Advances in Sanctification

 Iowa Farm Boy - June, 1947

 

     I. That which man primarily and immediately merits by good works is the increase of sanctifying grace, advance in holiness and favour with God here, and hereafter a corresponding augmentation of glory. While the progress of man in other departments of life is limited by the weakness of his faculties or by external obstacles, in the matter of sanctification he is perfectible to an indefinite extent. As long as life endures, a soul can go on working, praying, suffering, practising divine love, conformity of the will to God's benevolence, faith, humility, in an ever-advancing measure; and as the spiritual standing is raised by each degree of grace, so does every action become more super-naturally valuable. The bounty of God is never exhausted, and He continues to render a thousand-fold, by a new influx of supernatural vitality, for every effort we make in His service. By all this our future deserts are multiplied, our capacity for knowledge, love, and joy in heaven is enlarged, we shall be raised higher in glory, and shall drink more deeply of the torrents of delight. Every day of your life you may advance more and more in sanctification, and lay up to yourself treasures incomprehensibly great, which thieves cannot steal, nor rust and moth eat away. Reflect on the value of holiness and the facilities God has given you for acquiring it. Hunger and thirst after this justice and you will have your fill.

     II. Consider how Holy Scripture confirms this doctrine. The aspiration of the just man is set forth: "Blessed is the man whose help is from Thee: in his heart he hath disposed to ascend by steps, in the vale of tears. . . . The lawgiver shall give a blessing, they shall go from virtue to virtue" (Ps. Ixxxiii. 6-8). The advance of the just man depends, after God, on his own efforts: we are bidden to "grow in grace and in the knowledge of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ" (2 Pet. iii. 18). And again: "He that is just, let him be justified still; and he that is holy, let him be sanctified still" (Apoc. xxii. 11). The result is that "the path of the just, like a shining light, goeth forwards and increaseth even unto perfect day" (Prov. iv. 18). The great advantage of long life is that you are able to carry on further this blessed work. There is always something to live for, even when the interests and pleasures of life have passed from us to younger hands. Here too is the great advantage of those who were called by God in childhood and have remained always faithful. They amass merits which those who come at the eleventh hour can only rival by extraordinary fervour, and struggles, and sufferings. The greater difficulties of later comers are happy opportunities of making up for lost years, and being made perfect in a short space fulfilling a long time (Wisd. iv. 13).

     III. The advancement of holy souls, however great, does not amount, during this life, to confirmation in grace, and to freedom from the peril of sin and eternal loss. The passions remain vivid, and concupiscence ever tends to draw away even the saints into the way of perdition. The great Apostle with all his labours and his favours from God says: "Not as though I had already attained, or were already perfect; but I follow after, if by any means I may apprehend . . . . I do not count myself to have apprehended" (Phil. iii. 12, 13). He speaks of his imminent danger, and prays to be saved from it: "I see another law in my members fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin. . . . Unhappy man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?" (Rom. vii. 23, 24). So he always lived in fear lest, after preaching to others-, he himself should become a castaway (1 Cor. ix. 27), One of your greatest dangers is to forget the dangers and allow yourself to be lulled in security, on the strength of past fidelity, and in reliance on your own merits. Consider yourself always as a beginner, as uncertain of the future, as possibly a reprobate.

 

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Opportunities of Merit

 Girl Scouts, February, 1952 - Photo by Edward Clark

     I. Consider what abundant opportunities God has bestowed on men of meriting, of advancing in holiness, and increasing their meed of future glory. In every period, place and condition of life men can merit. If each position has its special difficulties, it has also its peculiar opportunities. God places a person in a certain state of life, and He accords such light and strength as that state requires. In the world as well as in the cloister, in prisons and in royal courts, in the lecture-room and in the labourer's cottage, amid the corruptions of Babylon as in the temple courts, men and women have sanctified themselves and won the position of saints. Meritorious service is not limited to the strong and well-endowed, or to the period of maturity and vigour. Children and the aged, the bed-ridden and the silent toiler in obscurity can do the work of God in their own souls and in the world, and can earn the highest degree of reward by the meritoriousness of their daily duties and the fervour of their good-will. The power of meriting, of atoning, of impetrating, is exercised more fully perhaps by those who can only suffer and pray than by those who are gifted with brilliant energies for external action. Never think that the accidents of time or place or employment can prevent you from serving God and advancing in merit. They may obstruct some particular forms of well-doing, but they afford other opportunities of greater merit, if you know how to seek them out and employ them.

     II. Consider the different ways in which we can merit from God. 

 

1. If we be in the state of sanctifying grace and in an habitual religious frame of mind, all our good actions, even without our special advertence, have a supernatural value and merit. 

 

2. If we form at intervals the intention to "do all for the glory of God" (1 Cor. x. 31), our most trivial and colourless actions become works of supernatural merit, glorifying God and sanctifying our souls. 

 

3. The prophet was commended for being "a man of desires." As an evil desire is a sin of the same class as the positive act, so by good desires which we may not be able to carry into effect, we acquire before God the merit of corresponding deeds of benevolence, of religion, of self-sacrifice. 

 

4. Prayer is the great source of energy and spiritual life on earth. Tranquil and sluggish as the carnal-minded consider it to be, it is one of the chief forms of activity. By prayer we are able to advance effectually, and to bear an actual share in the preachings of Apostles, the sufferings of Martyrs, and the multifarious works of priests, religious orders, and the lay soldiers of the Cross. What abundant opportunities you have of meriting grace and glory by the service of God ! Do not live thoughtlessly, neglecting and wasting them, but treasure them and use them as the merchant does the smallest chance of gain.

