Grace

[Fish and Bread]

Hiya folks,

I noticed last night that I had received 500 website blessings from a poster who declined to reveal his or her identity. My first thought was of course that whomever the poster was was being very generous and that I appreciated it, especially since I had done nothing to earn the blessings

Then it occurred to me that it was a good analogy for God and the massive amount of blessings and grace he bestows on us ïn "real life" even though we're all sinners and in no way deserving. Yet, the blessings he bestows on us are a lot greater than web site blessings (Cool as they are :-)), they're life itself, earthly and eternal, and indeed every good thing we encounter during our lives.

The natural question is, how do we repay God? As is the case on a much smaller scale here on the website with folks who give us gifts without disclosing their identities, the answer is that we can't. God gives us so much and asks so little. And, still, our fallen natures cause us to fall short of even that.

I thought this would be a good opportunity to start a thread and get everyone's reflections on some related topics. What does Christ's love and Christ's grace mean to you personally? How do we best show our thankfulness and try to deal with our own unworthiness? What does this mean for us heading in the holy season of Lent in particularly?

John

[Andy Broadley]

If the size of the gift increased in direct relation to the unworthiness of the person receiving, then God has given me a Trillian blessings to the power of infinty squared per parsec of infinate time.


How d'ya repay that? Obviously you can't. That's the whole point of Jesus.
'I am the way, the truth , and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me'
Only by claiming the Salvation purchased for us at the ultimate cost on Calvery, can we be saved.

[romaneagle13]

I try to be obedient and put myself in touch with God and look for ways to repay Him. For example, on Wednesday I went to choir practice. The choir only sings at the 11 AM Mass, but we have a cantor and organ only service at 9 and a Rite I quiet service at 8. My choirmaster asked me if I would do double duty and fill in for the cantor at the 9 Am service. I thought, "oh, I don't want to have to get up extra early and have to learn extra music and do it all alone, I never go to that Mass anyway. and to have to go twice in one day?!" My mind tried to no avail to come up with a good excuse as to why I couldn't, so I said "yes". I later realized that I was being asked to help the church and that I should have seen Christ in the choirmaster. If our Lord himself asked me to do this, would I have tried to think of an excuse to get out of it? I was glad then that I had accepted. And I thank the Lord that I was given this opportunity to be of service to Him and His church, and to in some small way repay the generosity He has displayed towards me.

[Father Rick]

I think the best way we can 'repay' God... is to accept what He has done.

Let me explain... what if you searched and searched for the perfect gift for someone you loved. You finally found just the right gift-- and had to sacrifice greatly to be able to buy it. You wrapped it up, and gave it to them............. and they said "No thanks!"

How would that make you feel?


But that is exactly the way we treat God sometimes. Through the gift of His Son, He has purchased so much for us. But we decide we're 'not worthy'.... so we refuse to accept the gift He paid so dearly for.


This is especially true when we 'blow it' and fall to some sin or another. We think because we've blown it that somehow God is now mad at us, so we act like Adam in the Garden and try to hide from Him rather than come running to Him to receive His grace and forgiveness.


Oh... if we would just learn how much He wants to restore relationship with us....

[julian the apostate]

I think the best way we can 'repay' God... is to accept what He has done.


amen father

[gitlance]

Peace be to you and grace from him
Who freed us from our sins,
Who loved us all and shed his blood
That we might saved be.

Sing holy, holy to our Lord,
The Lord, Almighty God,
Who was and is and is to come;
Sing holy, holy, Lord!

Rejoice in heaven, all ye that dwell therein,
Rejoice on earth, ye saints below,
For Christ is coming, is coming soon,
For Christ is coming soon!

E'en so, Lord Jesus, quickly come,
And night shall be no more;
They need no light nor lamp nor sun,
For Christ will be their All!

:crossrc:

[Fish and Bread]

But we decide we're 'not worthy'.... so we refuse to accept the gift He paid so dearly for.


This is especially true when we 'blow it' and fall to some sin or another. We think because we've blown it that somehow God is now mad at us, so we act like Adam in the Garden and try to hide from Him rather than come running to Him to receive His grace and forgiveness.

I like the way you worded that, Father. I find it helpful to think of the fact that God knows we're unworthy. That, though he may be disappointed in us when we falter, he knows that even the very best of us are going to miss the mark early and often, and even knowing that, he gave himself up for us. Our sins may disappoint God, but they don't surprise him. He's forgiven far worse and calls even the worst sinners to enter into relationship with him.

One of my favorite modern religious songs ("Though the Mountains May Fall"), derived from a psalm, I think, contains the lines "Could the Lord ever leave you? Could the Lord forget his love?". I see that not only in it's most obvious interpretation of the Lord not being able to forget his love for us all, but I also feel it can be heard in the sense of "love" as in beloved or lover. It seems to me that in some respects we are all Gods beloved. When the Father said behold my beloved Son, I wonder if he might not be able to in some senses say that of us all. Jesus told us to pray to God as Father and told us that the Father loves us as children and calls us each by name. But the Father is no mortal parent, falling into error. Human parents can and do make mistakes and even hurt or abandon their children, but our Father in Heaven never does.

John

[RedneckAnglican]

We also thank GOD and the people who do things for us by "passing it forward"...doing for someone else when we have the chance...

[akascottb]

I am still new to this forum. how does one give reputation or blessings?

thanks

daniel

[Father Rick]

I am still new to this forum. how does one give reputation or blessings?

thanks

danielTo give blessings, click on the little cross with a heart behind it in the upper right of a person's post (with blessings, you can only give what you have). To give rep, click on the 'thumbs up'--.






And welcome aboard!