The Work of Grace and Its Types
The Work of Grace and Its Types
Last week we spoke about grace as a general term. Today, we would like to speak about some types of grace.
The Work of Grace and Its Types
The Grace of Calling:
The calling is one of the works of grace. Therefore the Scripture says: “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined… these He also called” (Rom. 8:29–30).
It is not man who calls himself, but the calling comes to him from God, by a work of grace. For this reason the Lord Christ said to His disciples: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). And the Scripture says: “And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was” (Heb. 5:4).
The most wondrous type of this calling is those whom God called from their mothers’ wombs.
Just as He called John the Baptist from his mother’s womb and filled him with the Holy Spirit, and as He called Samson and consecrated him to Himself before he was born. Among the most beautiful examples of this calling is the Lord’s word to Jeremiah the prophet: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations” (Jer. 1:5).
What was Jeremiah’s will before he was born? Or what was his power? The same is said about Jacob the father of the fathers and others. But it is the calling that called.
There is no doubt that grace called according to God’s foreknowledge, who knows people before they are born, “whom He foreknew, He also predestined, and called.” Yet there are many righteous people whom God did not call to be apostles, prophets, or priests.
Rather, grace called certain persons according to God’s good will and wisdom. As the Apostle Paul said: “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace” (Gal. 1:15).
Perhaps someone may ask: What is my fault that God did not call me? We say to him: You have no fault, unless there is unfitness due to errors… In general, the call to service is nothing but a call to the Cross, to responsibility, to toil and effort and sweat and tears; and each one will receive his wages according to his labor.
You may not be an apostle or a prophet, but “he shall receive a prophet’s reward” (Matt. 10:41). And what did He say? “More than a prophet” (Matt. 11:9)… God cares about the heart and love whatever the position may be.
Service is participation with God in His work, in building His Kingdom; therefore the call to it is grace. All long for this grace.
If service is grace, what then shall we say about those who are called and make excuses?! They are called to the priesthood, for example, and they refuse, or their wives or fathers and mothers refuse!
Rejecting the call, neglecting it, or making excuses for it is a serious matter that a person must carefully consider. He who refuses the priesthood for a worldly reason refuses to be a steward of God, a servant of His altar, a mediator of the divine mysteries, and an intercessor between God and men…!!
The calling is grace offered to people. Some accept it, and some reject it.
The Lord previously called certain persons. Among them was one who excused himself to bury his father, another who excused himself because he had five yoke of oxen, or because he had married a wife. The Lord called the rich young man, and the young man went away sorrowful.
What we say about the service of the priesthood and its rejection, we also say about monasticism: a person whom God calls, and his family rises up as though he had perished… Is it not grace from God for a person to dwell in the house of the Lord and hear the blessing of the psalm: “Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; they will still be praising You forever”…? While these reject the grace of the calling, the Apostle Paul says:
“But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace… immediately I did not confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me” (Gal. 1:15–17).
When he was called, he left the tax office and immediately followed Christ. Peter and Andrew, when they were called, left the boat and the nets; the Samaritan woman left her waterpot; Moses left Pharaoh’s palace; Abraham left his family, his homeland, his clan, and his father’s house.
All these responded to the calling, obeyed, and sacrificed for its sake…
And if you were not called with a great calling like these, at least you were called to be temples of the Holy Spirit and dwellings for God, so that God may work in you and through you. Who among you dares to reject this divine calling?!
Would that every person pray to God with tears to receive this calling and that God may see him worthy… and not be like one by whom the calling passes without his perceiving it… like the Light that shone in the darkness, “and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:5).
There are persons who cast themselves in the way of the Lord, and He calls them by His grace.
They are the ones who begin, and then God calls them when He tests their faithfulness, or after preparing them… Moses the prince cast himself in God’s way and defended Him, committing mistakes… so God took him, prepared him in the wilderness, then sent him.
On a day Moses did not expect, the voice of God came to him: “I am the God of your father… Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh” (Ex. 3:6, 10).
Isaiah the prophet is among the most wonderful examples of calling… He heard the voice of the Lord saying: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” (Isa. 6:8).
So Isaiah offered himself and said to the Lord: “Here am I! Send me” (Isa. 6:8).
Who among you will cast himself in the Lord’s way saying: “Here am I! Send me”?
The calling is grace from God. There is one who seeks it, one to whom it comes without seeking and he accepts it, and one to whom it comes and he refuses.
We thank God who called us by His grace to be His children, a holy nation and a justified priesthood, members of His household, members of His Body, and witnesses to His Name.
There are persons who complicate matters, and whenever the calling comes to them they doubt and ask, “Is this truly a calling?” and they do not discern the voice of God.
Would that we leave this complication and walk with God in simplicity of heart. Offer yourselves to God, and walk in purity, simplicity, and humility, and the calling will come to you.
For this reason, some theologians divide grace into two types:
Prevenient Grace, which precedes the will of man and is initiated by God, such as those who were called from their mothers’ wombs; and Cooperating Grace, in which man begins any work for God, and grace comes and participates in the work.
Prevenient grace does not depend on man’s worthiness but on God’s goodness and generosity. Cooperating grace may come without being asked to strengthen a person in his struggle, and a person may cry out to God asking for His grace, confessing his weakness, and it comes to him.
Man must cast his net into the sea, even if he toils all night and catches nothing; surely God will visit him at last. Man must begin—any beginning, however weak—because laziness is not a prelude to the coming of grace; but when it sees his struggle, it comes.
This grace has various types, among them: preserving grace and giving grace.
Preserving Grace:
It is divine preservation; it is the fulfillment of “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Matt. 6:13). “The Lord preserves the simple” (Ps. 116:6). “A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you” (Ps. 91:7).
How many are David’s experiences in the Psalms about the work of grace with him…
We do not protect ourselves; rather, God is the One who protects us. “Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain” (Ps. 127:1). For this reason the children of God live in reassurance, relying on this grace.
Included within this grace are the guardian angel, God’s preservation of Daniel in the lions’ den, of the three young men in the fiery furnace, the blessing of the sign of the Cross as experienced by the saints, and the sufferings that did not harm the martyrs…
A person may say: “Where is this preservation? I have not experienced it!” We say to him: The preservation exists, but perhaps because of the weakness of your faith you did not enjoy it.
Let every person review the history of his life and put on God’s preservation for him. Be certain that without God’s preservation you would not be living until today.
We often rely on our minds and strength to preserve us, or we rely on people and their schemes, and we leave the preserving grace of God and thus do not experience it.
Giving Grace:
God’s grace is given generously and without reproach. It opens the windows of heaven and pours out blessings until we say, “It is enough, it is enough.” It was with the disciples who went out without money bag or knapsack and did not lack anything. It brought water from the rock, sent down manna from heaven, and blessed the little so that it became much.
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17).
This grace and these gifts—everyone who asks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. But a person must turn to God as the source of the gift; then he receives, and he does not try to rely on worldly sources.
You must insist on receiving from God. Say to Him: I will take only from You. I will not leave You until I receive. I will not ask from the world, nor from people, nor will I rely on my talents, but on You alone.
We often live far from grace, yet it is the blessing we receive from the Church at the end of every meeting. How frequently it is mentioned in the catholic epistles: “Grace to you and peace” (Rom. 1:7), “Grow in the grace” (2 Pet. 3:18), “Grace and peace be multiplied to you” (1 Pet. 1:2).
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