Sanctifying grace is the grace that God gives to humans to sanctify and purify their souls, make them holy, and enable them to perform good works meritorious unto salvation. It is a habitual gift infused by God into the soul that makes the soul intrinsically righteous, beautiful, holy, and worthy of eternal life with God in heaven.
Sanctifying grace is a free, unmerited gift from God and is entirely supernatural in its origin and operations. We cannot obtain it by our natural abilities alone, but only through faith and the sacraments instituted by Christ. It perfects the soul by making it a partaker of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4), elevating it above its natural sphere and enabling it to live the supernatural life of virtue and perform works meriting eternal life.
The Bible speaks of sanctifying grace in various ways, though not always using the exact term “sanctifying grace.” Jesus speaks of being born again of water and the Spirit (John 3:5), a reference to the transforming grace imparted by baptism. St. Paul says we are new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) and have put on the new nature (Ephesians 4:24). He speaks of the “grace of God and the gracious gift of righteousness” (Romans 5:15-17). The Psalms exhort us to “create in me a clean heart, O God” (Psalm 51:10). All these point to the sanctifying grace which purifies our souls and makes us righteous before God.
Sanctifying grace first enters our soul through the Sacrament of Baptism. By baptism, we die to sin and are reborn as new creations in Christ (Romans 6:3-4). The sanctifying grace of baptism takes away all sin, original and actual, as well as all punishment due to sin. It makes the baptized person justified before God and an heir to heaven. However, this grace can be lost through mortal sin, so we must seek to grow in grace and avoid sin.
Besides baptism, sanctifying grace is also infused into our souls through the other sacraments instituted by Christ. In the Eucharist, we receive the Author of Grace himself, who deepens the divine life in us. In Reconciliation, lost grace is restored. In Confirmation, baptismal grace is strengthened and increased. In Matrimony and Holy Orders, grace is imparted to live out the respective vocations. Anointing of the Sick increases grace to deal with illness or prepare for death. Thus, the sacraments are indispensable conduits of sanctifying grace.
Sanctifying grace is not static, but dynamic. It can grow through merit or decrease through sin. By practicing virtue, avoiding sin, prayer, sacraments and performing good works out of supernatural charity, we can grow in sanctifying grace. Mortal sin deprives the soul altogether of sanctifying grace, but it can be recovered by contrition and sacramental confession.
The soul in sanctifying grace is made holy, righteous, spiritually alive and pleasing to God. This grace configures us to Christ, making us adopted children of God and temple’s of the Holy Spirit. It gives us a share in the divine life and an inner beauty of soul that is reflected in spiritual radiance. As 1 John 3:2 says, “when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”
Sanctifying grace elevates human nature and enables us to live a new kind of life – the supernatural life of faith, hope and charity. By grace, the theological virtues are infused into the soul. Faith allows us to believe in revealed truths such as the Incarnation, Trinity, Resurrection, etc. Hope enables us to trust in God’s promises and rely not on our own strength but divine grace. Charity allows us to love God above all things and our neighbor as ourselves for God’s sake. Thus sanctifying grace enables the practice of supernatural virtue.
This supernatural life of grace is foreshadowed by the tree of life in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were originally created in grace and would have eaten from this tree, but their sin excluded them from it. Jesus, by his death on the Cross, re-opened access to the supernatural life of grace. As Revelation 2:7 says, “To him who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.”
Sanctifying grace gives our soul a new capacity for meritorious works. By grace, our works of piety, charity, penance etc. become more than merely natural good works – they acquire a supernatural value meriting eternal life. Without grace, even virtuous works cannot merit salvation. As Jesus said, “every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit” (Matthew 7:17). Only in the state of grace does our “tree” bear good fruit.
The Council of Trent defined that by good works done in a state of grace, “the just really merit an increase of grace, eternal life and the attainment of that eternal life.” However, even these merits are by grace, for without grace we can do nothing (John 15:5). All our merits are through Christ in the Spirit.
Sanctifying grace conforms us to Christ, but its full fruition comes only in Heaven. There the just will participate, body and soul, in God’s own life. Having been purged of all sin and imperfection, they will behold God face to face, know him as they are known, and find their total fulfillment. As 1 John 3:2 states, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” In Heaven, we will share in the divine nature fully and attain the perfection of sanctifying grace.
On earth, we can grow in grace by practicing virtue, frequenting the sacraments, prayer, penance and charity. But even here grace makes us a new creation that lives by faith and charity. Though imperfect, the life of grace is a real beginning of eternal life, a seed that blossoms fully in Heaven. By sanctifying grace, the Holy Spirit dwells in our soul and configures us to Christ. We become living temples of the Spirit, sons and daughters of God. This divine indwelling, begun here through grace, is our hope of future glory in Heaven.
In summary, sanctifying grace is the supernatural gift that God infuses into our souls to make them intrinsically holy, elevate them to participate in the divine nature, and give them the capacity to merit eternal life. This grace is first received in baptism, increased in the other sacraments, and grows by exercising virtue. It configures us to Christ by making us adopted children of God and temples of the Holy Spirit. The life of sanctifying grace on earth is a seed that blossoms into the fullness of eternal life and beatific vision in Heaven. It is the beginning of human divinization and salvation.