do their share, to comply with all the conditions
necessary for salvation."(107) The existence of sufficient grace was
formally defined by the Council of Trent as follows: "If any one saith
that man's free-will, moved and excited by God, ... no wise cooeperates
towards disposing and preparing itself for obtaining the grace of
justification; that it cannot refuse its consent if it would, ... let him
be anathema."(108)

This dogma can be convincingly demonstrated both from Sacred Scripture and
Tradition.

(1) God Himself complains through the mouth of the prophet Isaias: "What
is there that I ought to do more to my vineyard, that I have not done to
it? Was it that I looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it hath
brought forth wild grapes?"(109) This complaint clearly applies to the
Jews. Yahweh did for the Jewish nation whatever it behooved Him to do
lavishly (_gratia vere sufficiens_), but His kindness was unrequited
(_gratia mere sufficiens_). In the Book of Proverbs He addresses the
sinner in these terms: "I called, and you refused: I stretched out my
hand, and there was none that regarded."(110) What does this signify if
not the complete sufficiency of grace? The proffered grace remained
inefficacious simply because the sinner rejected it of his own free will.
Upbraiding the wicked cities of Corozain and Bethsaida, our Lord exclaims:
"If in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought
in you, they had long ago done penance in sackcloth and ashes."(111) The
omniscient God-man here asserts the existence of graces which remained
inefficacious in Corozain and Bethsaida, though had they been given to the
inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon, they would have proved effective. The
conclusion evidently is: these graces remained ineffective, not because
they were unequal to the purpose for which they were conferred, but simply
and solely because they were rejected by those whom God intended to
benefit.(112)

(2) Though they did not employ the name, the Fathers were thoroughly
familiar with the notion of sufficient grace.

Thus St. Irenaeus comments on our Lord's lamentation over the fate of the
Holy City: "When He says: (Matth. XXIII, 37): 'How often would I have
gathered together thy children, ... and thou wouldest not,' He manifests
the ancient liberty of man, because God hath made him free from the
beginning.... For God does not employ force, but always has a good
intention. And for this reason H