What is the Grace of Final Perseverance?

[dmftx]

i am not sure that I completely understand this. Is this a gift from God or is this something that we must earn? As humans, we can apprise to die in God’s grace, without sin, but we are, again, humans with sinful natures. My understanding is that even the smallest of sin removes us from His grace. If this is something to be earned, how do we do that? For those with scrupulous natures, this can be a source of concern and worry. Thank you!

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

Baltimore Catechism:

**Q. 480. What is the grace of perseverance?
**
A. The grace of perseverance is a particular gift of God which enables us to continue in the state of grace till death.

Q. 481. Can we merit the grace of final perseverance or know when we possess it?

A. We cannot merit the grace of final perseverance, or know when we possess it, because it depends entirely upon God’s mercy and not upon our actions. To imagine we possess it would lead us into the sin of presumption.

Cardinal Newman:

[Grace of Final Perseverance is] an ever watchful superintendence of us on the part of our All-Merciful Lord, removing temptations which He sees will be fatal to us, succouring us at those times when we are in particular peril, whether from our negligence or other cause, and ordering the course of our life so that we may die at a time when He sees that we are in the state of grace.

Like all grace, the grace of final perseverance is something that we cannot earn but that we must cooperate with. Just as the eye needs light to see, we must choose to follow the light.