     III. Consider the shocking waste of supernatural energy and future prospects. Many remain plunged in mortal sin, dead to Christ, and their works are all unprofitable. Others are incarnations of the spirit of evil, hating God and goodness, trampling on the Precious Blood of Christ, violating every law, natural, moral and spiritual, filling the world with miseries, and heaping up wrath to themselves. Others again resist the light of truth, and will not come up higher whither God calls them; they refuse to render a complete service to God, and fail of their vocation. Others again labour on temporal things, working from the superabundance of their natural energies, pleasing themselves and seeking commendation from men. Others live carelessly from day to day, doing little harm, but troubling nought about spiritual things. To all these the Lord says: "You have sowed much and have brought in little: you have eaten but have not had enough . . . you have clothed yourselves but have not been warmed: and he that earned wages put them into a bag with holes" (Agg. i. 6). Be careful that you do not thus squander your opportunities.

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The Objects of Merit or Prayer in the Tyrol

 

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     I. Consider to what class of objects human merit extends; and first the limitations of the power of meriting. 

 

1. The first action of God on the soul unjustified or in the state of mortal sin cannot be merited either by that soul s own action or by the action of any other human being interceding or offering his own merits. And when the sinner corresponds to that first grace and begins to turn towards God, he does not thereby merit justification and sanctifying grace. It is only when this grace has been infused that the soul is able to merit through union with Christ and the possession of the promises. Till then we are simply vessels of mercy and not of merit. 

 

2. Another thing that is not to be merited is the last step in the path of salvation, the most necessary of all, our final perseverance in grace; for this includes a number of special aids from God that have not been guaranteed, and are beyond our due claims. Salvation is uncertain to the last, and remains the free gift of God and the absolute work of grace. Thus the beginning and the ending are entirely in the hands of Our Lord and are in no sense due to us. "There is a remnant saved according to the election of grace. And if by grace it is not now by works: otherwise grace is no more grace" (Rom. xi. 5, 6). Therefore the Prophet says: "All you that thirst, come to the waters: and you that have no money, make haste, buy and eat: come ye, buy wine and milk without money and without any price" (Isa. Iv. 1). See how thoroughly you are in the hand of God from first to last. Ask Him to watch over your coming in and your going out.

     II. The human soul, however, is not a dead mass of earth in the hands of the Creator, it is a free agent, it must act with Him and contribute in some measure to the work of its salvation. Its efforts are not futile; it will have the glory of having earned its reward, while to God is the full glory of bestowing it. 

 

1. Man can merit an increase of sanctifying grace. He can purge himself more and more from sin, he may become justified and sanctified still more (Apoc. xxii. 11). As he advances in holiness, he receives more actual graces from God, which call him to further deeds of holiness and higher favour.   

 2. Man can also strictly speaking merit glory and the increase of it. Scripture frequently speaks of eternal happiness as a prize to be striven for or a reward for faithful service. Glory is the continuance of the state of sanctification into the next world; the first step is strictly beyond our powers of meriting; but, having commenced, we can merit both our advance in grace and the degrees of glory that correspond to it in heaven. As every force in the universe is conserved and works its effects for ever in transmuted forms, so every energy that you put forth in virtuous acts will remain as an eternal source of glory to God and of happiness to you.

     III. We can by no means merit the whole of what we shall possess in heaven. God's generosity is beyond all our deserts; we render Him an insignificant service, and He rewards us with the enjoyment of the Infinite. Here on earth God grants to our prayers much more than their strict merit of impetration deserves. How miserable are our few prayers; yet it is said: "Every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened" (Matt. vii. 8). We cannot merit salvation for another; yet the Apostle says: "Pray for one another that you may be saved: for the continual prayer of the just man availeth much" (Jas. v. 16). We cannot merit final perseverance, yet it will certainly be granted if we pray constantly and strive for it. We have no claim to earthly rewards, yet favours of this kind exceeding the powers of nature are frequently granted, to encourage our faith and move us to a more affectionate and filial confidence in God. Thank God for granting such efficacy and merit to your prayers and works, and giving them an intrinsic value beyond what is natural to them. Avail yourself fully of His bounty.

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The Degrees of Merit or the Widow's Mite

 

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     I. As sanctifying grace is the source, so it is to a great extent the measure of merit. The diversities of this grace constitute the real differences between men, and arrange them into classes and hierarchies like the angels. A more complete habitual state of grace gives a so much greater spiritual intensity and value to the works arising from it. Two persons doing precisely the same act may have a very- different merit for it. So too it is in another sphere: the day's work of a highly cultivated man is more highly recompensed than the physical toil of the labourer. Thus again the smallest action of the Saviour was more meritorious than all the virtues, and efforts, and heroism of the whole human race together. Hence the greatness of the Blessed Virgin's merits beyond all others, though she was not called to the active or suffering life of Apostles and Martyrs. Hence it is that the saints of God enjoy a greater power of impetration and satisfaction by prayers and sufferings than ordinary Christians. This was the case with Mary Magdalene: "Many sins are forgiven her because she hath loved much" (Luke vii. 47). As the value of human works is greater here, so is their reward more glorious hereafter; everything is higher and better with the greater abundance of sanctifying grace. "To every one that hath shall be given, and he shall abound" (Matt. xxv. 29). Esteem the value of actions, not according to the natural ability or energy in them, nor even solely according to the good intention from which they proceed, but primarily according to the sanctifying grace or Spirit of God which moves them.

