Grace and the call to freedom in the gift of self
Gift
St. Thomas Aquinas pointed out that the creature’s grateful response to the received gifts is included in a reality of divine benevolence and love.
With the grace of faith and reason, the truth about responsibility is found in the Word; with the grace of hope and ethics we act responsibly on the way of the Cross; by means of grace of charity and communion, the life in the Church promotes the responsibility of the gift.
Human freedom is called to a perfection which demands the maturity in self-giving; man is held accountable for the gift of life and the goods of the world, that must be administered with the gifts of freedom and responsibility.
The disciple has Christ as the model and unique source of life; this communion with Christ leads to a great responsibility, but it is itself a gift from the Lord, a grace that allows acting to give good fruits, to the point that the disciple himself or herself becomes a gift, which thus fully fulfills his or her sake.