Normative Means of Grace

ESMDHokie77 · #1 Apr 29, '12, 7:10 pm

Hey CAF,

So I'm e-mailing with one of my Protestant friends and am wondering your opinions on my following analogy trying to explain what "normative means of grace" are...

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God is not limited by the visible Church or the sacraments but He does bind us by the normative means of grace available through the Catholic Church; and what I mean by us being bound by the normative means is that we mustn't try to rely on special graces from God to be near Him. If you need a drink of water you go to the faucet, not outside with your mouth open to the sky waiting for rain... your thirst could probably be quenched by the rain, but you're sure to get water at the faucet. (Not the most perfect analogy but I gave it a shot)
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Thanks,
Phil

ESMDHokie77 · #2 Apr 30, '12, 11:09 am

maybe it's more akin to charging an electronic device... you could go outside and stick the cord in the air waiting for lightning or you could go inside and plug it into a socket lol.

ESMDHokie77 · #3 Apr 30, '12, 5:21 pm

Found a topic that CAF has no comment on...

Pfaffenhoffen · #4 May 1, '12, 6:23 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by ESMDHokie77

Hey CAF,

So I'm e-mailing with one of my Protestant friends and am wondering your opinions on my following analogy trying to explain what "normative means of grace" are...

---
God is not limited by the visible Church or the sacraments but He does bind us by the normative means of grace available through the Catholic Church; and what I mean by us being bound by the normative means is that we mustn't try to rely on special graces from God to be near Him. If you need a drink of water you go to the faucet, not outside with your mouth open to the sky waiting for rain... your thirst could probably be quenched by the rain, but you're sure to get water at the faucet. (Not the most perfect analogy but I gave it a shot)
---

Thanks,
Phil

I opened my mouth and could not get any water from anywhere.
I cannot understand where you want to reach.
No wonder you receive no answers. your question is beyond comprhension...

ESMDHokie77 · #5 May 1, '12, 12:20 pm

Well, I was simply trying to come up with an analogy for why we should rely upon the normative means of grace, which are the sacraments, instead of hoping for extraordinary graces from God.

Such as hoping for forgiveness with perfect contrition at death (versus imperfect contrition at confession yet still having forgiveness), and getting actual Communion versus spiritual communion, etc.