     II. The difficulty that attends good works increases their merit very largely, and also their reward. "Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour" (1 Cor. iii. 8). And again it is written: "According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, Thy consolations have given joy to my soul" (Ps. xciii. 19). The widow's mite was, in God's sight, a greater offering than all the large contributions of Pharisees and Princes of the people; it bore a larger proportion to her means, and involved a greater amount of sacrifice. The long duration of a good work or of a struggle is also an augmentation of meritoriousness; so God often delays answering our prayers for relief. The long monotony, the apparent hopelessness, the weary waiting, the fight against our own fickleness, exercise the great virtues of trust in God, courage and perseverance, and they multiply the ultimate reward. So also the conflict with distractions and temptations in prayer is more profitable to the soul and pleasing to God than the delights of peaceful contemplation. Hence learn the advantage of persecutions to the Church, of the calumnies that obstruct her work, and of the unceasing difficulties created by human passion both without and within her boundaries. The virtues elicited by tribulation are more glorious and more useful than a series of splendid successes that have cost neither blood nor tears. As difficulties grow worse "rejoice and be exceeding glad, because your reward is very great in heaven" (Matt. v. 12).

     III. A great deal of course depends also on the intrinsic character of the works done. There are those who exhaust themselves with the multitude of their works and yet find them all unprofitable when they stand before God for judgment. "We have laboured all the night and have taken nothing" (Luke v. 5). That which is considered most meritorious and useful by men is not of necessity considered most meritorious and useful by God. Those virtues which regard God immediately are better than such as serve Him indirectly. Actions which exercise our faith, hope, love of God, love of our neighbours and our religious sense are better than acts of other virtues; spiritual activity is better than any in the temporal order, the interests of souls are more than the comforts of the body, advancement in the knowledge of God and the practice of morality is more than gold-mines and gigantic businesses; the lowest grade of super natural virtue surpasses the most brilliant natural virtues. Always do what is highest, and elevate lowly duties by doing them for God.

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The Conditions of Merit

 

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     I. In order that men may be able to merit a condign reward from God by their good works, several conditions are necessary. The first condition is on the part of God. It is necessary that He should have given us a claim upon Himself by promising a reward for good deeds. The Almighty Lord of all has no duties towards His creatures, no obligations of any sort towards us, except such as He has Himself created. Our claim to a reward does not rest on the excellence of our works even when done in a state of grace, nor on their value to God, nor on our good intentions, but solely on the divine promise. Without such a promise the infinite generosity of God would undoubtedly recompense a thousand-fold any service done to Him, as He rewarded the humanity of the Egyptian midwives (Exod. i. 20), and the service done by Nabuchodonosor (Ez. xxix. 18-20). This is indeed fitting or congruous, or harmonious with the infinite goodness of God and with the universal law of His Providence as seen in nature, that every cause should have its proper effect. Scripture speaks of the rewards of God as His promises. "Do not lose your confidence, which hath a great reward. For patience is necessary for you, that doing the will of God, you may receive the promise" (Heb. x. 35, 36). It is encouraging to know that every good act will meet with its reward; such is the promise of God, and it will not fail. "I know whom I have believed and I am certain" (2 Tim. i. 12). Therefore you may so run and so fight, not as at an uncertainty or as one beating the air (1 Cor. ix. 15), but with a most definite result.

     II. The conditions of merit on the part of man are two. 

1. Merit is limited to the time of his probation on earth. When this is over the tree has fallen to the North or the South, and there it will lie forever. "The night cometh when no man can work" (John ix. 4). As the parable of the ten virgins teaches us, we must make due provision before the bridegroom arrives at the moment of death. After that, the elect can earn no further reward, the wicked can no more make atonement, and the desires and sufferings of the souls in Purgatory are not, strictly speaking, meritorious. 

2. In order to merit in the supernatural order the soul must be in the state of grace, living with the supernatural life, and united with Our Lord, through whom men merit. Without this grace, and faith which is its basis, all actions, however good of their kind, are of the natural order, and are dead works as far as the supernatural is concerned. Hence St. Paul says that, though a man should have all knowledge, and the faith that moves mountains, and extremest self-devotion, yet if he be without charity, or the state of grace, he profiteth nothing (1 Cor xiii. 2, 3). Make the most of your present opportunities, do not trust to the uncertain future; time is short and very precious.

     III. There are certain conditions of our works themselves which are necessary in order that these be meritorious. 

 

1. Only our conscious deliberate actions are of any avail; mere physical motions are not "human acts," or supernatural. 

2. The actions must be positively good ones; but those which have no definite moral or spiritual character may become good actions, and even supernatural, under the influence of our intention. 

3. The actions must proceed from an impulse of divine grace; that is, God must work them in us. 

4. The motive force in man from which these actions proceed must also be supernatural. If the motive be some merely natural one which does not take account of God, it does not suffice for supernatural meritoriousness. Our intention must be directed in some way, explicitly or implicitly, towards Him. Therefore, whatever you do, do it all in the name of God, and for His sake alone, and not in the name of the world, or of pleasure, or of passion, or of nature. "Take heed that you do not your justice before men that you may be seen by them: otherwise you shall not have a reward from your Father who is in heaven" 

(Matt. vi. 1).

