I have come, in adult years to detest another doctrine even more than that of Calvinism. It is the doctrine taught by Catholic liberals. They teach the predestination of one group to the right way of saving one's soul and of another group to the wrong way of doing so. And now we may come to the pointed question. Yes, it is a gift, a sheer gift, bestowed on us out of God's lavishness, and not out of any implicit contract in the covenant of creation.
Faith is a dynamic gift, too, which means that it is both freely given and freely received.
It is also a fruitful gift to such an extent that once we have it, we must never look on it as something which is our due, and ours to keep. We must freely give what we have freely received. Whenever we meet a heretic or a pagan, we must remember that our best gift, our Faith, is one which is also intended for him-even providentially so, once he has met us. That Faith is a gift, we know only by Faith. It is often a mixture of interrogation and subterfuge, hoping for a psychological excuse.