Sanctifying Grace

Fr. Austin Woodbury

Edited by: Christian B. Wagner

Scholastic Answers Press

Dedicated to Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, beloved teacher of Fr. Austin Woodbury, that he may be recognized by the Holy Father as a Saint.

As man in his intellective powers participates in the Divine knowledge through the virtue of faith, and in his power of will participates in the Divine love through the virtue of charity, so also in the nature of the soul does he participate in the Divine Nature, after the manner of a likeness, through a certain regeneration or re-creation.

St. Thomas Aquinas

Contents

Title Page

Dedication

Epigraph

Introduction

Nature

God's Activities

God's Mental Life

God's Act of WIll

God's Happiness

Humanized Tree

Divinized Man

Stages in the Humanization of a Tree

Stages in the Divinization of Man

The Life of Faith

The Life of Glory

Practical Value of These Considerations

Conclusion

Introduction

“The Spirit Himself giveth testimony to our spirit, that we are sons of God.” (Rom. 8:17)

In order that one be the son or child of another, it is NOT SUFFICIENT that the one be made or produced by that other; (for a house or a box may be made by a man, yet it is not his son); nor is it sufficient that the one be cared for by that other, as a child is cared for by his other; (for an orphan child may be cared for by someone, but still is not the son of that person).

In order that one be the son or daughter of another, it is required that ONE BE MADE THAT OTHER INTO A BEING OF LIKE NATURE WITH THAT OTHER, or in other words, THAT ONE BE BROUGHT BY THAT OTHER INTO LIKENESS OF NATURE WITH HIM.

Thus, when a man has a son he produces another UNTO LIKENESS OF NATURE (HUMAN NATURE) WITH HIMSELF; when a horse begets a son he produces another UNTO LIKENESS OF  NATURE (HORSE OR EQUINE NATURE) WITH HIMSELF.

Similarly, if God brings us into sonship of Himself, HE DOES SO BY BRINGING US INTO LIKENESS OF NATURE WITH HIMSELF, BRINGING US TO SHARE THE DIVINE NATURE.

Nature

That we may understand this, let us consider what “nature” is. We may say that it is the BASIC INWARD REALITY WITHIN A THING MAKING IT SUCH THAT IT WILL ACT IN THE WAY IN WHICH IT DOES ACT.

Thus the nature of an ACID is that basic inward reality inside the acid making it such that it will corrode metals, and so on.

The nature of a PLANT is that inward basic reality within a plant making it such that it will act in the way in which a plant acts, that is, by nourishing itself, growing, and begetting other plants. And so, since the plant acts in another, and higher way than does the acid, it must have another sort of nature, and a higher sort.

The nature of a BRUTE ANIMAL is that inward basic reality within a brute making it such that it will act in the way in which a brute acts, that is, by seeing and hearing and smelling, and imagining and remembering, and running about or flying or swimming, and so on. It is obvious therefore that the brute has another, and yet higher, sort of nature than the plant has.

The nature of MAN is that inward basic reality within a man which makes him such that he will act in the way that a man acts, that is, in addition to the ways in which plants and brutes act, also by UNDERSTANDING, and REASONING, and therefore knowing what things are, and knowing the reasons of things, and knowing the purposes of his actions, and knowing even things which a brute animal cannot know, such as immaterial things, which escape the senses, like justice and uprightness and honor and truthfulness, and spiritual things, such a thought and the human soul, and doing scientific acts, such as arithmetic acts and geometrical acts, and astronomical acts, and exercising the activities of art, such as music and painting and farming and carpentering, and doing economic acts, such as buying and selling, and doing social acts, such as attending to and pursuing and promoting the good, and HATING what he understands to be bad, and of CHOOSING FREELY between various things and various courses of action, and therefore doing acts for which he is responsible, and so of acting morally and immorally. It is clear therefore that man has another, and higher, nature than the brute animal.

GOD has another, and infinitely higher nature still. For God has activities that are PECULIAR TO HIMSELF, infinitely surpassing the acts that any creature has power to do. Which are they?

God's Activities

It is question here of the acts that God does, or, in other words, of the life that God lives. First, there is the life or acts of His mind or intellect, and secondly, the life or acts of His will, and thirdly, His happiness.

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