SEE PHOTO DETAILS
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.
Read from the Original Book.
