Grace from the Eucharist

When we receive any sacrament, we receive both sanctifying and sacramental grace. Sanctifying grace is the life of God dwelling within us. The more often we receive the sacraments the more grace-filled we become. Every time we receive the Eucharist, it multiplies (increases?) the sanctifying grace in our souls. St. Thérèse of Lisieux gave us a great example, using a cup to represent our soul. Whether you have a small cup or a big cup, when your soul possesses sanctifying grace, your cup is full. Obviously a bigger cup holds more water. God always wants to flood us with grace, but we’re limited in the amount that we are able to receive. Receiving sanctifying (?) grace turns our souls into “bigger cups” so we can receive more grace.

Each sacrament also bestows its own sacramental grace, which is the grace to reach the end, or goal, of that sacrament (CCC 1129). Baptism and reconciliation both give us the grace to never commit a mortal sin, so we can enter heaven in friendship with God. When we sin it is always a rejection of God, even in a small way, and we inflict an injury on our soul. Receiving the Eucharist heals that injury from our past sins while also conforming us to the Father, through Christ. As the Catechism states: “The Eucharist is also the sacrifice of praise by which the Church sings the glory of God in the name of all creation. This sacrifice of praise is possible only through Christ: he unites the faithful to his person, to his praise, and to his intercession, so that the sacrifice of praise to the Father is offered through Christ and with him, to be accepted in him” (CCC 1361).