elves do nothing to effect good
works of piety without Him either working that we may will, or cooeperating
when we will."(93) St. Bernard employs similar language.(94)

b) Cooeperating grace (_gratia cooperans s. adiuvans s. subsequens_)
differs from prevenient grace in this, that it supposes a deliberate act
of consent on the part of the will ({~GREEK SMALL LETTER BETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}, not {~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}). St. Gregory
the Great tersely explains the distinction as follows: "The divine
goodness first effects something in us without our cooeperation [_gratia
praeveniens_], and then, as the will freely consents, cooeperates with us
in performing the good which we desire [_gratia cooperans_]."(95) That
such free and consequently meritorious acts are attributable to grace is
emphasized by the Tridentine Council: "So great is the bounty [of God]
towards all men that He will have the things which are His own gifts to be
their merits."(96) Such free salutary acts are not only graces in the
general sense, but real actual graces, in as far as they produce other
salutary acts, and their existence is as certain as the fact that many men
freely follow the call of grace, work out their salvation, and attain to
the beatific vision. It is only in this way, in fact, that Heaven is
peopled with Saints.

{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}) St. Augustine embodies all these considerations in the following
passage: "It is certain that we keep the commandments when we will; but
because the will is prepared by the Lord, we must ask of Him that we may
will so much as is sufficient to make us act in willing. It is certain
that we will whenever we like, but it is He who makes us will what is
good, of whom it is said (Prov. VIII, 35): 'The will is prepared by the
Lord,' and of whom it is said (Ps. XXXVI, 32): 'The steps of a [good] man
are ordered by the Lord, and his way doth He will,' and of whom it is said
(Phil. II, 13): 'It is God who worketh in you, even to will.' It is
certain that we act whenever we set to work; but it is He who causes us to
act, by giving thoro