xzins:
No, that would not be the view. In Catholic soteriology, and I would say the Orthodox view, to be full of God’s Grace is to be a saint. It is not that you no longer need forgiveness, it is that God’s grace has conformed/transformed you into the image he wants, which is to be objectively holy and a saint in God’s eyes. So if a person lives a life of faith, hope, and love, all through God’s Grace, then forgiveness is not an issue, as forgiveness if what God offers and gives when one sins and turns ones’ back against God. Because of his Love and Mercy, he forgives the penitent person and restores him/her back into communion with Himself. Grace, in the Catholic sense, transforms and builds on our nature and restores us.
I think annalex linked a detailed thread on Catholic soteriology/Justification. The Readers digest version of Catholic Justification as defined in the Glossary of the CCC is “The gracious action of God which frees us from sin and communicates “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ (c.f. Rom 3:22). Justification is not only the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior man”
The CCC does not formally define “Sanctification” but does give a short definition of Sanctifying Grace in the CCC Glossary, which is “The grace that heals our human nature wonded by sin by giving us a share in the divine life of the Trinity. It is a habitual, supernatural gift which continues the work of sanctifying us—of making us “perfect”, holy and Christlike.
The more detailed discussion in the CCC on Grace and Justification is linked for interested Protestant posters.
http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt3sect1chpt3art2.htm
The Our Sunday Visitor’s Catholic Encyclopedia, Revised Edition (1998) has a very nice and detailed definition of Sanctification which is “The Whole process of the personal supernatural transformation by which we become intimates of the indwelling Trinity. Sanctification is thus nothing other than the perfection of the life of charity (love). The chief means of sanctification is the infusion of habitual grace which enables us to turn to God in faith, hope and love. The life of grace is continually enhanced in us through our membership in the Mystical Body of Christ and through our sharing in the sacramental garce that is at the very heart of the Church’s life. First, through Baptism when we are claimed by Christ, then preeminently through the Eucharist when we recieve the food of our sanctification, through the sacrament of Penance (i.e. Confession/Reconciliation) as we receive the forgiveness of our sins and the strength to respond to our high calling-—in these ways, the work of sanctification is underway throughout our lives. We become holy as God is holy so that we can be fit company for Him for all eternity.
So, I think when the dicussion on CCC 460, which was that long thread about “partaking the Divine Nature” (c.f. 2 Peter 1:4) that went on for a long time here, is now seen along with the Catholic Doctrine of Grace and Justification, which is described above, one sees how Catholic Doctrine sees the Incarnation as more than just the fact that “The eternal Word became flesh” and thus the underlying Theology of the Incarnation is linked with Christ’s life, teachings and the Theology of his Passion, Death, Resurrection and Ascension.
Thus, the theology of the the person of Christ (Incarnation, life/teachings, paschal mystery) impact all other aspects of Catholic Theology in areas relating to a)Soteriology, b) Sacraments, c) ecclesiologyy, d) moral theology, etc.
If one is honest about it, whether you agree with Catholic doctrine on every point or not, Catholic theology is both comprehensive yet very cohesive, and thus all fits together in a logical manner.
Regards and thanks for the post
And as Petronski stated, to be perfect in this life is very unlikely. In Catholic Doctrine, the only one who totally cooperated with God’s Grace from the first time God called her is Mary.
So Mary represents the beauty of what God’s Grace does to human nature. She was Holy because God’s Grace perfected her human nature. I think the Eastern Orthodox refer to Mary as the Most Holy Theotokos, which would be consistent with the Catholic position that Mary by and through God’s Grace has already reached the perfectio whereby she exists without spot or wrinckle; the rest of us, on the other hand, still strive to conquer sin and grow in holiness. So, in Mary, the Church is already Holy.
The life of Grace in the Sacraments is what God uses to transform us into saints, i.e. make us Holy, just as he did with Mary and the Saints that are in Heaven with God.
Regards
If after they have received the knowledge of the truth, they enter again into sin, then there is no hope for them outside of a judicial righteousness. In other words, even the allowance by God of an act of penitence with forgiveness following is the institution of an act that is judicial in nature.
Ultimately, we confess that we are NOT righteous. We confess that all our righteousness can only come from the bestowing of righteousness (imputation) by God Himself. This is true whether it’s a direct declaration of imputation or the declaration of a sign-act that accompanies the declaration.
There is nothing about confessional that logically leads to righteousness. The injured party is still an injured party. Someone someplace in authority must decree that they will overlook that obvious injustice.