 

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Merit

 

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     I. By the merit of a good action is meant the claim to an adequate reward which it establishes. The reward we are considering is one that is supernatural in this world and more especially in the next. A meritorious action is one that in some way deserves a reward. There is also a merit of satisfaction, which proceeds from good works and sufferings; this means an adequate compensation which is offered to God and which satisfies for sins. Allied to these is the merit or power of impetration, which is the power of obtaining favours from God by virtue of the value belonging to the prayers offered to Him. There is a great fitness in the doctrine of merit. All forces must produce corresponding results. Our evil actions have a lasting effect, so too must good ones. A supernatural force brought into play must have a supernatural effect. This supernatural power of meriting, satisfying and impetrating does not properly belong to our actions, but has been accorded to us by God in pursuance of the wonderful designs of His Providence, "that every one may receive the proper things of his body according as he hath done, whether it be good or evil" (2 Cor. v. 10). Thus the demerits of humanity are equitably balanced by their merits, and good prevails over evil. We should be stimulated to work earnestly, knowing that every action will have its eternal supernatural effect.

     II. The privilege of meriting comes to us with sanctifying grace. One of our great deficiencies is that by ourselves we are absolutely unable to merit anything supernatural from God. Our natural activity works in this mundane sphere, and cannot produce effects of a higher character than itself. The compensating factor consists in Our Blessed Lord's power of meriting. He alone can pay the sufficient price for the supernatural; His works alone merit a supernatural recompense; He alone can impetrate favours from God and make satisfaction for sin. By sanctifying grace we are brought into supernatural corporate union with Our Lord, we are in His likeness, His rights become ours, our actions and prayers are united with His actions and receive a certain participation in their value and their efficiency. Jesus merits and satisfies and impetrates of Himself; we do the same through our fellowship with Him. "I am the vine, you the branches; he that abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit" (John xv. 5). Unite all your acts and intentions with those of Jesus Christ. This is the philosopher"s stone which is able to change our dross into purest gold.

     III. A man is said to merit a congruous reward when this is not due to him by equity or by promise, but is bestowed out of mere benevolence and generosity. A condign reward is that which is merited as the just recompense for service rendered. God in His mercy, on account of the perfect and condign merit of His only Son, has bound Himself by promise to bestow on us for Christ's sake rewards here and hereafter proportioned to our service. In virtue of these two things we, unworthy as we are, acquire a positive claim and right to a recompense, and become able really to merit from God. This is confirmed by Scripture. "Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour" (1 Cor. iii. 8). "God is not unjust that He should forget your work and the love which you have shown in His name" (Heb. vi. 10). And again: "Whosoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones a cup of cold water . . . amen I say to you, he shall not lose his reward" (Matt. x. 42). How generous of the Almighty actually to make Himself our debtor, as if He were under an obligation to us. "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour is not vain in the Lord" (1 Cor. xv. 58).

 

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The Effects of Sanctifying Grace

 

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     I. The first effect of sanctifying grace is the justification of the sinner. Justification and sanctification are different aspects of the same operation. They involve one another and are inseparable. Justification is the removal of sins. God does not simply ignore, or overlook, or cover them up; He really removes them, and makes us actually just. "As far as the East is from the West, so far hath He removed our iniquities from us" (Ps. cii. 12). Yet some of the consequences of sin remain with us during this life, and even beyond it for a period. As soon as sin is banished God enters, and the soul is sanctified. This effect of justification and sanctification does not proceed from our repentance and good works as a cause; mere sorrow for our crimes and follies cannot undo them. Repentance is indeed a condition which enables God to work in us, but the true cause of our justification is the action of God which places our souls in a new condition called the state of habitual or sanctifying grace. This action, which destroys the virulent activity of sin in our souls is supernatural and beyond all our power of attainment by ourselves. Grace and sin are incompatible. As the state of grace is justification from sin, so one mortal sin expels habitual grace, destroys the higher life, and leaves the soul in a state of miserable ruin cut off from all participation in God. "thanks to God the Father . . . who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His beloved Son" (Col. i. 12, 13). Let sin never approach your soul to ruin the marvellous work of God therein.

     II. A second consequence of the state of grace, after the removal of obstacles to the divine operations, is the renewal of the interior man. "Be ye renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man who, according to God, is created in justice and holiness of truth" (Eph. iv. 23, 24). The state of habitual grace is the state of a new life; and this life expresses itself in a number of new activities. The higher vital operations include the "habits" of certain virtues, or the facility or power of practising them. Thus there is conveyed an aptitude for assimilating divine truths which are beyond the natural grasp of the intelligence, for entering into familar intercourse with the invisible Godhead, believing in His presence, and adhering to Him with all the force of the will and affections. The "habit" of Charity is the source of obedience, is manifested by our careful observance of the divine law, and so is the summary of all the virtues; it is spoken of in terms that make it almost identical with sanctifying grace. There is also an infusion of the "habits"  of the Cardinal Virtues, and of the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost. Take care that the state of grace fructify in you with all those germs of usefulness and beauty, as the spring-time covers the earth with new verdure and vigour. 

     III. Sanctifying grace is further the "Root of Glory." It is the immediate preparation of the soul for heaven; in fact it is the same life under different external conditions. The words "eternal life" and "kingdom of heaven" are applied to the just in this world as well as to those in the future one. The state of grace here is the commencement and foretaste of the life of glory; and that future state is only the continuance and completion of what is begun here by grace. Our work in this world is to adapt ourselves beforehand to the environment of the heavenly existence, to fit ourselves to breathe its air, and see by its light, and nourish ourselves with the waters of life. Those who are found to have possessed themselves of the supernatural life during their course on earth will enjoy it in its developed form for all eternity; those who are outside the state of grace at the moment of death will pass into the developed state of sin and remain in it for ever. The degree of our glory in heaven will be in exact proportion to the degree of our habitual grace on earth. It is literally true now that the "Kingdom of God is within you" (Luke xvii. 21). See that it remain so always.

