Shadowing Practice: Spoiler Alert: Sanctifying Grace Is Necessary - Sermon by Fr Duncan (27 Sep 2026) - Learn English Speaking with Video
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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
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Amen.
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In today's epistle, we read this phrase, I give thanks to my God always for you,
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for the grace of God that is given unto you in Christ Jesus.
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And with this in mind, Holy Mother Church, in the Catechism of the Council of Trent, encourages the priest to look at this question of grace,
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to meditate upon it and to develop it a little bit for the faithful.
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And quite frankly, that's a lot easier said than done.
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Why?
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Because grace in itself, grace is a mystery.
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We can never completely understand grace.
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How it is possible that God influences a soul directly through the infusion of grace, and yet at that same moment,
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that soul remains completely free to do whatever it desires to do.
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More often than not, hopefully, following that encouragement from God, but still completely free.
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And as I say, it's going to be completely impossible for us to understand this
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because it is a mystery how this is possible.
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But today in particular, what I would like to look at is more the division of graces, the kinds of graces that are available.
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As we know that it is going to be impossible to completely understand grace, at the very least, we can delve into a deeper knowledge of what is meant by grace.
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First of all, we have to make that first distinction, that there are at least two different kinds of grace.
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First of all, you have actual grace, and then, of course, sanctifying grace.
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We can ask ourselves whether or not these are really different.
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If there is an actual difference between actual grace and sanctifying grace.
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In order to do so, we have to look at their definitions and what exactly they do.
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We'll begin first by looking at the question of actual grace.
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St. Thomas Aquinas defines actual grace as a transient divine movement
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or supernatural impulse from God that illuminates the intellect and moves the human will to perform a specific salvific action.
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The key word to this entire definition is the question of transient.
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It's changing.
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It's moving.
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That is to say that it's only in passing.
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It's not a state of being.
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It's an encouragement.
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It's a kind word.
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It is a push from behind.
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It is the encouragement to do something that we're supposed to do.
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Something that will help us to save our souls through actions,
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but in itself, it does not directly cause ourselves to be capable of saving our souls.
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Not directly.
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It is an indirect help from God.
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It encourages us to do an action, but it doesn't change us in any way.
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If you will, if you'll allow the analogy, you know, when we go into different stores, Oftentimes, they will ask you,
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so would you like to have a membership with us?
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Right?
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It's this very kind, very jovial personality that sits there, perhaps at the front of the doors and holds out coupons or whatever.
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It says, would you like to get a membership?
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That's an actual grace.
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Because the actual grace brings to mind the idea of doing something that will help us out in the future.
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But of itself, it doesn't change us at all.
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it's just an encouragement within this actual grace we can make
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yet another distinction we can call them either operating graces the gratia operands or the cooperating graces
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and there's a there's a very slight distinction between the two
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the operating grace is this direct action of god encouraging a soul directly absolutely Absolutely.
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Whereas the cooperating grace, it helps us to listen to that first grace.
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It's the one that says, you know, you did get invited to go to Mass today.
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You really should.
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It's the one that helps us to cooperate.
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It's not the initial movement, but it's a secondary one.
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But neither of these, neither of these does anything to change the soul.
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It's only a movement, an encouragement to do something that is willed by God.
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An actual grace doesn't change us.
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It just pushes us forward.
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Which brings us then to the question of sanctifying grace.
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And there we can look to the definition that St. Thomas Aquinas gives here too.
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He says that sanctifying grace is a permanent, habitual gift infused in the soul by God
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that elevates the human nature to share in the divine life of the Holy Trinity.
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And again, if we look at these words, the first one is what is key.
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It is permanent.
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It is habitual.
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It doesn't change.
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It stays there.
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Once it is given, it remains within us.
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And here we see what it does.
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It's not just an action from outside, but it actually comes into us, infuses within us the ability to act.
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it elevates us above our own nature to be able to act according to the life of the holy trinity
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here we see the main difference between sanctifying grace
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and actual grace sanctifying grace changes us it makes us capable of acting on the supernatural level
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because we are participating in the life of the holy trinity
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it changes us and it gives us a certain likeness to god himself in our soul
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and it causes within us an intimate union with god
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and it's for this reason
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that we can very much liken this idea of being in
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the state of sanctifying grace as being in a perfect act
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of charity that's why a perfect act of charity immediately puts us in the state of grace
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because it is this union of the soul with God
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when we talk about a perfect act of contrition well a
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perfect act of contrition properly speaking is brought on why because of the sadness at having hurt someone whom we love
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not because we're afraid of of going to hell because we have hurt someone whom we love
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And because our motive is love, that charity reunites the soul with God, causes that union together with God.
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If you will, we gave an analogy before that the actual grace was the guy outside the store offering memberships.
