A common charge leveled against the Catholic Church is that it wrongfully teaches that Christians can “earn” grace. The critics say that this conflicts with the teaching that grace is a gift from God, which we can never earn. In this article, I will show why grace is indeed a gift from God that we do not “earn.” Rather, we cooperate with this gift to remain in it and further dispose ourselves to an increase of it. This is what the Catholic Church correctly calls merit.