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Grace and the Sonship of God

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     I. "Thou shalt send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created; and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth" (Ps. ciii. 30). The sanctification of men is really a new creation, and a renewal of the face of the earth by covering it with a new order of life and action. The work of sanctification by the effusion of grace resembles more the generation of the Eternal Son than the creation of the material world. God

sends forth an efflux of His intellect which knows all things, of His will which determines all things, of His love and His sanctity, and produces in man, when properly disposed by the consent of his will, a reflection of His own divine image. This resemblance is not merely superficial as are the vestiges of God in the material creation, but in some wonderful way the souls of men are "made partakers of the divine nature" (2 Pet. i. 4). The advantages which are communicated in sanctifying grace resemble the qualities which belong to sonship. We are placed on the same super natural level of existence as God, we receive an infused life from God, we are most closely united with Him, and share in some manner in His divine nature. "Behold what manner of charity the Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called and should be the sons of God" (1 John iii. 1). It is however a sonship not of nature but of adoption. Therefore you should cry Abba, Father. God is no stranger to you, no remote Creator or terrible judge; but He has revealed Himself as your Father, to exalt you and to show what love and service He expects from you.

     II. The sonship of God is conferred on us, not immediately by the Father, but through His Son, Jesus Christ. Of ourselves we are absolutely cut off from all supernatural communication with God, and from all means of re-establishing it; but the Son of God who is also Son of Man has brought God and man again into union. God the Son has joined Himself to man in community of nature; there is also a personal union of the divinity and humanity in Him. Something more, however, is required; each individual has to be brought into union with Jesus Christ, in a manner more intimate than by physical brotherhood in the same human species, and this requirement is fulfilled by sanctifying grace. The Incarnation made God the Son like to us, sanctifying grace makes us like to Him. We meet Him in the community of natural and supernatural life, so as to be able to say: "I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Gal. ii. 20). We are brought to the highest level of humanity, to the level of its first-born and predominant member; and then the final stage of the evolution of man on earth is reached. These things are not figures of speech or exaggerations; they are literal reality. What happiness it is to possess these advantages and be conscious of them in your faith and religion!

     III. The sonship of God by sanctifying grace involves other privileges. "If sons, heirs also" (Rom. viii. 17). As adopted brethren of Jesus Christ we acquire a participation in His rights merited by Him as man; and the chief one is the right to the kingdom of heaven. St. Paul describes another aspect of this state of grace. "Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God abideth in you?" (1 Cor. iii. 16). And not only the Holy Ghost but the three Divine Persons dwell in the soul that possesses grace: "If any man love Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him" (John xiv. 23). And again: "He that abideth in charity abideth in God and God in him" (1 John iv. 16). How great is the dignity of the supernatural state, and how great the obligation to maintain the sanctity of the condition to which God has raised us! St. Paul shows us the true inference from these facts: "You are not your own; for you are bought with a great price. Glorify and bear God in your body" (1 Cor. vi. 19, 20).

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Sanctifying Grace

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     I. There is another operation of God in the soul besides the transient and occasional impulse to the performance of good works. Graces of action do not accomplish all the work and bring man into close union with God. There is a further grace or rather a state of grace, or a permanent quality infused into the soul by God, or vesting it like a garment; its effect is to render the soul itself holy, just, pleasing, and the adopted son of God and heir to eternal life. It is not precisely the presence of God, although it involves that presence; it is not the moral perfection of the will; it is not virtue, although it conveys the facility or potentiality for certain virtues. It is a gift of God closely associated with Charity, or the state of loving God and being loved by Him. The same powers and effects are attributed to this grace as to Charity. "The charity of God is poured out into our hearts by the Holy Ghost who is given to us" (Rom. v. 5). It is called habitual, or justifying, or sanctifying grace, or the grace that makes us acceptable to God (gratum faciens). Some actual graces are always anterior to this. They are such as can be bestowed on a man in the state of sin, in order to lead him to the good work of repentance. When these have been accepted and carried into effect, the sinner attains to justification or the state of delivery from sin. Sanctifying grace is the gift by which God operates these effects. Ask God for grace to understand this gift, to value it, and to guard it safely.

     II. Sanctifying grace is substantially the privilege which Adam lost for us, and which is now given back to us by Jesus Christ. It is the supernatural state, the higher life and the source of the higher activities of man. It is that which raises him at once above the material level of the universe, and takes him out of the category of things that belong to the temporal order, and work for the present epoch only. It brings with it new sensibilities and faculties for knowing, understanding and possessing God, for practising a higher morality and virtues impossible in the natural sphere, for rising to grander ideas and aspirations. We have probably in several respects received more than we had lost. Instead of holding our supernatural life as an appanage of our nature by inheritance from our parents, we now receive it as a personal gift to each directly from God through Jesus Christ. Our spiritual father now is not Adam unfallen, but better still, the Eternal Father Himself. The words of Solomon describe this infusion of grace. "All good things came to me with it, and innumerable riches through its hands. . . . It is an infinite treasure to men. . . . It is a vapour of the power of God and a certain pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty God. . . . God loveth none but him that dwelleth with wisdom" (Wisd. vii.). Such is the state of all the children of God. How much better than the state of worldliness !

