Short Answer: An Analogy for Grace

A while ago a student asked me:

What is grace? What do we mean when we say that word?"

It was a great question.  Sometimes it helps to slow down and see if we actually know the meaning of the words we’re saying.

The problem is there really is no clean way to answer that question.  It’s like trying to explain the meaning of “love” or “beauty”.  Even the Bible does not stop and define what exactly “grace” is.

So today I wanted to look at the answer in the Catechism.  Then I’ll give the analogy to answer the student’s inquiry.

By the Books:

The Catechism describes grace in its section on Justification.  It says that grace is an undeserved gift of the very life of God:

"Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to His call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life. Grace is a participation in the life of God. It introduces us into the intimacy of Trinitarian life."  - CCC 1996-1997

From there the Catechism names a few practical applications of grace.  It is God's power to make us inwardly holy - and enables us to carry out the mission of the Church:

"Grace is first the gift of the Spirit who justifies and sanctifies us.  But grace also includes the gifts that the Spirit grants us to associate us with his work, to enable us to collaborate in the salvation of others and in the growth of the Body of Christ, the Church." - CCC 2003

Lastly, it notes that grace is not like puppet strings.  This help - this power - does not force our wills into submission.  It is not God’s  [MANUAL OVERRIDE]  button:

"The divine initiative in the work of grace precedes, prepares, and elicits the free response of man. Grace responds to the deepest yearnings of human freedom, calls freedom to cooperate with it, and perfects freedom."  - CCC 2022

So it both enables us to choose the good and draws us toward it.  We could have done this without grace, but with it we still act freely as genuine moral agents:

An Analogy:

Now, all of that is true… but can be abstract and theoretical.  Sometimes a good mental can convey the meaning far more clearly than a dozen paragraphs of theological explication.  So here is the analogy I used to explain grace to my students that day:

"You know how old Fulton is, right?  He's just a little over a year.  Let me ask you... can Fulton walk?"

"No."

"But suppose I reach downward and put my fingers in his little hands - and he grips them - and I lift him up.  Now can Fulton walk?"

"Yes!" 

“That's grace.”