№ 512. Grace

 

 FORWARDED MESSAGE: 

One of my earliest contemplative prayers was about Jesus walking on water. I'm Peter and I see Jesus walking on water. I call out to him and he invites me to walk to him. Seeing the rough seas, I jump out of the boat and swim effortfully to Jesus. In between breaths, I could hear Jesus laughing. 

 It took me some time to figure out that prayer. When I did years later, I realized that, in the end, it is often not effort that matters but grace. We are sometimes not called to swim to Jesus by our effort but we are called to walk on water by his grace. 

Seems apt nowadays when seas are rough and times are uncertain. We're being called to walk on water.

№ 309. Sunday Full of Grace

Do you know what it means to be struck by grace?

We cannot transform our lives, unless we allow them to be transformed by the stroke of grace. It happens or it does not happen. And certainly it does not happen when we try to force it upon ourselves, just as it shall not happen so long as we think, in our self-complacency, that we have no need of it.