     III. Life in the state of sanctifying grace is the highest and noblest thing on earth. A soul in this condition is more beautiful than all the material creation, for it reflects more of the beauty and perfection of God; it is the most useful of all beings, for it does not serve only the purpose of inferior creation, or of man alone, but the highest purposes of God; it is the most wonderful of God's works after the Incarnation, on account of the power and wisdom which are deployed in it; it is a new creation superadded to all the wonders of the material one. All the spiritual machinery of the higher life, all the other graces and gifts of God, are either means and preparations for sanctifying grace or consequences that flow from it. This great gift is within the reach of all. It is far superior to all the advantages of possession, or knowledge, or position that a man can gain during his course on earth. Thus God deals equally with all men; and their different lots are substantially the same. The highest gift is equally for all; and inequalities of fortune, length of life, pleasure, etc., are mere grains that do not disturb the level of the balance.

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The Withdrawal of Grace

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     I.  Every action or force produces its adequate effect, and this, according to Scripture, is often attributed to God. Resistance to grace has as its effect the hardening of the heart and the aversion of the will from God. This is spoken of as a punishment inflicted by God: "The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he hearkened not to them" (Ex. ix. 12). And of rebellious Israel the Lord says: "I will show you what I will do to My vineyard. I will take away the hedge thereof and it shall be wasted. . . . And I will make it desolate; it shall not be pruned and it shall not be digged, but briars and thorns shall come up: and I will command the clouds to rain no rain upon it" (Isa. v. 5, 6). The more literally correct aspect of punishment is set forth elsewhere: "Israel hearkened not to Me. So I let them go according to the desires of their heart: they shall walk in their own inventions" (Ps. Ixxx. 12, 13). The punishment inflicted by God and the natural consequence of the resistance to grace are one and the same thing. Considering it in one aspect, it is necessary always to bear in mind the other. God works out salvation indeed in us and with us; but our eternal loss He does not work out in us or with us, any more than He works in us sin, and the rejection of grace, and hardness of heart. "Destruction is thine own, O Israel: only in Me is thy help" (Osee xiii. 9). The severity and sternness and rigour of God are not so much in Him as in yourself; but still they are a dread reality which you may easily incur.

     II. The withdrawal of grace and the abandonment of the sinner do not properly mean that God loses patience, that His pity changes to resentment, and that He withholds the necessary means of conversion and salvation; but a change which has that same effect has been worked by the sinner in himself. The whole of this life is a time of probation, and God never really abandons any man, or passes sentence of reprobation before the time. However, subject always to the possibility of later repentance, the sinner gradually advances during this life in the privation of God's grace. At each moment he reaps what he has already sown. Indifference to grace leads to strenuous resistance, this becomes spontaneous and almost indeliberate; insensibility to grace sets in, and this verges into judicial blindness, which is the incipient stage of reprobation. Powerful graces become inefficient; the brain responds at once to the impulses of passion and sense from constant yielding; there is an increasing blindness to the truth of one's real position; moral sensitiveness goes, change of heart becomes almost hopeless, and the soul falls under the dominion of Satan. This is the filling up of the measure of iniquity. No punishment can be more fearful than what the sinner thus inflicts on himself. You have no reason to doubt of the infinity of God's patience and mercy; but you may well fear for your own gradual deterioration and obstinacy, and their direct consequences. Pray God to guard you against yourself.

     III. The venial sins of the just have something of the same effect. The higher graces of God are more sensitive to counteracting influences; as increased rapidity of motion is impeded in a still higher increasing ratio by the resistance of the air. As souls approach nearer to God, so does it become more important for them to avoid every minute negligence and infidelity to grace. Any relaxation of spiritual tension leads to an immense loss of the higher favours of God; and all defects become more visible in the brighter light, like stains on cloth or motes in the sunbeams. The smaller infidelities to grace have also a great effect on the efficiency of our works for Christ. They cause sterility of action, sterility of word, sterility of thought, sterility of affections, sterility of purpose, sterility of God's consolations (Rich, a St. Vict.). Who can tell how much you have thus lost! How much more would the all-powerful grace of God have wrought in you for your own advancement and the good of others but for the petty obstacles of venial sins, for remissness in renouncing self and in giving yourself up entirely to God!

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Resistance to Grace

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     I. The resultant of the combined action of the two forces, divine grace and the human will, is by no means uniform. The perturbing element is contributed by man. The divine element is always the same; it moves us towards good; it is sufficient to enable us to carry out good deeds. God does not mock us by giving an insufficient grace and holding us responsible for unavoidable failure. Every grace is potentially efficacious, either in itself or in the further grace that it leads to. The first small grace contains an advancing series of greater ones, as the acorn contains the oak: faithful and diligent culture will bring the seed to its maturity. A heavenly inspiration is never so weak but that a man of good-will may find in it all the assistance that he needs. The enlightenment and grace that brought the Magi to Bethlehem, that converted the Samaritans and the thief on the cross, that secured the adhesion of Nathaniel and the faith of the Apostles at Cana, were to all appearance far less forcible than the graces that were lavished on others and resisted by them. Treasure up and act upon the earliest and weakest suggestions of grace. "Let not a particle of the good gift escape thee" (Eccli. xiv. 14). Never think of the obstacles that nature opposes to the supernatural. Let it suffice for you that God's grace has called you to a certain course, and be sure that His call carries strength with it sufficient to carry you through all difficulties.

