Is grace quantifiable?

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A thread in the Eastern Catholic forum brought this to mind, and I’m curious to see what Catholics have to say about it.

The thread in question asked if partaking of the Eucharist twice in a day imparts double grace, which brought the above question to my mind. Is grace something that can be quantified? Is it possible to gain more grace by completing actions X, Y, Z, than actions A & B, and can we tell how much more is gained?

I’m curious what people have to say so I don’t want to define terms too much, obviously scripture refers to “Mary full of Grace”, which implies a certain range of grace, so to speak. So I guess my question is more along the lines of can we quantify it, than simply are there degrees?

For the record this question never occurred to me until today, I’ve not spent much time thinking on it myself, I just thought it might be interesting to see the answers.
 
Nine_Two said:
A thread in the Eastern Catholic forum brought this to mind, and I’m curious to see what Catholics have to say about it.

The thread in question asked if partaking of the Eucharist twice in a day imparts double grace, which brought the above question to my mind. Is grace something that can be quantified? Is it possible to gain more grace by completing actions X, Y, Z, than actions A & B, and can we tell how much more is gained?

I’m curious what people have to say so I don’t want to define terms too much, obviously scripture refers to “Mary full of Grace”, which implies a certain range of grace, so to speak. So I guess my question is more along the lines of can we quantify it, than simply are there degrees?

For the record this question never occurred to me until today, I’ve not spent much time thinking on it myself, I just thought it might be interesting to see the answers.
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Me too. I’ve not spent much time thinking about it.

As for the question, I don’t think grace is quantifiable. I could count the instances where I felt I received God’s grace, but counting the grace itself, I would answer in the negative. I’m also not in the habit of counting graces, I’m just thankful for them.

Besides, I think counting graces won’t nourish the soul. Makes me ask: are we doing God’s will so that we receive graces from Him, or are we doing it out of love [for Him]?
 
I have heard, or read, that in the case of such things as prayers for the poor souls, the Church is a treasury of grace, and that if particular individuals are already in Heaven, the prayers said for them get applied to others still in need. No prayer is “wasted,” in other words. That would seem [/Ito ]imply some sort of system of quantification, but I don’t think it’s in mathematical terms that we can conceptualize here on earth. I’ve also heard of the “economy of salvation,” but again, I’d conjecture that it is some form of quantification that we don’t understand. Heaven, it seems, is out of our league intellectually.
 
odile53 said:
I have heard, or read, that in the case of such things as prayers for the poor souls, the Church is a treasury of grace, and that if particular individuals are already in Heaven, the prayers said for them get applied to others still in need. No prayer is “wasted,” in other words. That would seem [/Ito ]imply some sort of system of quantification, but I don’t think it’s in mathematical terms that we can conceptualize here on earth. I’ve also heard of the “economy of salvation,” but again, I’d conjecture that it is some form of quantification that we don’t understand. Heaven, it seems, is out of our league intellectually.

I tend to agree with your point that it is quantifiable, but not under any system we may understand. Certainly it comes in an “amount,” but probably not in a way that we even understand it. Amazing though how it’s always “just enough!” 🙂
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Grace is God’s gift of himself. God is infinitely good and all powerful.
No, it is not quantifiable.
Whatever God gives us is not only sufficient, it is more than we could ask for.
Our human minds have a hard time with this, hence we attempt comparisons bewtween Masses and prayers etc…
 
clem456 said:
Grace is God’s gift of himself. God is infinitely good and all powerful.
No, it is not quantifiable.
Whatever God gives us is not only sufficient, it is more than we could ask for.
Our human minds have a hard time with this, hence we attempt comparisons bewtween Masses and prayers etc…
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I’m not following, but I have to admit I am looking at this through a “human” lens. My question would be, God may be infinite, but wouldn’t an “amount” of his love still be quantifiable on some scale or level? Maybe not a scale or level that we use or even recognize, but he tends to give when necessary and give just enough. That in iteslf, to me, suggests it is an amount, not equal to infinity. I wouldn’t think he provides an infinite amount of grace…but again, I am speaking on a subject I know nothing about, so I look forward to further discussion.
 
odile53 said:
That would seem [/Ito ]imply some sort of system of quantification, but I don’t think it’s in mathematical terms that we can conceptualize here on earth.
Ditto this. The whole parable of the talents where the master gives different degrees of gifts in terms of money is also indicative of the “quantity” of grace. Is it something “man” can measure? Likely not.
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odile53 said:
I have heard, or read, that in the case of such things as prayers for the poor souls, the Church is a treasury of grace, and that if particular individuals are already in Heaven, the prayers said for them get applied to others still in need. No prayer is “wasted,” in other words. That would *seem [/Ito ]imply some sort of system of quantification, but I don’t think it’s in mathematical terms that we can conceptualize here on earth. I’ve also heard of the “economy of salvation,” but again, I’d conjecture that it is some form of quantification that we don’t understand. Heaven, it seems, is out of our league intellectually.*Agreed!

