I have to admit, I struggle with ‘earning’ grace. Or ‘meriting’ grace. I think grace is a free gift and nothing I do can ‘earn’ it. Especially after reading this in Romans:
Romans 11:6 (RSV)
But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
Just my 2 cents
SJ
I hear you. I spent a few years in evangelical Protestantism and the idea of “works based” righteousness was one of the things that turned me away from Catholicism initially. Hmm…
Not saying this will entirely resolve things for you, but maybe one way to look at it is this:
Catholics agree with Protestants that ultimately Christ did for us what we could never do for ourselves. We would never be capable of doing enough good works to get ourselves into heaven. So there is plenty of unearned grace in that sense.
Because we have free will though, we can choose to turn to God and get more divine helps (grace). Our good works are our way of exercising our free will and saying: “yes God, I want to be holy. Send more help please.” So, when we choose to be baptize, we receive grace. When we choose to pray, we receive grace. When we fast, give alms, help others, etc. we obtain grace. We get it because we asked for it, and because we choose to live in accordance with God’s moral law. There would be moral chaos if good and bad actions had the same consequences. Because good works please God, he rewards them. Because bad works do not please God, He does not reward them. God’s rewards are not necessarily temporal, so we do not earn our way into a big house or high paying job (e.g. prosperity gospel). But whenever we do good, we do grow in holiness. Once you decide that you love God and want a share in His divine life, it becomes a breath of relief that there’s something you can actually do about it. You aren’t powerless. You don’t have stay sinful. You can choose to grow holier, and thus be happier.
Again, the good news is that when it comes to our holiness, we can actually have a say in the matter. We can choose to have a greater (or lesser) share in the divine life. This is in accordance with God’s plan of salvation: salvation is an invitation to become a son or daughter of God. God wants his children to grow in holiness, intelligence, wisdom, etc. He requires us to put effort into holiness because he wants us to actually become holy. This is different from the Protestant judgement where Christ will stand in the sinner’s place, so that God sees Christ and not the sinner. In the Catholic judgement, God sees us (and what we have become and done with our lives) just as we are. Those who go to Heaven will actually be holy, not just declared so. Good thing, to, because in Heaven we will still have free will. If we remained in a sinful frame of mind after being admitted into heaven, heaven would not be a place of perfect righteousness.
The good news is that God promises to make up the difference. If we choose Him and do our best, he will be merciful. He does not hold us guilty for sins we committed in ignorance. So that counts as unearned grace. And, to my knowledge, in Catholic theology, the conversion process begins with something God does in us. Faith is a gift. People either choose to accept it or not. But the whole process begins with God. That in itself is unearned grace. We turn to God in the first place, because he reached out to us first. Thereby, our conversion is one big gift of grace.
So in Catholicism, there is unearned grace. However, God honors our free will and let’s us decide if we want to accept His invitation to become part of his divine family, with all the responsibility that go with that. Grace is holiness, a share in the divine life. It is not compatible with sinfulness. We simply can not be full of grace if we are also very sinful. So grace and holiness, (and thus responsibility) go together. God doesn’t force His graces on others because He doesn’t force righteousness on others. He gives us a say in the matter. Do we want to live a holy life, and live in grace? We choose. And, unlike Calvinist theology, Catholics believe that this salvation invitation is extended to every person and that no one will be “left out” unless they choose it.
Sorry for the length, not sure if that was helpful. Hopefully relevant. A complicated topic to be sure, and certainly not one I fully understand. These are just new ways of considering the matter that have occurred to me upon turning to Catholicism.
