Actual grace is, in Catholic theology, a supernatural help of God -- Divine grace -- for salutary acts. It is contrasted with sanctifying grace, which is a state of being that can be permanent, in that it consists only in a passing influence of God on the soul. There is a biotheological analogy between spiritual growth and grace and plant growth and sunlight, in that sunlight provides the power to actually photosynthesize and grace provides the power to actually do good deeds.