2005. Since it belongs to the supernatural order, grace escapes our experience and cannot be known except by faith. We cannot therefore rely on our feelings or our works to conclude that we are justified and saved.56 However, according to the Lord’s words “Thus you will know them by their fruits”57 – reflection on God’s blessings in our life and in the lives of the saints offers us a guarantee that grace is at work in us and spurs us on to an ever greater faith and an attitude of trustful poverty.
A pleasing illustration of this attitude is found in the reply of St. Joan of Arc to a question posed as a trap by her ecclesiastical judges: “Asked if she knew that she was in God’s grace, she replied: ‘If I am not, may it please God to put me in it; if I am, may it please God to keep me there.'”58
Aprofunde seus conhecimentos
399. Do we have any responsibility for sins committed by others?
31. Why are the formulas of faith important?
337. What is the plan of God regarding man and woman?
306. Why can venial sins also be the object of sacramental confession?
435. How did Jesus interpret the Law?
374. How is a moral conscience formed to be upright and truthful?
Acesse nossos estudos biblicos:
How important is wisdom in mate selection and marriage according to Proverbs 18:22?
What does it mean to choose godliness over the flesh, according to 1 Peter 4:1-6?
What does it mean to be a new creature in Christ, as described in 2 Corinthians 5:17?
What does the promise of salvation and redemption in the midst of judgment in Micah 2:12-13 mean?
What is the story of Uzziah and how was he punished for disobeying God?
