All is Grace

"Few souls understand what God would accomplish in them if they were to abandon themselves unreservedly to Him and if they were to allow His grace to mold them accordingly."  St. Ignatius Loyola's words would take a life time to understand, and for most of us, even then, their meaning would escape us.

God only knows how to give without conditions, this is grace: free and unmerited  gift of God.   We are not able to receive because we do not allow him to embrace us. In the Seoul Bulletin a poet writes about  the light  that entered her life. In the most difficult of situations there has been the flicker of light that she was able to see and has given her hope even when hope seemed impossible. Complete despair does not exist for a small flicker of light will make its appearance. No matter how difficult it is to believe she continues to believe. She has the  flicker of light and her belief which gives her life.

Searching is a trait that we hear a lot about these days. We have the search for 'well being' for 'healing', a spirituality without religion which will fill the needs of the searchers. Those  who have had the time to look over their lives and those of others quickly realize  that we don't achieve happiness with what is external, no matter what it is. Happiness comes from inside oneself. And  even the young people understand that without a minimum of self discipline they will destroy themselves, and  harm  those they love. Searching is an important part of life, but for a Christian we know that God  searches for us, seeks to embrace us, and to give us of himself. Our answer is the 'fiat'.

We go in search for answers to our angst,  while  God's  grace is wanting to fill us but we do not understand. Today is the  Feast of the Epiphany and we have the three wise men who  were searching, and found what they were looking for by following the light and willing to be led. 

They were humble, opened to ask questions, and wise enough not to trust those unworthy of trust. The story of the Epiphany has meant a great deal to Christians from the very beginning because of the message that it has to offer. Those who had  the opportunities to see the light did not, and those who did  see the light  were moved to follow. All is grace, and one of our greatest tragedies is not to realize this very central truth of Christianity. We go in search for something that we should already possess, one of the great paradoxes of life.