We cannot become saints, we cannot be saved, we cannot even…

The first means is merit. Merit is when we "earn" grace by good works, obtaining a right to an increase in God's supernatural life on the basis of God's justice & promised rewards. Since our ability to merit comes from Christ, only those already in a state of grace can merit 1/

Say someone asks us for help, giving an opportunity to exercise charity - we could either not do it, which merits nothing; we could simply do it, which merits an increase in the grace of charity; or we could do it with hesitation or grumbling, which merits, but imperfectly 2/

It is thought that when we merit imperfectly, we don't immediately obtain the graces merited. Some believe we receive those graces from the Lord when we next receive communion, others not until we pass from this life to the next 3/

When we perform a good work as we ought to, however, God immediately grants His grace, thus allowing us to go from height to height in virtue by working selflessly again and again with more and more supernatural charity to sustain us 4/

The second means is prayer. Prayer is superior to merit for two reasons: first and foremost, prayer is an appeal to God's mercy, while merit appeals to His justice, and weak as we are, we can beg far more from His mercy than we could ever hope to earn from His justice 5/

Second, since it is an appeal to God's mercy, prayer is a means of obtaining grace which is open even to those who have fallen out of a state of grace: no one is ever barred from prayer, while many are barred from merit due to mortal sin or lack of baptism 6/

The third means is the sacraments. The sacraments are superior to both merit and prayer because merit and prayer both depend on us, how fervent we are, etc., while the sacraments work of themselves, depending only on God, as long as we don't resist or impede them 7/

As a result, if we receive the sacraments often (such as weekly Eucharist) but see no notable improvement in our spiritual lives or growth in virtue, it is worth reflecting where we may be impeding the work God wants to do, for example by clinging to a specific venial sin 8/

These three are the means God has given us to grow in Him, increase our share in His life, and save our souls. They build on each other: receiving the sacraments can help us to pray better and merit more, we can pray to merit more and receive the sacraments better, and so on 9/9

We cannot become saints, we cannot be saved, we cannot even have faith, hope, or charity (in the supernatural sense, the only one that matters) without God's grace. How do we get/increase in grace, mature our interior lives, become better people? There are three ways (thread):

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