What is grace?
Our salvation is a grace from God. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we share in Christ's Passion and Resurrection, and are born to a new life: the life of grace. We become members of Christ's body, the Church, and living branches united to the vine, which is Christ.
The first effect of the grace of the Holy Spirit is conversion, which makes us acceptable to God. As Jesus announced, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Moved by grace, a person turns to God, departs from sin, and places himself under God's justice and mercy.
Grace is a favor, the free help that God gives us so that we can respond to his calling. It makes us children of God, adopted children, sharers of the divine nature, and eternal life. Grace is a participation in God's life. It introduces us to the intimacy of the Blessed Trinity.
The grace of God's children is a consequence of the Redemption that our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished.
Grace is a mysterious reality that lies beyond what human intelligence or the senses alone can apprehend. It involves the Divinity itself, the intimate life of the Trinity, and the action of the Trinity on humanity. Whatever we know about grace comes from divine revelation. Divine revelation itself is a form of grace.
As St. Thomas himself points out, grace means an unmerited gift, a gift given through love, and a calling for gratitude to the Father of all graces on our part.
The Christian meaning of the word grace is much richer; everything that creatures receive from God is unmerited. Who can rightfully demand from God the gift of life or the gift of intelligence? Therefore, we can properly call natural gifts all the benefits that God has bestowed on us, as well as our human nature. These include all that God gives us to preserve our nature and bring it to perfection in the natural order. In this sense, life, health, and all that perfect a person in the order of nature (i.e., beauty, personal charm, talent) are natural gifts.
In addition to those mentioned above, other gifts from God are beyond human nature, and make man better, within the created order. One example is the gift of immortality, which Adam and Eve enjoyed before committing original sin. These gifts are called preternatural gifts.
Strictly speaking, however, the term grace refers to all those divine gifts given to humans (and angels) that elevate them to the supernatural or divine order. They transcend the demands of human nature and cannot be acquired or merited by natural efforts alone. We call these gifts supernatural graces. Grace, therefore, is any supernatural gift that God gratuitously bestows on us for our eternal salvation.
Every supernatural grace is a divine gift to people in which God himself is the gift. It is bestowed on us so that we may have a share in the intimate life of the Godhead.
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