Book Snippets

The many wonderful Effects of Grace in the Soul

3 min • Digitized on December 31, 2021

From The Sinner’s Guide, page 145
By Venerable Louis of Granada

From what has been said we can judge of the effects of grace in a soul.

It renders her so beautiful, as we have said, that God, Who is captivated with her loveliness, chooses her for His Spouse, His temple, and His dwelling.

Another effect of grace is the strength which it imparts to the soul. This beauty and this strength are extolled in the Canticle of Canticles, where the Angels exclaim: “Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array?” [Cant vi. 9.]

Grace, then, is like an invulnerable armor. So strong does it render man that, according to St. Thomas, the least degree of grace suffices to triumph over all sin.

A third effect of grace is to render man so pleasing to God that every good action performed by him contributes to merit for him eternal life.

By good we here mean not only acts of virtue, but all those which arise from the necessities of nature, such as eating, drinking, and sleeping, which, by an upright intention, become pleasing to God and meritorious in His sight.

In addition to all this, grace makes man the adopted child of God and heir to His kingdom. Our Saviour showed the greatness of this privilege when, seeing His Apostles rejoicing that evil spirits obeyed them in His name, He said: “Rejoice not in this, that spirits are subject unto you; but rejoice in this, that your names are written in Heaven.,” [St. Luke x. 20.]

Grace, finally, qualifies man for all good; smooths the way to heaven; makes the yoke of Christ sweet and light; cures him of his infirmities and lightens his burdens, so that he is enabled to run in the path of virtue.

Moreover, it strengthens all the faculties of the soul, enlightens the understanding, inflames the heart, moderates the appetites of the flesh, and constantly stimulates us, so that we may not relax in the pursuit of virtue.

And as all the passions which reside in the inferior part of the soul are so many breaches in the fortification of virtue, through which the enemy effects an entrance, grace guards these avenues of sin with sentinels. These are the infused virtues, each of which is the opposite of the passion or vice which imperils the peace of the soul. Thus, temperance resists gluttony, chastity combats impurity, humility overcomes pride.

But the crowning effect of grace is that it brings God into our souls, in order to govern us, protect us, and lead us to Heaven.

There God is pleased to abide, like a king in his kingdom, a father in the bosom of his family, a master with beloved disciples, a shepherd in the midst of his flock.

Since, then, this inestimable pearl, the pledge of so many other blessings, is the unfailing lot of the virtuous, who will hesitate to imitate the wisdom of that merchant who sold all he had to purchase this pearl? [St. Matt. xiii.]