Day 263: Responding to Grace

God's free initiative demands man's free response, for God has created man in his image by conferring on him, along with freedom, the power to know him and love him. The soul only enters freely into the communion of love. God immediately touches and directly moves the heart of man. He has placed in man a longing for truth and goodness that only he can satisfy. the promises of "eternal life" respond, beyond all hope, to this desire. CCC 2002

Today's reading is short, basically finishing the section on grace, but focused on our response to the graces given. With grace, we are given the ability to freely respond to God's calling. It is through that grace that we can freely know God and love Him. Grace does not coerce; it enables. 

The Catechism Compendium summarizes the other kinds of graces there are:

Besides habitual grace, there are actual graces (gifts for specific circumstances), sacramental graces (gifts proper to each sacrament), special graces or charisms (gifts that are intended for the common good of the Church) among which are the graces of state that accompany the exercise of ecclesial ministries and the responsibilities of life. (#424)

The Catechism Companion Vol III has some good commentary on this:

All that God made is good, but we can treat God's created things as gods and idols in our lives, and they can keep us from God. We must use things wisely. The Holy Spirit makes us right with the Lord and makes us holy, like the Lord... The Council of Trent told us that "we cannot...rely on our feelings or our words to conclude that we are justified and saved" (CCC 2005). Jesus did say, however, that we will be known by our fruits. The way we bear fruit and bear witness to God's mercy will look different among different people. (p. 42)

Finally, Dr. Jenislawski of Christendom College has a great lecture called "Faith Alone?"  that is found over at Institute for the Catholic Culture.