Article 2: Grace and Justification CCC Table of Contents
I. Justification
1987 The grace of the Holy Spirit
has the power to justify us, that
is, to cleanse us from our sins and
to communicate to us "the righteousness
of God through faith in Jesus Christ" and
through Baptism: (Romans 3:22; cf. Romans 6:3-4)
But if we have died with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live
with him. For we know that Christ
being raised from the dead will never
die again; death no longer has dominion
over him. The death he died he died
to sin, once for all, but the life
he lives he lives to God. So you
also must consider yourselves as
dead to sin and alive to God in Christ
Jesus.
(Romans 6:8-11) |
1988 Through the power of the Holy
Spirit we take part in Christ's Passion
by dying to sin, and in his Resurrection
by being born to a new life; we are
members of his Body which is the
Church, branches grafted onto the
vine which is himself: (cf. 1 Corinthians 12; John 15:1-4)
[God] gave himself to us through
his Spirit. By the participation
of the Spirit, we become communicants
in the divine nature. . . . For this
reason, those in whom the Spirit
dwells are divinized.
(St. Athanasius, Ep. Serap. 1,24:PG 26,585 and 588) |
1989 The first work of the grace
of the Holy Spirit is conversion,
effecting justification in accordance
with Jesus' proclamation at the beginning
of the Gospel: "Repent, for
the kingdom of Heaven is at hand." (Matthew 4:17)
Moved by grace, man turns toward
God and away from sin, thus accepting
forgiveness and righteousness from
on high.
"Justification is not
only the remission of sins, but also
the sanctification and renewal of
the interior man." (Council of Trent (1547): DS 1528)
1990 Justification detaches man from
sin which contradicts the love of
God, and purifies his heart of sin.
Justification follows upon God's
merciful initiative of offering forgiveness.
It reconciles man with God. It frees
from the enslavement to sin, and
it heals.
1991 Justification is at the same
time the acceptance of God's righteousness
through faith in Jesus Christ. Righteousness
(or justice) here means
the rectitude of divine love. With
justification, faith, hope, and charity
are poured into our hearts, and obedience
to the divine will is granted us.
1992 Justification has been merited
for us by the Passion of Christ who
offered himself on the cross as a
living victim, holy and pleasing
to God, and whose blood has become
the instrument of atonement for the
sins of all men. Justification is
conferred in Baptism, the sacrament
of faith. It conforms us to the righteousness
of God, who makes us inwardly just
by the power of his mercy. Its purpose
is the glory of God and of Christ,
and the gift of eternal life: (cf. the Council of Trent (15447): DS 1529)
But now the righteousness of God
has been manifested apart from law,
although the law and the prophets
bear witness to it, the righteousness
of God through faith in Jesus Christ
for all who believe. For there is
no distinction: since all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God,
they are justified by his grace as
a gift, through the redemption which
is in Christ Jesus, whom God put
forward as an expiation by his blood,
to be received by faith. This was
to show God's righteousness, because
in his divine forbearance he had
passed over former sins; it was to prove at the present time that he
himself is righteous and that he
justifies him who has faith in Jesus.
(Romans 3:21-26) |
1993 Justification establishes cooperation
between God's grace and man's freedom.
On man's part it is expressed by
the assent of faith to the Word of
God, which invites him to conversion,
and in the cooperation of charity
with the prompting of the Holy Spirit
who precedes and preserves his assent:
When God touches man's heart through
the illumination of the Holy Spirit,
man himself is not inactive while
receiving that inspiration, since
he could reject it; and yet, without
God's grace, he cannot by his own
free will move himself toward justice
in God's sight.
(Council of Trent (1547): DS 1525) |
1994 Justification is the most excellent
work of God's love made manifest
in Christ Jesus and granted by the
Holy Spirit. It is the opinion of
St. Augustine that "the justification
of the wicked is a greater work than
the creation of Heaven and earth," because "Heaven
and earth will pass away but the
salvation and justification of the
elect . . . will not pass away." (St. Augustine, In Jo. ev. 72, 3:PL 35, 1823) He holds also that the justification
of sinners surpasses the creation
of the angels in justice, in that
it bears witness to a greater mercy.
