Moments of Grace

     The other day, I had a friend come up to me, asking if we could talk for a moment. In the brief conversation we had, I could tell the person had been deeply touched by a moment of grace by God. A fallen away Christian, something in my friend's soul had suddenly been stirred, to the point that they wanted to sit down and talk about faith over lunch sometime in the near future. Thanks be to God!

     This episode was an affirmation of a truth I have come to believe: to become a Christian, one must have an encounter with the living Christ. I realize this may seem obvious on the surface, but I think many people have an upside-down view of what it means to be a follower of Christ. For unbelievers, the central theme of Christianity may appear to be a set of restrictive moral codes. From this perspective, it is easy to see why many are hesitant to first give up a portion of their conventional freedoms in the name of Jesus. But I believe this is a backwards view of what transpires in the heart of a Christian. The Christian does not follow Christ because he or she has been faithful to the teachings, he or she is faithful to the teachings because there has been an encounter with Christ! In other words, the strength to believe in the supernatural must be begotten by nothing less than an encounter with the supernatural. One does not come to know the Divine by the same manner in which one comes to know the multiplication table. There needs to be a revelation of inward grace in the heart of the person, from which adherence to the teaching's of the source of that grace, God, flows naturally and without hesitation.

     I recall a story I heard once about a very forgetful minister who had been assigned to a small, close-nit, rural congregation. Shortly after arriving, the most respected member of the parish died. The minister made the arrangements for the funeral service, which was expected to draw the entire community, and put the date in his agenda. Unfortunately, he put the wrong date in his agenda, and then subsequently took the actual date of the funeral off to go on an all-day hike. Upon returning from his wonderful day of relaxation, he went into his office to find a note from his secretary on his desk. She said that they had to call in another minister from the next town over, and the funeral service began two hours late as a result. She closed the note by "suggesting" that he ought to pay a visit that evening to the widow's house and apologize. Quickly, the minister changed out of his hiking gear and into his clerical dress. He drove over to the widow's home, where the friends and family of the deceased had gathered for dinner. He walked up steps of the front porch, his body shaking with embarrassment. He knocked pathetically on the large wooden door and swallowed hard, praying that he might maintain his composure. The door opened, and the widow stepped out onto the porch to face her absent pastor. Before the man could say a word, he found himself embraced by the woman. After a few moments, the woman pulled back, and, with a look of supreme pity, said, "You poor soul! You must feel terrible! Come on in and have some supper."

     After that evening, the minister found a renewed passion and zeal for his ministry.  Reflecting back on the experience, he would comment, "I stood naked on that porch, and that woman clothed me in love." The minister's preaching and shepherding of his congregation was revived because he had truly encountered the love of Christ of which he preached. God's grace and mercy acted through that woman.

     Once a soul encounters Christ, the Christ that lives and works through others, what choice does it have but to follow? Throughout the Bible, there are many examples of ordinary people, both rich and poor, who have a life-changing encounter with Jesus. He is no less present today than He was when He walked the Earth, as His promise to be with us always, unto the end states very clearly. He is present most gloriously in the Catholic Eucharist, but also in those moments of grace that come when we least expect them yet are most in need of them. To receive grace however, we must be open to grace. We need to humble ourselves with the realization that we are self-sufficent. Echoing the words of the Psalmist, if today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts!