Supernatural Gift

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Asupernatural gift may be defined as something conferred on nature that is above all the powers (vires) of created nature. WhenGod created man, He was not content with bestowing upon him the essential endowments required by man's nature. He raised him to a higher state, adding certain gifts to which his nature had no claim. They comprise qualities and perfections, forces and energies, dignities andrights, destination to final objects, of which the essential constitution of man is not the principle; which are not required for the attainment of the final perfection of the natural order of man; and which can only be communicated by the free operation ofGod'sgoodness and power. Some of these are absolutelysupernatural, i.e. beyond the reach of all created nature (even of theangels), and elevate the creature to a dignity and perfection natural toGod alone; others are only relativelysupernatural (preternatural), i.e. abovehumannature only and elevatehumannature to that state of higher perfection which is natural to theangels. The original state of man comprised both of these, and when he fell he lost both. Christ has restored to us the absolutelysupernatural gifts, but the preternatural gifts He has not restored.

The absolutelysupernatural gifts, which alone are thesupernatural properly so called, are summed up in the divine adoption of man to be the son and heir ofGod. This expression, and the explanations given of it by the sacred writers, make it evident that the sonship is something far more than a relation founded upon the absence ofsin; it is of a thoroughly intimate character, raising the creature from its naturallyhumble estate, and making it the object of a peculiar benevolence and complaisance onGod's part, admitting it to filiallove, and enabling it to becomeGod's heir, i.e. a partaker ofGod's own beatitude. "God sent his Son . . . that he might redeem them who were under thelaw: that we might receive the adoption of sons (ten ouiothesian). And because you are sons,God hath sent the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying:Abba, Father. Therefore now he is (Gr. text: thou art) not a servant, but a son. And if a son, an heir also throughGod" (Galatians 4:4-7) "Who hath blessed us with [all] spiritualblessings in heavenly places, in Christ . . . Who hathpredestinated unto the adoption of children (ouiothesian) throughJesus Christ unto himself" (Ephesians i, 3-5). "Behold what manner of charity the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called, and should be the sons ofGod" (1 John 3:1). Further, this exalted estate is described as a communication or partnership with the only-begottenSon of God, a participation in the privileges which are peculiar to Him in opposition to mere creatures. "That they all may be one, as thou, Father in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us. . . . And the glory which thou hast given me, I have given to them; that they may be one, as we also are one: l in thee; and thou in me; that they may be made perfect in one" (John 17:21-23). It is also styledfellowship (koinonia) "with the Father, and with his Son" (1 John 1:3), and "the communication (he koinonia) of the Holy Ghost" (2 Corinthians 13:13). Divine adoption is a new birth of thesoul (John 1:12-13 and3:5;1 John 3:9;5:1;1 Peter 1:3 and1:23;James 1:18;Titus 3:5,Ephesians 2:5). This regeneration implies the foundation of a higher state of being and life, resulting from a special Divine influence, and admitting us to the dignity of sons ofGod. "For whom he foreknew, he alsopredestinated to be made conformable to the image of his Son; that he might be thefirstborn amongst many brethren" (Romans 8:29). cf. also2 Corinthians 3:18;Galatians 3:26-27 and4:19;Romans 13:14. As a consequence of this Divine adoption and new birth we are made "partakers of the divine nature" (theias koinonoi physeos,2 Peter 1:4). The whole context of this passage and the passages already quoted show that this expression is to be taken as literally as possible not, indeed, as a generation from the substance ofGod, but as a communication of Divine life by the power ofGod, and a most intimate indwelling of His substance in the creature. Hence, too, the inheritance is not confined to natural goods. It embraces the possession and fruition of the good which is the natural inheritance of theSon of God, viz., thebeatific vision. "We are now the sons ofGod; and it hath not yet appeared what we shall be. Weknow that, when he shall appear, we shall be like to him because we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2). "We see now through a glass in a dark manner; but then [in thebeatific vision] face to face" (1 Corinthians 13:12). The Fathers have not hesitated to callsupernatural union of the creature withGod the deification of the creature. This is a favorite expression ofSt. Irenæus ("Adv. Haer.", III, xvii, xix; IV, xx, etc.), and is frequently used bySt. Athanasius (seeNewman, "St. Athanasius", II, 88). See alsoSt. Augustine (? Serm. cxci, "In Nat. Dom."), quoted bySt. Thomas (III:1:3).

In order to live worthy of our Divine dignity and to attain our Divine end, we stand in need ofsupernatural aid. Thissupernatural aid to asupernatural end is called grace. For our present purpose it will be sufficient to note that grace is either habitual (i.e. sanctifying, making us pleasing toGod) or actual (i.e. enabling us to produce works deserving ofsalvation). There are other aids sometimes bestowed less for our own benefit than for the benefit of others. These are calledgratiae gratis datae (charismata). They do not directly and immediately help to the attainment of our end, but assist as it were from without. Thetheological virtues and the moral virtues aregraces properly so called. So. too, are the gifts of the Holy Ghost (seeHOLY GHOST).

It may be well here to say a few words on the preternatural (relativelysupernatural) gifts bestowed on ourfirst parents, which are sometimes confused with thesupernatural gifts properly so called. In the beginningGod exempted man from the inherent weakness of his nature, i.e. the infirmities of the flesh and the consequent infirmities of the spirit. He made manimmortal, impassible, free fromconcupiscence andignorance, sinless, and lord of the earth. These privileges are beyond man's nature, but not beyond that of some higher creature (e.g. theangels); hence they are preternatural (praeter naturam). The Fathers look upon them as a glorification of nature, applying the words ofPsalm 8:5-9. In point of fact these gifts were not conferred apart from thesupernatural gifts; a preternatural state is, however, conceivable, and the separability of the two sets of gifts is clear from our now possessing thesupernatural without the preternatural gifts. "Although distinct and separable, unite into one harmonious and organic whole. The Fathers look upon this union in the original state of man as an anticipation of his state of final beatitude in thevision of God, so that grace bears to integrity the same relation which the future glory of thesoul bears to the future glory of the body. Integrity and grace, when combined, elevate man to the most perfect likeness withGod attainable in this life; they dispose and prepare him for the still more complete likeness of eternal life".

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