Somehow, there is a way of tabulating it, otherwise there would be no way of knowing when there have been enough prayers to release a soul from Purgatory. But whatever system there is, it has to be beyond our comprehension, because we receive the same Grace from a tiny sliver of the Body as we do from a giant piece followed by a huge gulp of the Precious Blood. And sometimes there are more than one name for the Mass Intentions - and that doesn’t mean someone only got 1/4 of the Graces they would have received if it had been a single name. Nor does an intention at a lightly attended weekday Mass convey less Grace than a Sunday Mass at a huge, packed, urban Cathedral.
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Well, ok. I was assuming quantifiable to be in a sense we can understand and actually articulate as human beings.
 
clem456 said:
Well, ok. I was assuming quantifiable to be in a sense we can understand and actually articulate as human beings.
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That was what I was getting at. The post that sparked this question seemed to indicate it could be, and while scripture does refer to it in amounts (though perhaps it could be argued this is idiom - in English you have the terms graceful and graceless but nothing indicating a state in between), there doesn’t seem to be anything indicating we can count it.
 
MarcoPolo said:
Ditto this. The whole parable of the talents where the master gives different degrees of gifts in terms of money is also indicative of the “quantity” of grace. Is it something “man” can measure? Likely not.
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I wonder if it is, because the one who was given one, had it taken from him due to lack of use. It seems odd to look at grace as something which is usable. I’ve always taken it to mean literally what we call talents in English - Using the gifts God gave us for the work of God.
 
Nine_Two said:
I wonder if it is, because the one who was given one, had it taken from him due to lack of use. It seems odd to look at grace as something which is usable. I’ve always taken it to mean literally what we call talents in English - Using the gifts God gave us for the work of God.
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Grace is a gift that we may-or may not- respond to. As such we "invest " it by performing the work God gives us the grace to accomplish. It’s really a matter of whether or not we cooperate with His plans for us.
 
Nine_Two said:
I wonder if it is, because the one who was given one, had it taken from him due to lack of use. It seems odd to look at grace as something which is usable. I’ve always taken it to mean literally what we call talents in English - Using the gifts God gave us for the work of God.
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I think a sound interpretation can admit to gifts/abilities and grace. Cardinal Journet expounds on the meaning of grace in the parable. For example:On the other plane, that of graces of salvation, God is doubtless free to give his children different and unequal graces, to one two talents, to another five. But he is not free to deprive any soul of what is necessary to it. (Cardinal Journet, The Meaning of Grace, III.8f, 1957)
 
Nine_Two said:
It seems odd to look at grace as something which is usable.
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Whether or not you want to use the term “usable,” grace is, as fhansen noted, something with which we cooperate. For example:The Synod furthermore declares, that in adults, the beginning of the said Justification is to be derived from the prevenient grace of God, through Jesus Christ, that is to say, from His vocation, whereby, without any merits existing on their parts, they are called; that so they, who by sins were alienated from God, may be disposed through His quickening and assisting grace, to convert themselves to their own justification, by freely assenting to and co-operating with that said grace: in such sort that, while God touches the heart of man by the illumination of the Holy Ghost, neither is man himself utterly without doing anything while he receives that inspiration, forasmuch as he is also able to reject it; yet is he not able, by his own free will, without the grace of God, to move himself unto justice in His sight. (Council of Trent, session 6)
2 Cor. 6:1b we entreat you not to accept the grace of God in vain.
 
Nine_Two said:
I wonder if it is, because the one who was given one, had it taken from him due to lack of use. It seems odd to look at grace as something which is usable. I’ve always taken it to mean literally what we call talents in English - Using the gifts God gave us for the work of God.
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And is probably why we use the word “talent” in English as such.
 
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