How do you know if you are in a state of grace?

I am so glad this thread was resurrected. It finally dawned on me just the other day that in the great scheme of things the most important prayer to pray and have answered is that we may live and die in the state of grace. Ultimately it’s our assurance of getting to heaven, even if we may have to make a pit stop in purgatory.

 

Beautiful post.

I read once a person who had visions of Jesus, and sorry I can't remember the name of the person; but what Jesus explained to her when she asked what Grace is has remained with me to this very day.

Jesus explained from a human perspective, grace can be explained by comparing it to electricity. We can't see it but we can benefit from it's use when we are open to receive it. That is to say, grace is like holy energy. So when we are free from sin, God's grace is able to penetrate us or reach us. Purity in thought, word and deed keeps us open to grace/holy energy. I believe.

Sin blocks holy energy or grace. And when you think of it, sin blocks our good motivation to seek to please God first. I don't think we need to beat ourselves up over our frequent falls from grace as we stumble along the thorny path that leads to Heaven. We just got to get up brush ourselves off and if there are any thorns or splinters (sins) clinging to us needing to be removed, we have the sacrament of Confession to remove them, followed by little sacrifices or penances to alleviate or heal the wounds or scars left by those pesky little thorns or splinters (sins) even after Absolution in Confession.

Those scars are what send us to Purgatory, or as I came to think of as God's boot camp where we are prepared for an eternity in perfect peace and harmony with dear God in Heaven. Merciful Jesus, I trust in Thee.

Always remember Jesus will never be outdone in generosity, His Divine Mercy is witness to His promise. All efforts to repair the scars left on our souls as a result of sin will be a delight in the sight of God. So go forth and rejoice in a God, The Only One True God who loves us and dotes on us like a jealous Father.

If we only knew how much God loves us, we would weep for joy. Viva Christo Rey.

 

I thought the virtue (or challenging goal?) of Perseverance was that you never 100% know ,and thus you have to keep struggling against sin until death?
This is what I understood by reading alphonsus liguori's book, I think it was "preparation for death".
Or maybe I just picked a bad translation and lost the true meaning of his teaching

 

I went to my priest in Confession a few weeks ago and asked him this very question which had been troubling me. I told him I was troubled by remarks a priest had made to me in Confession recently that I might be the subject of self deceit in pride in that I had to little to confess with six weeks since my last confession and I had far,far too little to confess and seemed to think myself some kind of saint.

The Father told me all the good Catholic can do is to examine their consciences each day and do our best to fulfill our duties as good Catholics. I think this is so true and wise. Jesus does not want us to torture ourselves He wants us to simply to lead good Catholic , honest lives. I think a lot of fear and self suspecting comes from the evil one.

Padre Pio said when we sin we should simply repent, say we are sorry and carry on in life with assurance in God's Mercy.