What does Divine Grace do for us?
- DEACON DOUGLAS MCMANAMAN
What are the effects of grace?
Grace is a sharing in the divine life. It is the infused presence of God, a presence that is supernatural, not merely natural. Human persons are not born in a state of grace. And there is nothing we can do ourselves to earn grace. Rather, divine grace is favor, and it is freely bestowed. It is true that we can reject grace. And so we have to cooperate with it. But it is grace that renders the human person holy and favorable to God. So the first effect of grace is that it sanctifies. No one can be truly holy unless he is in a state of grace.
Grace renders the soul beautiful. For whatever is holy is beautiful. God is the Supreme Beauty, or Subsistent Beauty Itself. If grace is a sharing in the divine life, then grace can only beautify the soul. It has been said that the eyes are the windows of the soul. There is a great deal of truth to this statement. One can readily see the difference between the soul that is elevated by divine grace. There is a splendor in the countenance, a superabundance of a certain humane quality in the eyes that renders the person very attractive.
The Gravity of Sin:
Mortal Sin: destroys the grace of God within the soul. Through mortal sin, a person turns his back entirely on God and rejects His friendship.
Three Conditions of Mortal Sin:
- Serious matter - adultery, abortion, killing a person's reputation, etc
- Full knowledge - one cannot be in sin and NOT know it.
- Deliberate consent - one must consent freely and deliberately, as opposed to being momentarily overcome by passion.
Venial Sin: weakens the grace of God within the soul. Venial sin is forgiven through holy communion. A number of unrepented venial sins can lead to mortal sin.
Between these two is serious sin. Serious sin does not completely destroy grace, but seriously deprives a person of grace. It is more than venial sin and one should not receive communion without Confession. It's really impossible to list what sins are serious but not mortal. It depends upon the three conditions of sin. The first condition, serious matter, is obvious. But perhaps he was not as free in his decision as he otherwise would have been.
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Acknowledgement
Douglas McManaman. "What does Divine Grace do for us?"
Reprinted with permission of Douglas McManaman.
The Author
Doug McManaman is a Deacon and a Religion and Philosophy teacher at Father Michael McGivney Catholic Academy in Markham, Ontario, Canada. He is the past president of the Canadian Fellowship of Catholic Scholars. Deacon Douglas studied Philosophy at St. Jerome's College in Waterloo, and Theology at the University of Montreal. He is the author of Christ Lives!, The Logic of Anger, Why Be Afraid?, Basic Catholicism, Introduction to Philosophy for Young People, and A Treatise on the Four Cardinal Virtues. Deacon McManaman is on the advisory board of the Catholic Education Resource Center. Visit his website here.
