A Systematic Study of the Catholic Religion by Charles Coppens

Author:Charles Coppens [Coppens, Charles]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Veritatis Splendor Publications
Published: 2012-05-06T16:00:00+00:00

TREATISE IV. Grace.

204. When the work of Redemption had been accomplished by Christ, the fruit of it was to be applied to men by the Holy Ghost, whose work is to continue till the end of time; for He is to abide with us forever (Jo. XIV, 16). His task is twofold: "He shall abide with you, and shall be in you" (ib. 17). a) He abides with the Church, by giving it permanence, infallibility, unity, sanctity, Catholicity, Apostolicity, as we have considered in the treatise on the Church. b) The Holy Spirit is in individual Christians, by accomplishing in their souls the work of sanctification, whereby He disposes them to enjoy hereafter the vision of God. Now this influence upon the soul, preparing it to receive eternal happiness, is called "grace". The term denotes something that is given gratis, that is given without being due. It is limited in this treatise to signify those gifts which aid man to obtain the vision of God hereafter. This vision, as we have seen (n. 172), is not due to our nature, but is supernatural. Therefore it cannot be reached by our natural powers; but these need to be elevated and aided by supernatural grace, and it is of this grace that we are treating here. This aid to salvation may be something exterior to man, for instance the preaching of the word of God; it is then called exterior grace. Or it may be interior to man, consisting of the direct action of God on the soul; it is then called interior grace.

Grace is either actual or habitual. In Chapter I we shall treat of actual, in Chapter II of habitual grace.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.