How can someone who is not in a state of grace display the theological

[Guest JJMG2001]

I understand that the only way to have the theological virtues is if you receive them as gifts from God in the form of grace. Yet my Catholic Doctrine teacher told me that when we aren't in a state of sanctifying grace we are cut off from actual grace (except for something about the grace to repent) So here's the question. How can someone who has never been baptized gain the faith necessary to want to be baptized and why does someone who commits a mortal sin not automatically stop believing in God outside of the intellectual idea? Is it true that all the grace they receive is purely for the sake of them converting/repenting? If that is so then isn’t it still incorrect to say they are cut off from actual grace and would some of that grace recieved for the sake of repentance be sanctifying grace? Also what about people in the Old testament how would that grace work in their lives?

[cappie]

When we talk about actual grace we mean:

A supernatural gift from Almighty God, I, received in the human intellect or will, accidentally perfecting these faculties and enabling them to elicit acts explicitly related to eternal life. Because the power thus received is above and beyond all natural exigencies, it is correctly called supernatural; because it lacks permanence and is granted by God solely to assist and strengthen the natural faculty while it is in operation, it is correctly called actual.

Therefore we believe that God gives the person the actual grace to convert similarly when grace is lost e.g. thru Mortal sin actual grace is the voice calling to repent...

He sends you an actual grace, say, in the form of a nagging voice that whispers, "You need to repent! Go to confession!" You do, your sins are forgiven, you’re reconciled to God, and you have supernatural life again (John 20:21–23). Or you say to yourself, "Maybe tomorrow," and that particular supernatural impulse, that actual grace, passes you by. But another is always on the way, God never abandoning us to our own stupidity (1 Tim. 2:4).