Let's go to Patrick in Trenton, New Jersey.

I just have a question regarding graces.

What is the difference in sanctifying graces and just regular grace?

Could you receive sanctifying graces by reading the Bible, let's say?

Well, let's break it down.

First of all, sanctifying grace is the church would describe it in terms like this,

that it's the very life of God himself

that is communicated to our souls. And the par excellence way of God communicating his grace

to your soul is through the sacraments. So it's not the only way, but it's the primary way.

So when you receive Holy Communion, worthily, when you go to confession or receive any of the sacraments, it either introduces,

or if you're in the state of mortal sin, it reintroduces sanctifying grace, or it intensifies.

St. Paul uses the term that the love of God is poured out into our hearts. He uses an analogy of liquid. It's not

liquid. It's not like there's a certain volume there per se, but it can be intensified and strengthened,

and if you want to think of it as expanded, it can have that same effect. Now, another kind of grace,

and this might be where you're wondering about the two,

another kind of grace is called actual grace. Now actual graces come to you in the form of maybe,

like you said, reading the Holy Bible, praying the rosary, making the sign of the cross,

genuflecting in front of the tabernacle, blessing yourself with holy water. These are sacramentals,

not sacraments. But when you use sacramentals or you receive a blessing from a priest, that too is a

sacramental. It's not a sacrament. These kinds of graces are external to you. They're sometimes

called actual graces or signal graces is another term. And what they do is they help to

dispose your mind, well, more specifically, your soul, but through your mind, it helps to dispose you

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