Monday, May 7, 2012
231. What is sacramental grace?
(Comp
231) Sacramental grace is the grace of the Holy Spirit which is given by Christ
and is proper to each sacrament. This grace helps the faithful in their journey
toward holiness and so assists the Church as well to grow in charity and in her
witness to the world.
“In brief”
(CCC 1134) The fruit of sacramental life is both personal
and ecclesial. For every one of the faithful an the one hand, this fruit is
life for God in Christ Jesus; for the Church, on the other, it is an increase
in charity and in her mission of witness.
To deepen and explain
(CCC 460) The Word became flesh to make us "partakers of the divine nature" (2
Pt 1:4): "For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became
the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus
receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God" (St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 3, 19, 1: PG 7/1, 939).
"For the Son of God became man so that we might become God" (St.
Athanasius, De inc. 54, 3: PG 25,
192B). "The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his
divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods"
(St. Thomas Aquinas, Opusc. 57, 1-4).
On reflection
(CCC 2003) Grace is first and foremost the gift of the
Spirit who justifies and sanctifies us. But grace also includes the gifts that
the Spirit grants us to associate us with his work, to enable us to collaborate
in the salvation of others and in the growth of the Body of Christ, the Church.
There are sacramental graces, gifts
proper to the different sacraments. There are furthermore special graces, also called charisms
after the Greek term used by St. Paul and meaning "favor,"
"gratuitous gift," "benefit" (Cf. LG 12). Whatever their
character - sometimes it is extraordinary, such as the gift of miracles or of
tongues - charisms are oriented toward sanctifying grace and are intended for
the common good of the Church. They are at the service of charity which builds
up the Church (Cf. 1 Cor 12).
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