Spirituality

Grace of God

As we have said before, Augustine’s idea of interiority is that of a human’s quest assisted by God’s grace. In fact he, again and again insists that all the good that man does is done with the assistance of God, for by ourselves we are nothing and whatever we are, we are by the grace and mercy of God.

Psalm 71 (70) commends God’s grace to us; it reminds us that of ourselves we are nothing, it impresses on us that whatever we are, we are by the mercy of God, but that anything else we may be by our own actions makes us bad.
(Explanations of the Psalms 70,1,2)

The keyword here is grace, which is used in its theological sense, that is, gratuitously given. Moreover when Saint Augustine, who is called the ‘Doctor of Grace,’ uses the expression ‘God’s grace’ he refers to that divine operation in humans, as well as in angels, through which they are moved to know and love God. Consequently God is the one who moves man towards him, thus even the return to oneself, interiority, is preceded by God’s grace. So much so that when Augustine was commenting on what Saint Paul says in his First Letter to the Corinthians: “For what do you have that you have not received?” (1 Co. 4,7) he notes that a correct reading of this verse implies that faith itself is a gift, thus an act of grace on the part of God.

This testimony, then, of the apostle Paul where he said in order to repress the pride of human beings, For what do you have that you have not received? (1 Co. 4,7) does not permit any of the faithful to say: I have faith which I have not received. These apostolic words, then, repress the whole pride of this reply. But one cannot say even this: Though I do not have perfect faith as my own, I still have as my own its beginning by which I originally believed in Christ. For here too the reply is given, But what do you have that you have not received? If, however, you have received, why do you boast as if you have not received? (1 Co. 4,7)
(On the Predestination of the Saints 4,8)

Man is capable of God, yet reaching God is not just a question of human endeavour; it is also a gift, God’s grace, which assists man in his endeavour.