help;
for example, to lift some heavy weight is only a natural act, not a
supernatural act, and the help we need for it is only natural help. But
if we are going to do something above and beyond our nature, and cannot
do it alone, we must not look for natural, but for supernatural help;
that is, the help must always be like the work to be done. Therefore all
spiritual works need spiritual help, and spiritual help is grace.

104 Q. How many kinds of grace are there?
A. There are two kinds of grace: sanctifying grace and actual grace.

105 Q. What is sanctifying grace?
A. Sanctifying grace is that grace which makes the soul holy and
pleasing to God.

"Sanctifying," that is, making us holy by cleansing, purifying our
souls. Sin renders the soul ugly and displeasing to God, and grace
purifies it. Suppose I have something bright and beautiful given to me,
and take no care of it, but let it lie around in dusty places until it
becomes tarnished and soiled, loses all its beauty, and appears black
and ugly. To restore its beauty I must clean and polish it. Thus the
soul blackened by sin must be cleaned by God's grace. If the soul is in
mortal sin--altogether blackened--then sanctifying grace brings back its
brightness and makes it pleasing to God; but if the soul is already
bright, though stained or darkened a little by venial sin, then grace
makes it still brighter.

*106 Q. What do you call those graces or gifts of God by which we
believe in Him, hope in Him, and love Him?
A. Those graces or gifts of God by which we believe in Him, and hope in
Him, and love Him, are called the divine virtues of faith, hope, and
charity.

"Virtues." Virtue is the habit of doing good. The opposite to virtue is
vice, which is the habit of doing evil. We acquire a habit bad or good
when we do the same thing very frequently. We then do it easily and
almost without thinking; as a man, for instance, who has the habit of
cursing curses almost without knowing it, though that does not excuse
him, but makes his case worse, by showing that he must have cursed very
often to acquire the habit. If, however, he is striving to overcome the
bad habit, and should unintentionally curse now and then, it would not
be a sin, since he did not wish to curse, and was trying to overcome the
vice. One act does not make a virtue or a vice. A person who gives alms
only once cannot be said to have the virtue of charity. A man who curses
only once a year cannot be sa