Choose a topic from Part 2A:

112. The Cause of Grace

1. Only God can make a man a sharer in the divine nature.Only God can bestow the gift of God. Now, grace is "aparticipation in the divine nature"; grace is a gift of God.Hence, God alone is the true cause of grace.

2. Grace which helps move us to good, in being or action,is all from God, and not in any way from ourselves. Even thepreparation or disposition for grace is entirely from God. Byaccepting cooperating grace, we enter into the disposition whichprepares us for the receiving of sanctifying or habitual grace.

3. In so far as the human will can thus (by acceptingcooperating grace and using it) make preparation for grace, it canset up no necessity or demand that grace should actually followupon the preparation. For no merely human preparation canadequately and compellingly dispose the soul for supernaturalgifts. But in so far as man's preparation is from God, gracefollows it infallibly.

4. Sanctifying grace is a greater or lesser gift (not initself, for in itself it admits of no degrees), according to thecapacity and readiness of the receiver. Yet, since God alone caneffectively dispose the soul to receive grace, it is God who istruly "the measure of grace." St. Paul (Eph. 4:7) says,"To every one of us is given grace according to the measure ofthe giving of Christ."

5. Man cannot know for certain that he has the grace ofGod unless God reveal the fact to him. Merely natural knowledgecannot give certitude of a supernatural fact or experience. But manmay have an imperfect knowledge of the fact that he has grace; thatis, he may havejustified conjectural knowledge, based onsigns, such as delight in the thought of God, a contempt for merelymaterial and worldly goods, and the fact that he is not consciousof mortal sin.

"Let no one wear a mask, otherwise he will do ill; and if he has one, let him burn it."
St Philip Neri

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"Before a man chooses his confessor, he ought to think well about it, and pray about it also; but when he has once chosen, he ought not to change, except for most urgent reasons, but put the utmost confidence in his director."
St Philip Neri

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"Every man naturally desires knowledge; but what good is knowledge without fear of God? Indeed a humble rustic who serves God is better than a proud intellectual who neglects his soul to study the course of the stars."
Thomas á Kempis

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