You've probably heard the hymn Amazing Grace many times. Perhaps you can rattle off the lyrics without even thinking of them. But have you stopped to consider how amazing grace really is?
The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that grace is "favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life." The Catechism also tells us that grace "is a participation in the life of God." (CCC 1996-1997)
The theology of grace has many divisions and nuances, but two aspects of grace stand out: grace is healing, and grace is elevating.
Because of the fall and original sin, our human natures are wounded. Our intellect is darkened, our will is weakened, and we have a tendency or proclivity to sin known as concupiscence. We stand in need of grace to heal our wounded nature. Grace is medicinal in this sense, and restores what was damaged due to sin.
But grace doesn't end there. Grace actually lifts us up beyond where our nature would be even without sin. Grace is elevating. Human nature, even freed from sin, cannot reach its goal of communion with God. Grace elevates our nature, making us "partakers of the divine nature." We become by grace and adoption what Christ is by nature: sons of God. This supernatural gift goes far beyond restoring what was lost through sin; grace far exceeds any expectations humanity could have had by making us like God. We call this deification - being made sharers of God's own trinitarian life. That is amazing grace!
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