Bishop Robert Barron, a prelate in the Roman Catholic Church, has a well-known ministry wherein he engages the public at the crossroads of Christian faith and culture at large. Although I am not a Catholic, I have enjoyed many of his video productions on the history, the theology, and the saints of Catholicism. In one of his YouTube presented sermons on Isaiah 6 and Luke 5, he speaks about the breaking in of God’s grace as a necessary first step in one’s conversion, followed then by one’s repentance at the realization of one’s sin, followed then by moving into mission according to God’s will.
It’s that first step, the in-breaking, often an unbidden in-breaking of God’s grace, that I want to touch upon here – not from any particular theological or philosophical position but from my perspective of personal experience, reason, the stories of others, and readings of biblical texts.
I emphasize this first step of receiving grace because it serves as an anchor. It helps steady your path in the face of whatever stormy waters attempt to pull you from your faith. And there will be, perhaps even now, stormy waters. You might only have this one rope of certainty to cling to: the holy entered your life, even if for a fleeting moment, and even if, seemingly, only once.
Tearing the Tapestry of Life
To wax a bit poetic if I may…
In the tapestry of life, there are moments when the fabric of the ordinary is suddenly rent, and through that tear, the light of the divine shines. And just as a tapestry we have in our home that tears can never be the same, neither can be our lives.
(Similarly, one cannot help but recall the tearing of the temple veil upon the death of Jesus that, in one sense, powerfully symbolized new access to God. Things would never be the same.)
Call it a tearing of the fabric of our lives or the lifting of a veil, there is an in-breaking of God’s grace, an encounter with the sacred that occurs unsolicited and when we least expect it, that will change our lives in some manner, forever. In the most unlikely of circumstances, in the most unlikely and unfathomable of ways we can be touched. Even in a desperate moment when we cry to heaven for help, that help can arrive in a surprising and challenging-to-believe manner.
This experience of grace does not exclusively belong within hallowed church interiors or grand landscapes of nature. It can occur in the chaotic heart of a city, in the midst of an ordinary daily task, or in some lonely despairing corner of your world. God is not bound by our expectations or our preconceptions. You might have heard it said, “God meets you where you are” – where you really are. He is a God who reveals himself in unexpected ways (the God of surprises, as Pope Francis puts it; although, I think he means it in a much broader sense than in the way I do).
Arrival and Response
An in-breaking of grace into one’s life may arrive as a thought, a feeling, an impulse, a mental or physical image, a spiritual or material gift, a dream, a person, a healing, or an angelic encounter. It could literally be anything, but it will be framed in a way that you specifically, personally will recognize. It will be sensed and have meaning in a way that for you is undeniably special; still, you must be brutally honest in your discernment of the event to determine that it truly was an act of divine will or something else.
We can be struck with any number of reactions to the moment such as bewilderment, awe, fear… It may draw within us a sense of clarity or creeping denial. It’s telling us we have a connection to the “other-worldly.” What we face is a statement, if you will, that God is somehow present, and that we have been embraced by his love, whether we want to believe it or not.
One of the most remarkable aspects of an encounter with grace when we receive it is the sense of sheer wonderment that it stirs within our souls. It is a feeling of being in the presence of something vast and powerful and mysterious, something that transcends our understanding. It can be both an inspiring and humbling experience, one that not only fills us with a sense of wonder but also of gratitude.
Of course, there are times when we profit from the gifts of God’s unbidden grace while being completely unaware of it. It’s when those times of our asking, “What just happened?” happen that God wants to get our attention. And we should pay attention.
God is always with us.
Even when we are unaware of his presence.
Even when we feel undeserving.
Even when we can’t believe he is.
God is always offering us his love.
Opening to Transformation and Never Letting Go
When we open ourselves to the possibility of grace, we open ourselves to the possibility of transformation – That’s a good thing! We allow God to enter into our lives and to work his miracles within us – to forgive our sins and heal our wounds, to provide our needs and strengthen us to help others in need, to instill the peace of Christ to reign within our hearts (Colossians 3:15).
To encounter God’s grace is a gift to treasure for it comes directly from heaven to you.
“What just happened?”
You know what you know.
You don’t have to fully understand it. You don’t have to explain it.
Open up to it. Let it get to work within you because, inevitably, from that moment you will realize the incomprehensible spiritual reality of your existence.
That moment is your anchor in faith, your handhold with Christ when troubled waters come.
So do not let go of that in-breaking moment of God’s grace.
In the midst of stormy waters, do not ever let go of that moment.