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sanctifying grace is the fact of having taken him up on
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that and having become members and now coming into the store we have certain perks
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that we have a right to because we have that membership
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because we are in the state of grace we have the
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right to other graces we have the right to the merits
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that we perform the acts that we perform they will be meritorious
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in this case we can see very clearly
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that sanctifying grace changes us it makes us something else it elevates us through this union with god
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and this is a very important point
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that we have to understand in our catholic faith this question of actual versus sanctifying grace why
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because quite frankly this is completely opposed to the modern misinterpretation of what grace is.
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The vast majority of people have the understanding that grace itself, according to the teaching of Luther,
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is nothing more than a blanket.
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A blanket with which we are covered.
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Meaning Meaning that we are saved by the facade and our filth, what we have become, just remains underneath that blanket.
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We do not change, we stay that horrible little thing that is encumbered by its falls for the rest of our lives.
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And it is only insofar as we have this clothing of grace, this facade, this exterior, that we can hope to save our souls.
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No. No, we have to have that interior conversion.
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We have to have that movement which compels us, forces us to be united perfectly with God through charity and in sanctifying grace.
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Having looked at this question of the differences between actual grace and sanctifying grace,
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another question comes to mind. Which is most important?
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Which is most necessary for me?" It's a valid question.
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It is a valid question.
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Most of us, all of us, would not be here if it were not for the actual graces that God has given to us.
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These actual graces, they are what have pushed us to be Catholic.
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They pushed our parents to have us baptized.
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They pushed us to continue practicing our faith.
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They pushed us to come inside the church.
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They pushed us to study our faith.
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And therefore, they have pushed all of these graces, these actual graces, have pushed us to recognize that there are most definitely major problems in the church today,
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which is the reason why these graces have pushed us to be here in this church where we are today way.
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So these actual graces, they are necessary for us, very much so.
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But while they are important, the actual graces do nothing directly for our salvation.
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And therefore, we can see very clearly that sanctifying grace,
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which of course often comes because of our fidelity to the actual graces,
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sanctifying grace is what will help us to save our souls.
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So while we may be physically here present in the church, that does nothing for us.
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It's the fact of remaining faithful to those graces and having that perfect union with the Holy Trinity in grace,
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through charity, in grace.
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Sanctifying grace, therefore, is the most important.
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But this is not to say that we shouldn't, of course, remain faithful to our actual graces as well.
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Nevertheless, the fidelity to our sanctifying grace is absolutely necessary.
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It is only there, in the state of grace, that we will be able to save our souls.
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And what is incredible about this question of sanctifying grace is the fact that it being permanent, God gives it and He doesn't take it away.
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He doesn't reject us.
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It is through sin that we ourselves choose to relinquish this great gift that has been given to us.
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it is through a lack of fidelity to both of these graces
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that we find ourselves in a state of grave sin
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and therefore separate ourselves from God it's not God who has
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walked away from us we have walked away from God
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and therefore on this 18th Sunday after Pentecost I beg of
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you let us all all of us Let us pray most definitely for a fidelity to grace,
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fidelity to the actual graces that are given to us, those graces that encourage us in the practice of our faith, whether it be the question of saying our rosary in the evening,
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coming to mass on time on Sunday, or perhaps just the very fact of going to bed on time
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so that in the morning we can start brand new
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and be faithful to our duty of state let us pray for a fidelity to those actual graces so
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that finding ourselves in the say in the state of sanctifying grace we can truly hope to remain faithful to
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that grace as well and to persevere in
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that grace to the very time of our death
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and thereby hope truly hope to sanctify our souls
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and have eternal life amen in the name of the father and of the Son and the Holy Ghost.
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Amen.
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What You'll Learn
This video is a fantastic tool to practice shadowing technique—a key skill for improving fluency. You’ll learn to follow complex, conversational speech patterns, like how to pause naturally between ideas, and how to emphasize important terms (like "sanctifying grace") to convey meaning. Plus, it’s great for building listening comprehension of formal, yet engaging, dialogue—perfect for real-world situations where clarity and focus matter.
Listen For These Sounds
Pay attention to connected speech! The speaker often links words, like "it is" becoming "it’s" and "that is" turning into "that’s." You’ll also hear reductions, such as "you’ll" for "you will" and "don’t" for "do not." Notice how "grace" is sometimes shortened in phrases like "actual grace"—the "e" sound softens, making it flow smoothly. These small sounds are what make native speech sound natural, so listen closely and mimic them!
Say It Like a Native
To mirror the speaker’s rhythm, focus on stress. Words like "mystery," "transient," and "salvific" get extra emphasis—this is how native speakers highlight key concepts. Practice shadow speak by pausing the video, repeating short phrases, and matching the pace. The speaker uses a warm, encouraging tone, so try to copy that friendly lilt. Tools like a shadowing app can help you record and compare your speech, but even repeating aloud with the video works wonders. Remember, the goal is to sound natural, not perfect—so have fun with it!
Learning English with videos like this is a great way to build confidence. Whether you’re using the shadowing technique or just practicing listening, every minute helps. Keep at it, and you’ll be speaking like a pro in no time!
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is given · is meant · is willed |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have hurt · have become · has given |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.