The relationship between Grace and Free Will:

This morning, I was called to bless a healthy newborn baby.. I met the father and said “congratulation on being a new Father”.

Congratulations are due but more in the sense how Grace and Free Will come together.

St Augustine: “Merit is nothing more than God crowning his Grace”

In life we give congratulations to things that come naturally ‘a baby first step.. first word’

When we say to a new Father or Mother ‘congratulations’, they don’t say ‘hey look what I did as if I rose to the task of creating this new life in a way that surpasses others.’

The idea when we congratulations to new mom or dad’ is like a baby’s first step. We recognize that nature & grace did all the vital work, we just played our part..

Without God, life, grace, activity…nothing we could have done or did could create a new life.

Yes.. the new parents go to doctors for exams, eat well, and yes, sometimes bed rest for months at a time.. But still, a new mom and dad only contribute help in a sense what is already there – the seed of God’s life in the womb.

As it is with grace and free will.. Grace is the cause of merit. By our free will we only contribute our little bit. And by our Free Will and helping the baby in the womb get what it needs, we do cooperate in creating new life.

Which bring me back to my original Idea..that when we say ‘congratulations to a new mom and dad, we know that the things we are most proud of have the least to do with what we did.

Again like a baby taking its first step.. yes, the baby did something but in truth it is almost entirely nature or grace.