Amazing Grace— Your Expandable Quota of Divine Life

An ancient oriental fable tells of a tiny fish that overheard a gugu at the river bank teaching his disciples about the life-sustaining importance of water. “If it is that important,” mused the little fish, "I must find some of this thing called water, or I’ll soon die."

He began asking the other fish in the river about water, but none of them seemed to know anything about it. Finally a wise old fish told the little fish that he had been surrounded by water all his life, and that his very life was being sustained by water at moment. “Enjoy the water,” advised the older fish, “appreciate it and draw on it to continue living and thriving.”

Like the little fish, the Samaritan woman at the well knew little about abundant, freely available, life-giving and life-sustaining water. Her ignorance, though, was not about ordinary water, but about the "living water" that Jesus offered. He called it a "gift of God" (Jn 4:10) and described it as not only satisfying but also vital for fulfilling one's very destiny: '"Whoever drinks the water I give him will never suffer thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (Jn 4:14).

Jesus alone can offer this gift: "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink" (Jn 7:37). While persons who are not thirsty this water can still receive it (infants at baptism, for example), those with an appreciative "thirst for righteousness" (Mt 5:6) will seek to increase their supply by purposefully going to Jesus, whose gracious invitation echoes Isaiah 55:1: "Come, all you "who are thirsty, come to the waters."

What precisely is this redoubtable, awesome "living water"? It is grace—the very life of God himself within us, enabling us to "participate in the divine nature" (2 Pt 1:4). It is a kind of projection of God's august presence into us, which is spiritually both life-giving and life-sustaining, for it entails "everything we need both life and godliness" (2 Pt 1:3). A supernatural gift (one that transcends our human nature), it is aptly described as "Amazing Grace” – as in the tide of the popular hymn by the sailor-turned-clergyman, John Newton.

The New Testament Greek word for this great gift is charis. This is a word with multiple meanings, although it is typically translated "grace" in about 130 out of the roughly 160 times it is used. This more common meaning is found especially in the epistles Of Paul, who championed the Christian doctrine of grace.

According to the Scripture scholar Joseph Thayer, grace, as used in the New Testament, is a refinement of the Hebrew word that means God's "favor," "blessing," or "goodwill." He defines grace as "kindness by which God freely bestows favors even upon the non-deserving, grants to sinners pardon, and offers them eternal salvation through Christ." Thus gifted by Christ with this God-presence, the soul is enriched with Godlike qualities; it shares in God's gifts and blessings, as well as his sin-free state and his eternal life.

The greatest theological expositor of grace, St. Thomas Aquinas, taught that grace is fundamentally God's gracious love echoed back to him from the graced person by that person's response in thought, word, and act. Bestowed as grace, God's love confers on the soul a quota of God's own life and holiness. This makes the soul pleasing to God. As children can resemble their parents, children of God better resemble God when they are filled with grace. And so, the supply of grace we receive is the very grace of the Father dwelling in Jesus that is extended to us by the Holy Spirit.

"Amazing grace," indeed! God doesn't just "order a piece of pie" for us, so to speak; he keeps giving us big pieces of his own limitless "pie." The Gospel of John puts it more elegantly: "From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace" (Jn 1:16, RSV).

Look again at this phrase, "grace upon grace." Doesn't it conjure up a picture of graces being piled up, like gifts stacked into someone's open arms? For instance, the grace of being righteous is added to the grace of becoming righteous. As the Council of Trent explained about this sequence, we are unable to move ourselves to repent of serious sin; it is "prevenient," or "actual," grace that entices us to repent. If we do accede to this nudge from God and then a subsequent grace of holiness – “sanctifying” grace—is bestowed. (This process is sometimes called justification, or being made just.)

Many divine interventions involve similar grace sequences. The most common is the one illustrated above: actual grace leading to sanctifying grace. (Actual grace and sanctifying grace are biblical concepts, but as technical terms they are derived from medieval theology.) Sanctifying grace is also called "habitual" grace because it inhabits, or stays habitually in, the soul that is uncontaminated with serious sin. In this it differs from actual grace, which affects the soul only momentarily by prompting the intellect to a helpful insight, or motivating the will to do good or avoid evil.

