a) What is law?
According to the Scriptures, the law is a fatherly instruction of God, which shows us the way to happiness and prohibits the ways of evil. In the Old Testament, God’s laws are summed up in the Ten Commandments. In the New Testament, God brings the Ten Commandments to perfection in the new Law of love, of grace, and of freedom.
Grace is a supernatural gift of God given to us through the merits of Jesus Christ for our salvation. There are two kinds of grace.
First, sanctifying grace is a supernatural quality by which a person shares in the life of God himself. Its chief effects are: it makes us holy and pleasing to God, it makes us adopted children of God, it makes us temples of the Holy Spirit, and it gives us the right to heaven.
Secondly, actual grace is a supernatural help from God by which he enlightens our minds and strengthens our will to do good and to avoid evil.
b) Why should an Altar Server understand God’s salvation through law and grace?
We follow God’s laws not simply because we fear his just punishments, but because we love him and freely wish to please him and share in his happiness.
Having sanctifying grace (that is, being in the state of grace) is a foretaste of sharing God’s life in heaven. Without actual graces, we cannot resist temptations for long or perform many good actions. We obtain grace through prayer and the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist and Confession.