Question:
Answer:
It is not Catholic belief that grace is necessary to perform a good action. Pope Pius V condemned the two following propositions in the bull Ex Omnibus Afflictionibus (Oct. 1, 1567):
- All works of infidels are sins, and the virtues of philosophers are vices.
- Free will, without the help of God’s grace, acts only in order to sin.
The implication of the two condemned propositions was that man apart from grace can do no good. But according to Pius V, this is not true. Therefore, man can do good apart from grace.
This is confirmed by St. Paul in Romans 2:14: “When Gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.”
Grace is necessary for a man’s good works to be salutary–that is to say, meritorious for heaven. The Council of Trent taught this in its canons on justification:
- Canon 1: If anyone shall say that man can be justified before God by his own works which are done either by his own natural powers, or through the teaching of the law, and without divine grace through Christ Jesus: let him be anathema.
- Canon 2: If anyone shall say that divine grace through Christ Jesus is given for this only, that man may more easily be able to live justly and merit eternal life, as if by free will without grace he were able to do both, though with difficulty and hardship: let him be anathema.
- Canon 3: If anyone shall say that without the anticipatory inspiration of the Holy Spirit and without his assistance man can believe, hope, and love or be repentant, as he ought, so that the grace of justification may be conferred upon him: let him be anathema.
Check out also St. Thomas Aquinas’s treatment on this subject in Summa Theologiae, I-II, q. 109, a. 5.
In sum, grace is not necessary for a man to perform a good action, but grace is necessary for that good action to contribute to his eternal reward.