     II. The grace of God is strong and in a sense all-powerful yet it is never so strong but that man retains the strength to resist it if he will. It would seem well-nigh impossible for the contemporaries of Our Lord to resist conviction in face of His miracles, His words, His character, and the exact accomplishment of prophecy in Him. Yet Scribes and Pharisees, Caiphas, Pilate and Herod denied the facts first, then ignored them, then refused to admit the only inference that followed from them. Even if their own terms of belief had been granted, and conviction had been forced on their minds, they still would not have surrendered their hearts to Him whom they dreaded and hated. Many carry their liberty to this fearful extreme. St. Stephen describes them in plain terms: "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Ghost" (Acts vii. 51). And God says to them: "I called and you refused: I stretched out My hand, and there was none that regarded. You have despised all My counsel and neglected My reprehensions" (Prov. i. 24, 25). Even to this extreme you may come if you begin with trifling infidelities to grace. "He that contemneth small things shall fall by little and little" 

(Eccli. xix. 1).

     III. The marvellous graces of God are often rejected by men and reduced to impotence; and thus souls are lost for whom the amplest provision had been made. Some devote themselves to mundane pursuits that leave no time for attention to the things of eternity. Others make some transient effort to follow the call of grace, but do not persevere so far as to abandon themselves to God. Many close their minds against the light from God; they do not wish to know too much, lest their tranquillity be disturbed or their conscience urge them to a course that will be prejudicial to their earthly interests. Their will, dominated by sense and passion, forces their mind to find some arguments against its unwelcome intellectual convictions. There must be much of this in the world. Scripture shows its prevalence among the people of God. Nature shows us the great waste of cosmic energies and of terrestrial life in proportion to what survives and acts. We cannot judge of individual cases, but we may be sure that in the higher sphere of life there is a corresponding superabundance of spiritual energy and enormous waste of it by men. It is encouraged by the secrecy of the sin and impunity in this world. You have rejected numerous graces. Recall those cases, ask God for pardon, resolve to be faithful in future.    

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The Operation of Grace

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     I. There are two factors in the operation of grace, God's action and man s action; each is fully efficient, each is necessary. God is omnipotent and can do as He wills; man is free and can do as he wills. Man cannot begin or carry on the work without God; God will not complete it without man. The mystery of grace consists in the interaction of these two forces. They seem to conflict with one another. We cannot say how they harmonize, and how each exercises its full action without detriment to the other. Scripture sometimes speaks as if all depended on God alone. "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh . . . and I will cause you to walk in My commandments and keep My judgments and do them" (Ez. xxxvi. 26, 27). At other times it seems as if all depended on man. "You have your choice. Choose this day that which pleaseth you, whom you would rather serve. . . . You are witnesses that you yourselves have chosen you the Lord to serve Him" (Jos. xxiv. 15, 22). We indeed decree and do that which works out our salvation, but God grants us to do both, and operates in us. The mystery is insoluble. St. Paul replies to questioners: "O man, who art thou that repliest against God" (Rom. ix. 20). But the practical conclusion is certain: Do what in you lies and God will never fail you.

     II. The action of divine grace on the soul always has some effect; it always communicates the power of doing aright; it is always sufficient for its purpose, either as giving us the power of action or as putting us in the way of obtaining it by prayer ; and this is the case even when we resist its operation. The grace of God is all-powerful, but it is never violent; it attracts us and strengthens, but it never compels the will or forces obedience. It wins the will to subjection, but does not reduce it to impotence or captivity. God is able to combine His omnipotence with our independence, and to order all things sweetly while reaching from end to end mightily (Wisd. viii. 1). Like to this is the action of God on the faithful through the Church. There are those who cannot conceive of liberty except in the form of revolt against authority, nor of submission except as an enforced slavery. But the children of God understand the union of liberty with due submission. They can believe, not indeed from full understanding, but with firm intellectual conviction; their submission is complete, not out of fear for man, but out of respect for God s authority; their service is honourable because it is willing, and their liberty remains intact. Offer yourself to God that He may work His will in you. Ask Him to mould your thoughts, beliefs, affections, and actions. Make His will yours.

     III. In the work of salvation all "our sufficiency is from God" (2 Cor. iii. 5), yet at the same time everything depends on ourselves. God operates all good in us, yet it rests with us whether He shall act or not. The destructive action of sin proceeds from our will alone. Our constructive spiritual action consists in acting in unison with grace, consenting to the good that God proposes to us, allowing Him to act in us, submitting ourselves to His omnipotent will. God is the cause of all supernatural action in us; our will is not the cause, yet it allows the cause to act, and in a sense makes it efficient. We may compare this to a watch or clock. The motion originates in the main-spring and not in any particular wheel ; yet it is absolutely necessary that this should be in its place and should be in good working order ; for if it be clogged and stiff or immovable, the main spring will not be able to produce its effect. All depends on God, in the sense that He originates and carries out all good in you and with you; all depends on you, in the sense that your perverse action can obstruct all the work of God, and that all is possible when you co-operate with Him. See how necessary your action is, your fervour, zeal, energy, perseverance. Do not be wanting in any respect.

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The Beginnings of Grace

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     I. God is our supreme Master. We have no claims on Him. He has no obligations towards us, and is actuated only by His infinite equity and love and gratuitous generosity. In particular, the higher state which transcends nature is beyond all our requirements and all our power of earning it. When we had lost it in Adam, God was in no way bound to restore it to us ; and still less when, after it had been restored, we forfeited it again by our own personal revolt. Even if God had left us in the simply natural state to carry out a temporal work here as part of the general cosmic process, and then to cease from existence like the beasts even that would have been an immense favour for us, and beyond our deserts. But God has chosen to make a new beginning with us, and to bring about the accomplishment of His original design in another way. He has not straightway replaced us in the state of integrity and the fulness of supernatural life from which we had fallen. That has now become a progressive work, proceeding from small beginnings and gradually mounting to its perfection. "The path of the just, like a shining light, goeth forward and increaseth even to perfect day" (Prov. iv. 18). Be grateful that He has not left you in your fallen state, but started you afresh. Strive earnestly and pray that "He who hath begun a good work in you, will perfect it unto the day of Christ Jesus" (Phil. i. 6).

