Graces

There are two kinds of grace, sanctifying and actual.  The names being so similar, you might have the impression sanctifying grace is nearly identical to actual grace. Not so.

Sanctifying grace stays in the soul. It’s what makes the soul holy; it gives the soul supernatural life. More properly, it is supernatural life.

Actual grace, by contrast, is a supernatural push or encouragement. It’s transient. It doesn’t live in the soul, but acts on the soul from the outside, so to speak. It’s a supernatural kick in the pants. It gets the will and intellect moving so we can seek out and keep sanctifying grace.

Grace is a free gift from God to man.  There is nothing man can do to merit grace, because it is a gift, after all.  Faith is also a free gift AND a response to grace

From the Catechism:

#162:  Faith is an entirely free gift that God makes to man.

#166:  "Faith is a personal act - the free response of the human person to the initiative of God who reveals himself."

1131 The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions.


Prayer for Five Graces

From A Catholic Prayer Book

Saint Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)

Eternal Father, your Son has promised that you would grant all the graces we ask of you in His name. Trusting in this promise, and in the name and through the merits of Jesus Christ, I ask of you five graces: First, I ask pardon for all offenses I have committed, for which I am sorry with all my heart, because I have offended your infinite goodness. Second, I ask for your divine Light, which will enable me to see the vanity of all the things of this earth, and see also your infinite greatness and goodness. Third, I ask for a share in your love, so that I can detach myself from all creatures, especially from myself, and love only your holy will. Fourth, grant me the grace to have confidence in the merits of Jesus Christ and in the intercession of Mary. Fifth, I ask for the grace of perseverance, knowing that whenever I call on you for assistance, you will answer my call and come to my aid; I fear only that I will neglect to turn to you in time of need, and thus bring myself to ruin. Grant me the grace to pray always, O Eternal Father, in the name of Jesus. Amen.