religions, humanism and the sciences. It is not a question reconciling tolerance
but of bearing testimony to the originality of Christianity as a historical and transcendent
revelation.
3. Technological Mentality – Deadens man’s sensitivity to all that is scared and
transcendent. A danger of enervating one’s moral and religious conscience to which
responds the testimony of the reality of religious and Christian fact with the signs of
experience of sanctity.
4. Paganistic and Sociological Determinism – Provokes restoration of authentic
Christian communities rather than struggle for the restoration of the marks of
Christianity as means to the birth and maturation of faith.
5. Inaccessibility – Experiences of conversion shows that faith is inaccessible to those wo
are superficial and egocentric because conversion commits the totality of the person
much more his intimate inner self to the authentic human love.

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