Wednesday, January 30, 2013
422. What is justification? (part 2 continuation)
(Comp 422 repetition) Justification is
the most excellent work of God's love. It is the merciful and freely-given act
of God which takes away our sins and makes us just and holy in our whole being.
It is brought about by means of the grace of the Holy Spirit which has been
merited for us by the passion of Christ and is given to us in Baptism.
Justification is the beginning of the free response of man, that is, faith in
Christ and of cooperation with the grace of the Holy Spirit.
“In brief”
(CCC 2018) Like conversion, justification has two aspects.
Moved by grace, man turns toward God and away from sin, and so accepts
forgiveness and righteousness from on high. (CCC 2019) Justification includes
the remission of sins, sanctification, and the renewal of the inner man.
To deepen and
explain
(CCC 1990) Justification detaches
man from sin which contradicts the love of God, and purifies his heart of
sin. Justification follows upon God's merciful initiative of offering
forgiveness. It reconciles man with God. It frees from the enslavement to sin,
and it heals. (CCC 1991) Justification is at the same time the acceptance of God's righteousness through faith in Jesus
Christ. Righteousness (or "justice") here means the rectitude of
divine love. With justification, faith, hope, and charity are poured into our
hearts, and obedience to the divine will is granted us.
Reflection
(CCC 1993) Justification establishes cooperation between God's grace and man's freedom. On man's part it
is expressed by the assent of faith to the Word of God, which invites him to
conversion, and in the cooperation of charity with the prompting of the Holy
Spirit who precedes and preserves his assent: When God touches man's heart
through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, man himself is not inactive while
receiving that inspiration, since he could reject it; and yet, without God's
grace, he cannot by his own free will move himself toward justice in God's
sight (Council of Trent (1547): DS 1525). (CCC 1994) Justification is the most excellent work of God's love made
manifest in Christ Jesus and granted by the Holy Spirit. It is the opinion of
St. Augustine that "the justification of the wicked is a greater work than
the creation of heaven and earth," because "heaven and earth will
pass away but the salvation and justification of the elect… will not pass
away" (St. Augustine, In Jo. ev.
72, 3: PL 35, 1823). He holds also that the justification of sinners surpasses
the creation of the angels in justice, in that it bears witness to a greater
mercy. [IT CONTINUES]
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