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Through His obedient death on the cross, His perfect act of love, Jesus won for humanity the gift of grace.  Grace is by definition a gift that is freely given, not earned or deserved.  But what is this gift?  The nature of the great gift of grace should inspire wonder and awe in us, for the gift of grace is a share in the very Divine Life of the Holy Trinity.

To put it in terms we have been using so far, grace gives the human being a new nature (in Biblical terms, it creates a “new man”).  Recall that animal nature builds on the vegetative nature, and that human nature builds on animal nature.  So too, the Divine Nature that is infused into the human soul by grace builds on human nature.  This divine nature offers to the human soul the potential for true intimacy with God.  It offers the potential to become participants in the very life of the Holy Trinity by uniting us to Christ as He offers Himself totally to the Father and the Spirit and as He in return receives them totally as they offer themselves to Him as a gift of love.  The gift of grace is therefore a participation in Divine Love.

To put it more simply, the new nature infused into the human soul by grace divinizes humanity in order to make us truly children of God.  True, Saint Paul calls us adopted children of God to show that we are not turned into Gods in the same way that Jesus Christ is eternally God.  Rather, we are “grafted into” the Divine Nature by being united to Jesus Christ.  However, the divine nature of grace is really a divine nature – making each person who receives it into a new creation.

As I said, grace builds on human nature. Grace also builds on each person’s individual personality. A large part of our personality is our character, and character is formed by virtues and vices. A human being who is living according to the natural law as well as he is able will grow in natural virtue. These virtues will allow him to readily and easily order his life to be more human and to attain the Good, the True and the Beautiful.  Divine Grace builds upon these virtues, imbuing them with supernatural quality.  Supernatural virtues help a Christian to enter into a living relationship with the Source of the Good, the True and the Beautiful – with Goodness, Truth and Beauty Himself.  Whereas the natural virtue of temperance keeps a man form giving in to animalistic desires so that his use of created goods may become rational and healthful, the gift of supernatural temperance adds to the use of created goods the deep realization that these goods are an expression of God’s love, that the Giver is more important than the Gift, and that to love God means to share His love (and therefore the physical goods that are signs of that love) with others.

The life of grace normally begins in the sacramental life.  While grace is surely active in every inspiration to move closer to Him, even before baptism, it is normally the sacramental grace given by Christ in baptism that infuses into the soul the share of Divine Nature.  This grace first cleanses the soul of Original Sin, which damaged human nature.  The damage caused by Original Sin would make it impossible for the Divine Nature to be realized in human nature.  So sanctifying grace must first heal broken and