Grace and Virtues

Grace is a gratuitous gift that God makes to us of His own life, it is infused by the Holy
Spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it. Man is called to participate in the life of the
blessed trinity and that this vocation to external life is supernatural. To reach the supernatural
final end, we are given the “foretaste of glory” by God. Sanctifying grace is a gift from God and
also the participation in the life of God. Through the supernatural life, we have a new birth of
which we are children of God. It also introduces us to the intimacy of the trinitarian life and is
seen as a grace go christ because in our present situation, after sin and the Redemption worked
by Christ grace reaches us as a participation in the grace Christ won for us. It is also a grace of
the holy spirit because it is infused in the soul by the holy spirit. Sanctifying grace is also called
habitual grace because it is a stable disposition which perfects the soul through the infusion of
virtues.

Justification is the first action of grace. It is the passing from the state of sin to the state of
grace. This takes place in baptism wherein God pardons our mortal sins and infuses sanctifying
grace.

God does not deny his grace to anyone because he wants everyone to be saved. Grace is
in us the source of the work of sanctification. It weals and elevates our nature wounded by
original sin and makes us capable of acting as God’s children. Sanctification means growing in
holiness and attaining an evermore intimate union with God. It also requires freely cooperating
with grace and entails effort, struggle because of the disorder introduced by sin. There is no
holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle. (Catechism 2015). However, it does not rival
our freedom when this freedom accords with the sense of the true and the good that God has put
in the human heart. Grace responds to the deepest yearnings of human freedom to cooperate with
it and perfects freedom. Grace is necessary to live constantly in accord with the natural moral
law. We need to ask God for grace through prayer and mortification and receive grace through
the sacraments. Our union with christ will be definitive only in heaven. We have to ask God for
the grace of final perseverance that is the gift of dying in God’s grace.

Theological virtues are habitual and firm disposition to do the good. They are related
directly to God because they dispose christians to live in a relationship with the Holy trinity.
They are infused by God into the souls of the faithful to make them capable of acting as his
children. The three theological virtues compose of faith, hope and charity. Faith is the theological
virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that
Holy Church proposes for our belief”.It is manifested by living faith works through charity (Gal
5:6), while faith apart from works is dead (Jas 2:26), although the gift of faith remains in one
who has not sinned directly against it. Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the
kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and
relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. Charity is the
theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as
ourselves for the love of God" (Catechism, 1822).

Human virtues are “firm attitudes, stable dispositions, habitual perfections of intellect and
will that govern our actions, order our passions, and guide our conduct according to reason and
faith. They make possible ease, self-mastery, and joy in leading a morally good
life" (Catechism, 1804). These virtues are acquired by human effort and are the fruits and seeds
of morally good acts. There are four human virtues that are called cardinal virtues because all of
the others are grouped around them. They comprise of the are prudence, justice, fortitude, and
temperance. Prudence “is the virtue that disposes practical reason to discern our true good in
every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it" (Catechism, 1806). Justice “is
the moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbor"
(Catechism, 1807). Fortitude is the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and
constancy in the pursuit of the good (Catechism, 1808). Lastly, Temperance is the moral virtue
that moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods. It
ensures the will's mastery over instincts" (Catechism, 1809). Medio virtues are virtues that lie in
the middle with respect to the moral virtues. It also opposed to laboriousness is working without
measure, without respect for all the other things which one also has to do (duties of piety,
attention to family, necessary and just rest, charity, etc.). However, medio virtues is not a call to
mediocracy. The principle in medio virtus is valid only for the moral virtues, which have as their
object the means for attaining a goal, and in the means there is always a measure.

The wounds left by original sin on human nature make the acquisition and exercise of
human virtues difficult (see Catechism, 1811). The human nature has already been wounded by
sin and as a result, it has inclinations that aren’t natural but are consequences of sin. To acquire
and live them, Christians count on God's grace, which heals human nature. These are called the
christian virtues and grace. The grace that we have elevates human nature to participate in the
divine nature. At the same time, it elevates human virtues to the supernatural order. From this, we
can see prudence which is a human virtue and a supernatural prudence.

The moral life of Christians is sustained by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These are
permanent dispositions which make man docile in following the promptings of the Holy
Spirit" ( Catechism, 1830). Just like human nature, it has certain powers which permit it to carry
out the operations of understanding and willing, so also does nature elevated by grace have
powers which permit it to accomplish supernatural acts. Such powers are the theological virtues
and help guide towards the supernatural end. The gifts of the holy comprise of the gift of
wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and the fear of the Lord. The fruits
of the Holy Spirit are perfections that the Holy Spirit forms in us as the first fruits of eternal
glory" ( Catechism, 1832).

The influence of the passions in moral life is manifested in the passions, which are
“movements of the sensitive appetite that incline us to act or not to act in regard to something felt
or imagined to be good or evil" ( Catechism, 1763). Passions are movements of the sensible
appetite (irascible and concupiscible). They can also be called, in the broad sense, “sentiments"
or “emotions." Examples would be love, anger, fear etc. Amongst them, love is the most
fundamental because it is aroused by the attraction of the good and desires for the absent good
and the hope of obtaining it. The passions have a great influence on our moral life. “In
themselves passions are neither good nor evil" (CCC, 1767). Passions are morally good when
they contribute to a good action, evil in the opposite case" (CCC,1768). The passions are bad if
our love is bad, good if it is good" (St. Augustine, De Civitate Dei, 14:7).