Merit
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Simplified
Right to Recompense (2006-2007)
"In crowning their merits, you are crowning your own gifts" (Preface of saints).
Merit is recompense owed by society to an individual for some action, good or bad, which deserves a reward or a punishment according to the principle of equality.
Man has no strict right to any merit with God. An immeasurable inequality exists between man and God because man has received everything from his Creator.
Yet True Merit (2008-2010)
However, God has freely chosen to have men work with him. Therefore, merit belongs primarily to God's grace and secondarily to man's good actions.
True merit results because God adopted man and made him a "co-heir with Christ, worthy to obtain the promised inheritance of eternal life" (Council of Trent). "Our merits are God's gifts" (St. Augustine).
Therefore, no one merits the first grace of forgiveness and justification. However, by the Spirit, we can merit (for ourselves and others) the graces needed for sanctification. Even temporal goods (the objects of our prayers) can be merited in God's wisdom.
Totally a Gift (2011)
Christ's love ensures the supernatural quality and the merit of our actions. The saints knew that their merits were totally a gift. "In the evening of this life, I shall appear before you with empty hands. I wish, then, to be clothed in your own justice and to receive the eternal possession of yourself" (St. Therese of Lisieux).
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