Msg Base:  AREA 5  - ASK FATHER            CIN ECHO   AMDG
  Msg No: 288.  Wed  4-22-92 22:02  (NO KILL)  (MAILED)
    From: Father Mateo
      To: Bob Whelton
 Subject: Grace

+-
| My sister asked me this question: In Old Testament times before Christ,
| who in the Godhead was responsible for the Grace the Jews received? I told
| her that I believed after the Fall and before Christ there was no
| Sanctifying Grace ( except for Mary), but God did other forms of Grace and
| this would be conveyed by the Holy Spirit. She had been told Grace in Old
| Testament times was from God the Father. What is the right answer and why?
+-[BW=>FM]
 
Dear Bob and Bob's Sister,
 
All action of God upon creatures and upon creation as a whole is
common to the whole Trinity.  This doctrine was defined by the
Lateran Council.  Then in 1441, the Council of Florence declared:
"The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not principles of creation, but
only one principle."
 
Human language being an imperfect vehicle of thought, and human
intelligence being an inadequate means of coping with the immensity
of God, we resort often to what theologians call `appropriation', that
is, we attribute -- by what is really a figure of speech -- certain
divine actions to one Person or another -- because these actions
seem 'appropriate` in view of the inner relationship  of the Persons
among themselves.  But actually, all God's actions terminating in
creatures proceed from the whole Trinity as one principle. 
 
Christ merited all saving grace, both sanctifying grace and actual
graces, by His  redemptive  sacrifice  on the Cross.  The God-Man is
our Savior.  But from a trinitarian point of view, God is our Savior
as one principle of salvation. By appropriation, the Father initiates
our salvation by sending his Son into the world.  The Son performs
our salvation by His Incarnation and priestly Sacrifice, His Passion,
Death, Resurrection, Ascension and ongoing intercession.  The Holy
Spirit lives in us to apply to us the merits of Christ by his
intercession for us.
 
Indeed, there was grace, sanctifying grace in the Old Testament --
just as there is grace working outside the Church today.  But Jesus
Christ won it all.
 
Neither you nor I can fully understand all of this.  We do what we
can, and our infallible Church sets the limits of our discussion,
freeing us to discuss  and debate without danger of falling into
error -- if we keep checking back with her.
 
                                Sincerely in Christ,
 
                                Father Mateo