1995 The Holy Spirit is the master
of the interior life. By giving birth
to the inner man, (cf. Romans 7:22; Ephesians 3:16) justification
entails the sanctification of his
whole being:
Just as you once yielded your members
to impurity and to greater and greater
iniquity, so now yield your members
to righteousness for sanctification.
. . . But now that you have been
set free from sin and have become
slaves of God, the return you get
is sanctification and its end, eternal
life.
(Romans 6:19, 22) |
II. Grace
1996 Our justification comes from
the grace of God. Grace is favor,
the free and undeserved help that
God gives us to respond to his call
to become children of God, adoptive
sons, partakers of the divine nature
and of eternal life. (cf. John 1:12-18; 17:3; Romans 8:14-17; 2 Peter 1:3-4)
1997 Grace is a participation in
the life of God. It introduces us
into the intimacy of Trinitarian
life: by Baptism the Christian participates
in the grace of Christ, the Head
of his Body. As an adopted
son he can henceforth call
God "Father," in union
with the only Son. He receives the
life of the Spirit who breathes charity
into him and who forms the Church.
1998 This vocation to eternal life
is supernatural. It depends entirely
on God's gratuitous initiative, for
he alone can reveal and give himself.
It surpasses the power of human intellect
and will, as that of every other
creature. (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:7-9)
1999 The grace of Christ is the gratuitous
gift that God makes to us of his
own life, infused by the Holy Spirit
into our soul to heal it of sin and
to sanctify it. It is the sanctifying
or deifying grace received in Baptism.
It is in us the source of the work
of sanctification: (cf. John 4:14; 7:38-39)
Therefore if any one is in Christ,
he is a new creation; the old has
passed away, behold, the new has
come. All this is from God, who through
Christ reconciled us to himself.
(2 Corinthians 5:17-18)
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2000 Sanctifying grace is an habitual
gift, a stable and supernatural disposition
that perfects the soul itself to
enable it to live with God, to act
by his love. Habitual grace, the
permanent disposition to live and
act in keeping with God's call, is
distinguished from actual graces
which refer to God's interventions,
whether at the beginning of conversion
or in the course of the work of sanctification.
2001 The preparation of man for the
reception of grace is already a work
of grace. This latter is needed to
arouse and sustain our collaboration
in justification through faith, and
in sanctification through charity.
God brings to completion in us what
he has begun,
"since he who
completes his work by cooperating
with our will began by working so
that we might will it:"
(St. Augustine, De gratia et libero arbitrio, 17:PL 44,901)
Indeed we also work, but we are only
collaborating with God who works,
for his mercy has gone before us.
It has gone before us so that we
may be healed, and follows us so
that once healed, we may be given
life; it goes before us so that we
may be called, and follows us so
that we may be glorified; it goes
before us so that we may live devoutly,
and follows us so that we may always
live with God: for without him we
can do nothing.
(St. Augustine, De natura et gratia, 31:PL 44, 264)
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2002 God's free initiative demands
man's free response, for God has
created man in his image by conferring
on him, along with freedom, the power
to know him and love him. The soul
only enters freely into the communion
of love. God immediately touches
and directly moves the heart of man.
He has placed in man a longing for
truth and goodness that only he can
satisfy. The promises of "eternal
life" respond, beyond all hope,
to this desire:
If at the end of your very good works
. . ., you rested on the seventh
day, it was to foretell by the voice
of your book that at the end of our
works, which are indeed very
good since you have given them
to us, we shall also rest in you
on the sabbath of eternal life.
(St. Augustine, Conf. 13,36 51:PL 32,868; cf. Genesis 1:31) |
2003 Grace is first and foremost
the gift of the Spirit who justifies
and sanctifies us. But grace also
includes the gifts that the Spirit
grants us to associate us with his
work, to enable us to collaborate
in the salvation of others and in
the growth of the Body of Christ,
the Church. There are sacramental
graces, gifts proper to the different
sacraments. There are furthermore
special graces, also called charisms
after the Greek term used by St.
