The Spirit and Grace

Et ingressus est in me spiritus, postquam locutus est mihi, et statuit me super pedes meos. Ecce divina vox jacenti prophetae jussit ut surgeret. Sed surgere omnino non posset, nisi in hunc omnipotentis Dei spiritus intrasset, quia ex omnipotentis Dei gratia ad bona opera conari quidem possumus, sed haec implere non possumus, si ipse non adjuvat qui jubet. Sic Paulus cum discipulos admoneret, dicens, Cum metu et tremore vestram ipsorum salutem operamini, illico quis in eis haec ipsa bona operaretur adjunxit, dicens: Deus est enim qui operatur in vobis et velle et perficere pro bona voluntate. Hinc est quod ipsa Veritas discipulis dicit: Sine me nihil potestis facere. Sed in his considerandum quia sic bona nostra si omnipotentis Dei dona sunt ut in eis aliquid nostrum non sit, cur nos quasi pro meritis aeternam retributionem quaerimus? Si autem ita nostra sunt ut dona Dei omnipotentis non sint, cur ex eis omnipotenti Deo gratias agimus? Sed sciendum est quia mala nostra solummodo nostra sunt; bona autem nostra, et omnipotentis Dei sunt, et nostra, quia ipse aspirando nos praevenit ut velimus, qui adjuvando subsequitur ne inaniter velimus, sed possimus implere quae volumus. Praeveniente ergo gratia, et bona voluntate subsequente, hoc quod omnipotentis Dei donum est fit meritum nostrum. Quod bene Paulus brevi sententia explicat, dicens: Plus illis omnibus laboravi. Qui ne suae videretur virtuti tribuisse quod fecerat, adjunxit: Non autem ego, sed gratia Dei mecum. Quia enim coelesti dono praeventus est, quasi alienum se a bono suo opere agnovit, dicens: Non autem ego. Sed quia praeveniens gratia liberum in eo arbitrium fecerat in bonum, quo libero arbitrio eamdem gratiam est subsecutus in opere, adjunxit: Sed gratia  Dei mecum. Ac si diceret: In bono opere laboravi, non ego, sed et ego. In hoc enim quod solo Domini dono praeventussum, non ego; in eo autem quod donum voluntate subsecutus, et ego. Sanctus Gregorius Magnus, In Ezechielem Prophetam, Liber Primus, Homilia IX

'And the Spirit went into me after He had spoken to me, and He stood me on my feet.' 1 See that the Divine voice is given to the Prophet commanding that he should rise. But he cannot rise at all, unless the spirit of the omnipotent God has entered, because it is by the grace of almighty God that we are able to attempt good works, and these things we cannot do if He who commands them does not aid. So when Paul admonishes his pupils, saying, 'With fear and trembling work out your salvation,' 2  He who in them works these good works he then refers to, saying, 'God it is who works in you, and He wishes to perfect you with a good will.' 3 Whence the Truth Himself says to His disciples: 'Without me you would be able to do nothing.' 4 But in these things we must consider, that as they are our goods, if as gifts of the omnipotent God they are and if there is nothing of ours in them, why do we seek eternal reward on account of merit? And then if indeed they are ours so that they are not gifts of the omnipotent God, why do we seek the grace of almighty God? Let it be known that our evils alone are ours, and our goods are of omnipotent God, and yet also ours, because He in hope comes before that we wish, who in the act of aiding it follows we do not wish vainly, but we are able to do what we wish. Therefore grace precedes, and the good will follows, and this is the gift of the omnipotent God which makes our merit. Which well Paul in brief words explains, saying, 'More than them in all things I have labored.' 5 He whom, lest he seem himself to attribute the virtue of what he had done to himself, adds, 'Not even I but the grace of God with me.' 5 For the celestial gift having come before, he knew it as a foreign thing, apart from his good work, saying, 'Not even I.' But because the preceding grace in him inclined his free will to the good, by which free will the same grace flows into works, he adds, 'But the grace of God with me.' And so it was as if he had said, ' In good works I have laboured, not I and yet I. For in that which is the gift of the Lord alone and comes before, it is not I, and in that which follows the gift in the will, it is I.' Saint Gregory the Great, On the Prophet Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 9 1 Ezek 2.2 2 2 Phil 2.12.  3 Phil 2.13  4 Jn 15.5  5 1 Cor 15.10