Sanctifying Grace

The last post on Baptism mentioned Sanctifying Grace, so I thought that would be good for my next post.

Wikepedia says:

"Grace has been divided by some theologians into two forms, Sanctifying Grace and Actual Grace. Sanctifying grace, also known as habitual grace, is the divine life that is believed to infuse the believer's soul at justification (normatively at baptism) and, through the spirit of adoption, transforms the sinner into a holy child of God. As such Christians are believed to participate in the Divine Sonship of Jesus Christ. With this divine sonship comes the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Sanctifying grace remains permanently in the soul as long as one does not reject one's adopted sonship by committing a mortal sin, which severs one's friendship with God. Less serious sins, venial sins, incur loss of merit. However, God is infinitely merciful, and sanctifying grace can always be restored to the penitent heart, normatively in the Sacrament of Reconciliation (or Sacrament of Penance). Actual grace is supernatural help from God that is punctual, rather than habitual. Since the end and aim of all actual grace is directed to the production of sanctifying grace where it does not already exist, or to retain and increase it where it is already present, its excellence, dignity, and importance become immediately apparent; for holiness and the sonship of God depend solely upon the possession of sanctifying grace, wherefore it is frequently called simply grace without any qualifying word to accompany it as, for instance, in the phrases "to live in grace" or "to fall from grace".

I thought the Baltimore Catechism's Milk Bottle would be helpful here"

We live in a very secular world. Like it or not, aware of it or not, if has its effect on us, it influences us. Many base their decisions and opinions on what society teaches, or what our neighbors say instead of what the Church teaches.So we need to constantly recharge our batteries, so to speak. The best ways to receive grace are through the Mass and the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation. But we also receive grace by reading the Bible, praying, works of mercy, etc.

There is a saying you are what you eat, but you are also who your friends are. Are they leading you to God or away from Him? You may want to evaluate this and perhaps build relationships with other practicing Catholics.

Want to know more? CCC 2000.

The Wikipedia article can be found here. Our Protestant brothers and sisters have a different view on grace. this article presents the different views.

Saint Thomas Aquinas is THE authority on grace. If you want to get really deep into it you can visit the New Advent page here. But we need to keep things a lot more simple here, so I'm going for the milk bottle.