That we have the sacraments that purify us, and you Protestants walked away from that gift that Christ gave you -- is not strength obtained by our own doing. The sacraments are the result of grace and not of our works.
Here is a text book example of what the word Grace means to a RC, the definition of which is totally different to protestant understanding.
Grace, to a protestant is God's unmerited favor. That is, grace is God doing good for us that we do not deserve. In the Bible, grace and mercy are like two heads of the same coin. Mercy is God withholding judgment or evil that I deserve; grace is God giving me blessing or good that I do not deserve. Because of God's mercy, I do not receive the judgment of God against my sins; because of God's grace, I receive eternal life and a promise of heaven though I do not deserve them. Both mercy and grace come to me though the Lord Jesus Christ.
For the RC, "grace" is a primarily spiritual substance recieved in chunks via the sacraments. This spiritual substance temporarily empowers you to perform the good works necessary to attain your own justification not Christ's Righteousness. This chunk of grace has a short shelf life and must be replenished frequently by repetative ceremony performed only by a priest.
Good job....
Exactly, they see grace as a substance one can use up and need to refill with acts of piety or the sacraments
Bottom line is if it is a work it is not grace..
Amen...you pretty much nailed it by that explanation.
You create a false distinction. Grace is most certainly unmerited favor of God given before we ask. But our reception of grace is to the capacity of our faith. He who does not have faith in the Holy Sacraments of the Church, for example, receives next to nil of that unmerited and superabundant grace, and in the case of you Protestants, does so on his own choosing. "Many of his disciples went back; and walked no more with him" (John 6).