Born-again Catholic ...

Grace is God’s gift to us of himself and of his friendship. Being a gift to us, this friendship is supernatural because it is beyond what we are naturally capable of attaining. All grace is given to us by means of Jesus Christ and his Church,  since by Christ’s death and resurrection, the grace lost by Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden was restored and men and women were given the chance once more to live with God.  But grace does not come to us “automatically”. Christ tells us that, “Very truly, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above” (John 3,3). When we are baptised, and so become Christians, the life of grace begins in us. Catholics are ‘born again’ in their baptisms. 

By means of grace, God allows us to participate in his own divine life. The Christian is destined for heaven; yet even on this earth, as his adopted children, we can “live the life of grace”. We have natural gifts which become nourished and strengthened by the gifts of grace, preparing us for the eternal bliss of heaven.