Means of Grace

Previously we established:

• Lecture 1
  • Grace is a free gift from God 
  • Any blessing in our lives is considered a grace from God 
  • God created man and surrounded him by His grace 
  • Man lost that grace as a result of sin and corruption 
  • Man became uncapable of attaining righteousness on his own 
  • The law could not help man attain righteousness 
  • Man needed divine intervention to be able to attain righteousness 
  • God graced man with the economy of salvation (Incarnation, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension, etc.)
  • In order to attain salvation, we must have faith (God's grace) and works 
  • Man cannot attain salvation without the work of God's grace 
• Lecture 2
  • Visitations of Grace:
  • Who gets visited by God's grace? 
    
  • When do get visited by God's grace?
    
  • Reasons for visitations of grace: 
    
  • What should be our response towards visitations of grace?
    
  • What prevents God's grace from us? (Resisting God's grace) 
    
  • How to benefit from the visitations of grace?
    
  • Growing in the grace

Introduction

• Now that we learned how wonderful God's grace is and how we should respond to it
• Where and how can we acquire God's grace?
• This is what is called means of grace

Means of grace

• Faith 
  • In God's love
  • In God's economy of salvation 
  • In the effectiveness of the sacraments 
  • In the power of the spiritual means 
• Church Sacraments 
  • They are the means by which the believers receive God's grace 
• Spiritual means 
  • Means to strengthens my spiritual life, tune my ears to listen to God's voice and aid me in my spiritual struggle

Where do we receive grace?

• We receive grace on a personal level and on a church level 
  
• On a Church level:
  • "The Love of God the Father, and the grace of His only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ, and the gift and communions of the Holy Spirit be with you all" 
  • Everything that happens in the Church (storage of grace)  is a source of grace in our life
  • The church has the authority to dispense to us God's grace to the whole world
  • That is why the fathers said there is no salvation outside of the church 
• On a personal level:
  • God gives according to the needs of each one
    • "My grace is sufficient to you"
• I didn't do anything to deserve any of these graces but my role is to use them and to bring fruit 
  
• Both levels require:
  • Faith in God's grace and unlimited love
  • Prayer
  • Humility 

Church sacraments 

• For every sacrament in the Church there is a visible sign and a hidden grace
• Discuss the hidden grace of each sacrament 
• The grace of each sacrament takes us to the the following sacrament 
  • In baptism, our sins are washed away (including the Original Sin). The grace of baptism takes us to the grace of Myron where we receive the receive the grace of the Holy Spirit and we are confirmed as children of God, etc.
    
• Each person's response to the sacrament is different

Spiritual means

• The points under this title can be found in this link: The Spiritual Means