Your standard dictionary probably includes the concepts that GRACE = GOD'S UNMERITED, UNEARNED, FREE-GIFTED, USUALLY FAITH FOSTERD--FAVOR, SALVATION!
SILLY!
Every rabid clique 2 year old knows that in the grand !!!!TRADITIONS!!!! of the rubber dictionaries, histories, 'Bibles,' math texts, 'logic' texts, of the Vatican rubber libraries . . .
GRACE MEANS:
SLAVISHLY AND MINDLESSLY FOLLOWING the bureaucratic magicsterical power-mongers through all the endless hoop jumping through the STATIONS OF THE CROSS; THE STATIONS OF THE WHITE HANKY; the genuflecting rituals; the rosary rituals; the crawling on broken glass to kiss marble statues' toes rituals; the worship of idols, icons, THE INSTITUTION AND PERSONAGES rituals; . . . [it's endless] . . .
THEN, IF ALLLLLLLLLLLL THAT IS 99.999999999% PURELY, FAITHFULLY WORKED OUT . . .
MAYBE one will have EARNED sufficient 'GRACE' to manage a big toe in PURGATORY! What joy!
/sat
There actually are "Catholic Dictionaries" that are not made of rubber or constructed from the fever dreams and aspirations of alter pontiffs. Perhaps you should consult one and make a legitimate attempt to refute it with intellect instead of multicolored emotions. Expressing your "feelings" is so......liberal of you.
GRACE:
In biblical language the condescension or benevolence (Greek charis) shown by God toward the human race; it is also the unmerited gift proceeding from this benevolent disposition. Grace, therefore, is a totally gratuitous gift on which man has absolutely no claim. Where on occasion the Scriptures speak of grace as pleasing charm or thanks for favors received, this is a derived and not primary use of the term.
As the Church has come to explain the meaning of grace, it refers to something more than the gifts of nature, such as creation or the blessings of bodily health. Grace is the supernatural gift that God, of his free benevolence, bestows on rational creatures for their eternal salvation. The gifts of grace are essentially supernatural. They surpass the being, powers, and claims of created nature, namely sanctifying grace, the infused virtues, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and actual grace. They are the indispensable means necessary to reach the beatific vision. In a secondary sense, grace also includes such blessings as the miraculous gifts of prophecy or healing, or the preternatural gifts of freedom from concupiscence.
The essence of grace, properly so called, is its gratuity, since no creature has a right to the beatific vision, and its finality or purpose is to lead one to eternal life. (Etym. Latin gratia, favor; a gift freely given.)