     II. The highest of God's graces are not bestowed indiscriminately on all men, nor from the first; but a sufficient initial grace is given to all to lead them ultimately to holiness and eternal life. All of mankind have been brought out of the mass of perdition to this extent, that they are entirely relieved of their inability to rise to the supernatural state. Some sufficient means, varying indefinitely according to different cases, has been provided for all without exception. Not only those who, as God foreknows, will be saved, but even those whom He knows to be reprobate, receive ample opportunities of salvation. Christ died for all sinners, and the graces He purchased are fully at their disposal. "I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live" (Ez. xxxiii. 11). The prodigality of God s grace is perhaps shown more abundantly in the case of sinners than in the just, for their greater misery appeals more to the pity of the Saviour. The first call comes to every one: God begins His work in every soul; the further advance and completion depends on the way in which we follow up the operation of grace. God's light and strength have not failed you, nor ever will, how ever great your unworthiness. You may not have received all that you desire, but you have received the beginning. Be faithful and the rest will follow.

     III. The first grace given by God is generally incipient only and incomplete; it does not convey the fulness of light and strength. It is not sufficient by itself for the whole working out of salvation, but it is sufficient in that it leads to the ampler graces which will lead to the final goal. Men have to struggle painfully from one stage to another. Progress implies a previous incompleteness. They must prove themselves faithful in few things before they are set over many. So the glimmering star which appeared to the wise men in the East was by no means a full revelation of the Divine Child at the first; it even failed them for a time. But they were faithful to the scantiest indications, they used their natural opportunities to supplement the super natural ones, and they arrived at the cradle of the Messias. A similar grace is accorded to all men, but many are glad to excuse themselves on the ground of its dimness and uncertainty; they neglect to follow it up as far as it leads, and they tempt God by expecting that He will send them the ulterior grace that will convince them without their own exertions. Be faithful to the earliest and slightest move ments of grace. A tiny rill is sometimes the first source of a gigantic river. A momentary folly may stop a long progression of graces.

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The Distribution of Graces

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     I. Nature exhibits to us an enormous prodigality of creative power and bounty poured forth upon the universe in a measure which exceeds all requirements. Compare for instance the heat and the light of the sun, which is capable of doing so much, and of which only one ninety-seven-millionth part is utilized. Still more is this the case in the spiritual order which is nearer to God, and which is for the supreme advantage of the highest of creatures. The super abundance of creative and redeeming graces are intended for all mankind without exception, and are actually poured forth on them, in varying measure. The Father in heaven "maketh His sun to rise upon the good and the bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust" (Matt. v. 45). His Eternal Son is "the true light that enlighteneth, every man that cometh into this world" (John i. 9). To every soul are offered all kinds of external helps and opportunities of virtue, with corresponding interior impulsions of grace. The abundance of these favours not only exceeds all human deserts, but exceeds even the superabundance of human guilt. Temptations are almost irresistible, the disadvantages we labour under are numerous and heavy, but God's graces outweigh them all, if only men would consent to avail themselves of them. Never say that God's requirements are too difficult or that grace has failed you. However much may be demanded of you, you can say, "I can do all things in Him that strengtheneth me" (Phil. iv. 13).

     II. God's graces are given with particular richness to His faithful ones who struggle with their natural frailty to serve Him. "The eyes of the Lord are upon the just, and His ears unto their prayers" (Ps. xxxiii. 16). Those who hope in the Lord can always testify that they have never been confounded; in the midst of all the troubles inseparable from the present life, they always find abundant reason for recognizing the tender watchfulness of the All-merciful, and the unceasing flow of temporal and spiritual graces. But sinners are by no means excluded from God's mercies. However abominable their crimes and great their obduracy, these can never be greater than God's desire for their repentance and salvation "Thou hast mercy on all because Thou canst do all things, and overlookest the sins of men for the sake of repentance. For Thou lovest all things that are, and hatest none of the things which Thou hast made. . . . Thou sparest all, because they are Thine, O Lord, who lovest souls" (Wisd. xi. 24, 25, 27). There are some who lack all visible opportunities and who almost seem to be outside the pale of salvation; but to them God gives means of salvation according to their needs, in ways unknown to us. If some sinners receive but little grace, it is because they have hardened their hearts and made them no longer sensitive to grace, or because they will not use the infallible means of obtaining it in prayer. Thank God for His immense and universal bounty.

     III. "Star differeth from star in glory" (1 Cor. xv. 41). Some vessels are made for more and some for less glory. The completeness of God's work requires that there be innumerable diversities. God chooses some, through no merits of their own, for higher functions and a higher place in heaven; and their graces are proportioned to their destiny. This however does not make their salvation more secure. Greater graces involve heavier responsibility, greater dangers, and more terrible consequences in case of failure. "To whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more" (Luke xii. 48). A greater degree of fidelity, a higher interest on the talents lent, is required from those more favoured by grace. Many who have received the highest graces have failed; and those who receive less often profit by it the more. Be contented with the spiritual state to which God has called you. Make the most of your graces. You have been specially blessed by God; take care that you profit more than those who have been placed on a lower level.

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