Saturday - August 14th, 2021
Original Book
I. The first man had been raised by God above the level of the rest of the universe, and even above the level that was proper to him. Besides human nature and all its powers, he received a further and higher endowment, viz. the state of integrity and original justice, a gratuitous gift superadded to what was natural. With this double endowment he was to work out his destiny. Original sin was the rejection of the supernatural endowments, and descent to the natural but now fallen level. The faculties of human nature remained substantially intact, but with a tendency towards evil. Man thenceforth was dead as regards the supernatural life and state ; of his own strength he cannot regain it ; he can do nothing of supernatural value deserving a supernatural reward; he can in no way place himself in communication with the Infinite; only the action of Jesus Christ, God and Man, can do this for him. This restitution or re-elevation to the higher state comes from Our Lord as a purely gratuitous gift, or as Grace. Consider how lowly, with all its excellence, is your natural state; how valueless its great endowments, efficient only in this life and before the eyes of men, but worthless for any use in the kingdom of glory. You need a totally different set of qualities for the divine life. Seek these. If you attain them, all else is of but small account.
II. The vocation of man, though he is fallen, is nevertheless to the supernatural life in this world and the next; but he has to attain to it under other conditions than the original ones. Every creature needs to be adapted to its surroundings, and equipped so as to accomplish its purpose. God, to whom we have to attain, is the essentially super natural; the means by which we attain to Him are also supernatural, from their association with Him, or by participation. Of all this we are utterly incapable by ourselves, and yet God calls us to it and makes it the chief duty of our lives. We need for this a special equipment, and a certain new adjustment of our faculties to that end. God gives us this in forms that we call Grace. By it we are able to do all that is required of us; the impossible becomes possible; that which is utterly beyond and above us becomes a second nature. We are enabled to check the impulses of passion, to resist all temptations, to rise superior to ourselves. Grace is not God Himself, it is not God's love for us, it is not pardon or favor in His sight, it is something different from our natural gifts of intelligence and liberty, and from the means of grace, viz. God's word and the Sacraments. It is an invisible supernatural influx of God upon our souls, helping all, and especially the just, for such purposes as transcend our natural powers. How great is this bounty of God! How little you have deserved it! How high it raises you!
III. The variety and richness of God's operations in the natural order must be far exceeded in the higher and more important sphere of the supernatural. Grace is the universal and all-efficient power in that sphere. We classify the graces of God according to the effects that He works in us. There are graces which help us in every good action, graces which are for the advancement and benefit of others, and the grace which is a permanent habit of the soul possessing supernatural life. Grace first stimulates us to action, helps us in it, gives us strength according to our special needs, and is always operating in the spiritual universe. Grace may be compared to the ether, the in visible fluid that escapes our investigations but is known by its effects to be present throughout creation. It fills the vast celestial spaces and on this earth it penetrates freely the most solid substances. Secretly and silently it conveys tlie great cosmic forces, heat, light and electricity in its vibrations. So the grace of God is secret but ever really present, it surrounds us, and fills our lives, and conveys to us in multitudinous ways the infinite action of God. Place no obstacle to the continual influx of this divine gift into your soul.
