Repentance and Grace (2020)

1. Repentance and Grace

2. • God created a perfect, harmonious world for us,
where there would be no suffering or death.
• Our first parents rejected what God intended for all
humanity.
• We are born into “original sin.”

3. • What Christ offers in Redemption far surpasses
what we lost!

4. • In our state of “original sin,” we are inclined to
make our moral choices in a far from perfect
manner.
• God wants to aid us; He wants our eternal
happiness! He wants to assist us in His call to be
Christ – like and wants us to live with Him forever
in Heaven.

5. • God has left us with a way of moral/ethical decision
making, far surpassing that of society:
–“Natural (Moral) Law” is concerned with universal &
unchanging principles.
– Through the right use of reasoning, all can come to
know the Natural Law.
– “The natural law which is prescribed by the Creator
on the heart of every person consists in a
participation in the wisdom & goodness of God. It
expresses that original moral sense which enables
one to discern by reason the good & the bad. It is
universal & immutable” (Compendium, #416)

7. • As to Jesus’ interpretation
of the law,
“You shall love the
Lord your God
with all your heart, &
with all your soul, &
with all your mind.’
This is the greatest &
1st commandment.
&the second is like it:
You shall love your
neighbor as
yourself.” (435)

8. "The five precepts of the Church"
= "the indispensable minimum“ (431)
“attend Mass on Sundays & other holy days of obligation &…
refrain from work & activities which could impede the
sanctification of those days....
“confess one’s sins, receiving the sacrament of Reconciliation at
least once each year....
“receive the sacrament of the Eucharist at least during the Easter
Season....
“abstain from eating meat &…observe the days of fasting
established by the Church....
“help…provide for the material needs of the Church” (432)

9. God wants us to participate in
His very life! Jesus shows us
the way to true, eternal
happiness – the Beatitudes….
(cf, Compendium, #359)

10. “Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor;
the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them!
“Happy are those who mourn;
God will comfort them!
“Happy are those who are humble;
they will receive what God has promised!
“Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires;
God will satisfy them fully!
“Happy are those who are merciful to others;
God will be merciful to them!
“Happy are the pure in heart;
they will see God!
“Happy are those who work for peace;
God will call them his children!
“Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires;
the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them!
“Happy are you when people insult you and persecute you and tell all kinds of evil lies
against you because you are my followers. 12 Be happy and glad, for a great reward is
kept for you in heaven. This is how the prophets who lived before you were
persecuted.”
Matthew 5: 3-11 (Good News translation)

11. “Accepting God’s
mercy “requires that
we admit our faults
& confess our sins.”
(391)

12. We are not alone in our efforts!
• Through the Sacraments, “the faithful receive
the grace of Christ & the gifts of the Holy
Spirit which give them the capability of living a
new life as children of God in Christ.” (357)
• Each one of us is made “in the image and
likeness of God”! – God doesn’t reject
anyone! He wants each of us - both our
bodies and our souls – in Heaven! (358)

13. Living as God wants us to live is
NOT a go-it-alone “survivor”
project,
nor a minimalist “follow the
rules/don’t get caught” game plan.
God’s Grace, communicated to us by the Sacraments,
Virtues, the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the Fruits of
the Holy Spirit assist us in His call to be Christ – like!

14. • “The Church is the community in which the Christian
receives the Word of God, the teachings of the ‘Law of
Christ’ (Galatians 6:2), and the grace of the
sacraments. Christians are united to the Eucharistic
sacrifice of Christ in such a way that their moral life is
an act of spiritual worship; and they learn the
example of holiness from the Virgin Mary and the
lives of the Saints.” (429)
• “It is the duty of the Magisterium…to preach the
faith….This…extends…to the specific precepts of the
natural law because their observance is necessary for
salvation” (430)

15. • A Christian’s moral life is
indispensable from proclaiming
the Gospel, because we “draw
others to faith in the true God,
build up the Church, inform the
world with the spirit of the
Gospel, & hasten the coming of
the Kingdom of God.” (433)

16. Repentance and Grace
We need to recognize and repent for
our sins, becoming more Christ-like
with God’s Grace

17. http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/dictionary/index.cfm?id=36048

18. http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/dictionary/index.cfm?id=33791
• “Grace is the supernatural gift
that God, of His free
benevolence, bestows on rational
creatures for their eternal
salvation….They are the
indispensable means necessary to
reach the beatific vision”

19. • “All are invited by Jesus
to enter the Kingdom of
God. Even the worst of
sinners is called to
convert and to accept the
boundless mercy of the
Father. Already here on
earth, the Kingdom
belongs to those who
accept it with a humble
heart. To them the
mysteries of the Kingdom
are revealed.” (107)

20. He wants our Bodies & Souls in Heaven!
• “The Resurrection is the climax of the
Incarnation. It confirms the divinity of Christ and
all the things which he did and taught. It fulfills
all the divine promises made for us. Furthermore
the risen Christ, the conqueror of sin & death, is
the principle of our justification & our
Resurrection. It procures for us now the grace of
filial adoption which is a real share in the life of
the only begotten Son. At the end of time he will
raise up our bodies.” (131)

21. The Sacraments are Channels of God’s
Grace, Aiding Us in Our Lifelong
Conversion….Becoming, with His Grace,
Increasingly Less Selfish and More Like Jesus
• “In the liturgy of the Church, it is His own paschal
mystery that Christ signifies and makes present. By
giving the Holy Spirit to His apostles He entrusted
to them and their successors the power to make
present the work of salvation through the
Eucharistic sacrifice and the sacraments, in which
He Himself acts to communicate his grace to the
faithful of all times and places” (222)

22. • “For believers in Christ the sacraments,
even if they are not all given to each of
the faithful, are necessary for salvation
because they confer sacramental grace,
forgiveness of sins, adoption as children
of God, conformation to Christ the Lord
and membership in the Church. The Holy
Spirit heals and transforms those who
receive the sacraments.” (230)

23. • “Sacramental grace is the grace of
the Holy Spirit which is given by
Christ and is proper to each
sacrament. This grace helps the
faithful in their journey toward
holiness and so assists the Church
as well to grow in charity and in
her witness to the world.” (231)