An analogy may be helpful here, A car with a dead battery can't start itself, but it can be jump-started by being linked to another car with a live battery. Once the disabled car is started, it needs something more to keep it going: gasoline, sustained firing of the spark plugs to activate the pistons, and so on. Likewise, God's gratuitous offer to jump-start into divine life a soul dead in sin is an actual (actualizing) grace. The sinner who accepts this spiritual jumper cable link-up is disposed for the subsequent sanctifying grace. Like the car that springs to life and then moves forward, engine running and gears engaged, the soul becomes alive in holiness and is made capable of growing in holiness. In all this, clearly, "it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose" (Phil 2:13).

Sometimes the grace sequence is multiple. Imagine for a moment that you are a slave on the auction block. The highest bidder pays the price for you and then announces that you are no longer a slave but a free person. is an analogy of the grace of redemption which, when received, is called the grace of salvation, or conversion. This grace of salvation induces further actual graces, which in turn foster sanctifying grace. Paul describes this three-step sequence: "The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say 'NO' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives" (Ti 2: 11-12).

Now suppose that after being emancipated from slavery you become a criminal and are awaiting a death sentence a crime. But you are astonished to learn that the governor has pardoned you. You are not only emancipated (redeemed) but also acquitted (forgiven). This situation is analogous to God's grace of redemption (salvation), followed by the grace of forgiveness (actualized by repentance); and this is followed by even more spiritual gifts or graces. Again, Paul delineates this multiple sequence: "In Christ we have redemption and forgiveness by the riches Of God's grace, lavished on us with wisdom and understanding" (Eph 1 :7).

Like a donation to a homeless person, grace is given to us by God gratuitously. There is no "way we could earn it, even if we wanted to, and no way we could deserve it. "It is by you have been saved," Paul stresses, "through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast" (Eph 2:8-9). Yet we have a say in how grace affects us: we can use it, misuse it, refuse it, or lose it. If a street person carelessly loses the money given him or wastes it on drugs or liquor, the donor is disappointed. So too, we must not squander God's precious gift of grace but foster it, as Paul's impassioned exhortation directs: "We urge you not to receive God's grace in vain" (2 Cor 6:1).

Almost as amazing as grace itself is the indifference that some people show toward it. Even many Christians today are walking around half-dead because they receive God's life-gift half-heartedly. Other people reject it outright, as Isaiah noted: "Though grace is shown to the wicked, they go on doing evil" (Is 26:10).

St. Augustine identified an essential element for receiving grace: "God gives where he finds empty hands." When our hands are full of baubles, how can we possibly receive other gifts? If we are burdened with worldly interests, we will be poorly disposed to receive bountiful graces from the beneficent hand of God. "Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God," James cautions, going on to cite a proverb that expresses the consequences of our choices; "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble" (Jas 4.4, 6; 3:34). C.S. Lewis makes a similar point in his book, Mere Christianity:

God shows much more Of himself to some people than to others—not because he has favorites, but because it is impossible for him to show himself to a person whose whole mind and character are in the wrong condition. Sunlight, though it has no favorites, cannot be reflected in a dusty mirror as clearly as in a clean one.

If only we could see "the incomparable riches of his grace" (Eph 2:7) that rain down upon each of us in manifold forms every day and hour! Then, like thirsty nomads in a desert cloudburst, we would strive to catch every drop of this amazing grace from the loving heart of God, and we would "continue to grow in the grace of God" (Acts 13:43). Nothing would delight God more, for he wishes always to extend his benevolence: "to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work" (2 Cor 9:8)

Hampsch, C.M.F., originally published by Servant Publications, 1995. This and other of Fr. Hampsch's books and audio/visual materials can be purchased from Claretian Teaching Ministry, 20610 Manhattan Pl, #120, Torrance, CA 90501-1863. Phone 1-310-782-6408.