Paul and meaning favor, gratuitous
gift, benefit. (cf. Vatican II, Lumen Gentium 12) Whatever their character - sometimes
it is extraordinary, such as the
gift of miracles or of tongues -
charisms are oriented toward sanctifying
grace and are intended for the common
good of the Church. They are at the
service of charity which builds up
the Church. (cf. 1 Corinthians 12)
2004 Among the special graces ought
to be mentioned the graces of state
that accompany the exercise of the
responsibilities of the Christian
life and of the ministries within
the Church:
Having gifts that differ according
to the grace given to us, let us
use them: if prophecy, in proportion
to our faith; if service, in our
serving; he who teaches, in his teaching;
he who exhorts, in his exhortation;
he who contributes, in liberality;
he who gives aid, with zeal; he who
does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
(Romans 12:6-8)
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2005 Since it belongs to the supernatural
order, grace escapes our experience
and cannot be known except by faith.
We cannot therefore rely on our feelings
or our works to conclude that we
are justified and saved. (cf. Council of Trent (1547): DS 1533-1534) However,
according to the Lord's words "Thus
you will know them by their fruits" (Matthew 7:20)
— reflection on God's blessings in
our life and in the lives of the
saints offers us a guarantee that
grace is at work in us and spurs
us on to an ever greater faith and
an attitude of trustful poverty.
A pleasing illustration of this attitude
is found in the reply of St. Joan
of Arc to a question posed as a trap
by her ecclesiastical judges: "Asked
if she knew that she was in God's
grace, she replied: 'If I am not,
may it please God to put me in it;
if I am, may it please God to keep
me there.'"
(Acts of the trial of St. Joan of Arc) |
III. Merit
You are glorified in the assembly
of your Holy Ones, for in crowning
their merits you are crowning your
own gifts. (Roman Missal, Prefatio I de sanctis; Qui in Sanctorum concilio celebraris, et eorum coronando merita tua dona coronas, citing the "Doctor of grace," St. Augustine, En. in Psalm 102,7:PL 37,1321-1322)
2006 The term merit refers
in general to the recompense owed
by a community or a society for the
action of one of its members, experienced
either as beneficial or harmful,
deserving reward or punishment. Merit
is relative to the virtue of justice,
in conformity with the principle
of equality which governs it.
2007 With regard to God, there is
no strict right to any merit on the
part of man. Between God and us there
is an immeasurable inequality, for
we have received everything from
him, our Creator.
2008 The merit of man before God
in the Christian life arises from
the fact that God has freely chosen
to associate man with the work of
his grace. The fatherly action of
God is first on his own initiative,
and then follows man's free acting
through his collaboration, so that
the merit of good works is to be
attributed in the first place to
the grace of God, then to the faithful.
Man's merit, moreover, itself is
due to God, for his good actions
proceed in Christ, from the predispositions
and assistance given by the Holy
Spirit.
2009 Filial adoption, in making us
partakers by grace in the divine
nature, can bestow true merit on
us as a result of God's gratuitous
justice. This is our right by grace,
the full right of love, making us "co-heirs" with
Christ and worthy of obtaining "the
promised inheritance of eternal life." (Council of Trent (1547): DS 1546) The merits of our good works are
gifts of the divine goodness. (cf. Council of Trent (1547): DS 1548)
"Grace
has gone before us; now we are given
what is due. . . . Our merits are
God's gifts." (St. Augustine, Sermo 298,4-5:PL 38,1367)
2010 Since the initiative belongs
to God in the order of grace, no
one can merit the initial grace of
forgiveness and justification, at
the beginning of conversion. Moved
by the Holy Spirit and by charity,
we can then merit for ourselves and
for others the graces needed for
our sanctification, for the increase
of grace and charity, and for the
attainment of eternal life. Even
temporal goods like health and friendship
can be merited in accordance with
God's wisdom. These graces and goods
are the object of Christian prayer.
Prayer attends to the grace we need for meritorious actions.
2011 The charity of Christ is the
source in us of all our merits before
God. Grace, by uniting us to Christ
in active love, ensures the supernatural
quality of our acts and consequently
their merit before God and before
men. The saints have always had a
lively awareness that their merits
were pure grace.
After earth's exile, I hope to go
and enjoy you in the fatherland,
but I do not want to lay up merits
for Heaven. I want to work for your
love alone. . . . In the evening
of this life, I shall appear before
you with empty hands, for I do not
ask you, Lord, to count my works.
All our justice is blemished in your
eyes. I wish, then, to be clothed
in your own justice and to receive
from your love the eternal possession
of yourself.
(St. Thérèse of Lisieux, "Act of Offering" in Story of a Soul, tr. John Clarke (Washington DC: ICS, 1981), 277) |
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