give them, as many pious Christians do, all my good works, what do I do? I merely give away the satisfaction for the punishment due to sin, and by those very works that I thus give away I merit for myself the increase of sanctifying grace here and of eternal glory hereafter as my reward; this, although I might wish to give it away, or might imagine I have already given it, I cannot alienate from myself; it is a property, a fund that belongs to me alone as its lawful owner. “For,” says the Apostle, “what things a man shall sow those also shall he reap,”[1] and no other can have any right or claim to that property. Oh, what a comfort for us, my dear brethren, if we only wish to do good works! How careful the good God is of our gain and eternal interests!
According to the degree of grace, merit increases, as well a the grace itself and heavenly glory. Fourthly, our good works continually increase in merit more and more according to the measure of the increase and augmentation of sanctifying grace. For example: a child who has just come to the full use of reason has only the grace it received in baptism,—one single degree, let us call it. Now this child says the Lord’s prayer with devotion, and thereby merits anew degree of grace here and of glory hereafter, so that it actually possesses two degrees. If it again says the Lord’s prayer, it adds still more to its grace here and glory hereafter than it gained by the first recital. Why? Because the second prayer is said in a state of greater sanctifying grace than the first, and thus it comes from a soul that is more pleasing to God. The third prayer is still more meritorious than the second and first, the fourth than the third, and so the merit of good works goes on increasing more and more till death, in proportion to the increase of grace. What a happiness this is for us Christians if we only earnestly wish to do good! What an immense accumulation of eternal joys can we not heap up even in the course of one year! Nay, how much may we not gain in one day if we are in the state of grace, and are united with God from morning till night by the good intention!
Besided, our merit is increased immediately by the merits of Christ in the recep- Fifthly, the good God is not satisfied with the mere merits that we can gain by our own work and labor, that is, by our own good works; for in the institution of the holy sacraments He has opened to us an inexhaustible living fountain of graces and merits that are given to our souls in the reception of those sacraments, immediately through the merits of Jesus Christ, or as
- ↑ Quæ enim seminaverit homo, hæc et metet.—Gal. vi. 8.
