A modern dictionary of Catholic terms, both common and obscure.
Find accurate definitions of words and phrases. INCREASE OF
MERIT Factors that increase a person's supernatural reward for
good works performed in the state of grace. There are four such
factors: 1. the degree of sanctifying grace in which a person
does some morally good action; 2. the intensity of will with
which an act is done; 3. the sublimity of the action performed;
and 4. the purity of love or selflessness that animates the
performance. Difficulties of themselves do not increase
supernatural merit, but, provided that a difficulty is not
culpable, it normally demands additional effort of will and thus
indirectly adds to the merit derived from a morally good act
done in the state of grace. All items in this dictionary are
from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal
Life. Used with permission.