Grace

Grace is favour, the free and undeserved help God gives so that we can respond to his call and share his life. The Catechism describes it as a participation in the life of God, introduced into the soul by Baptism. It is entirely God's initiative; it does not depend on our merit and cannot be earned. The Church distinguishes sanctifying (habitual) grace, the stable gift that makes the soul holy, from actual graces, God's momentary interventions that prompt and sustain us, and speaks also of sacramental graces and of charisms given for the good of others.