Journeying to Grace

The loving, merciful, and healing graces of God are all around us. When we invite them in our hearts, they shape our spiritual character, increase peace within us, and strengthen our faith in the Lord with great joy. Sometimes we recognize them easily; other times they are more subtle. Some of these extraordinary graces come naturally to us; yet some may feel more distant or unfamiliar.

To better understand and recognize these gifts working in our lives, I thought we would approach our weekly reflection as a series over the next couple of months and focus on one ‘grace’ per week. How might we be receiving this grace? Where have we witnessed this grace? How can we offer it to others? As we explore these graces together and pray on a reflection question or idea, I hope we find some graces to be new, refreshing invitations to experience and contribute to the world around us. Whether that is within the true global world, our local communities, or our immediate and close surroundings, the graces of God are abundant – the graces we receive and the graces we are called to share; the graces we know well and the graces we do not typically seek; the graces that heal us and the graces that challenge us.

Let us truly ‘journey to grace’ together, welcome these unique graces, and invite them to stir within us.  As we share them with one another, may we be renewed in hope, strengthened in faith, and open to what the Lord has to show us.

“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” (1 Peter 4:10)

Next week, we begin with the grace of patience.