It's All GraceWilda Staton requested the same song each time Dad invited his little Wesleyan congregation to call out their favorite hymn numbers. Mom would nod her head at the request and quickly thumb through the hymnal at the piano. My sister and I watched Wilda as the rest of the congregation began singing “Amazing Grace.” That’s when her eyes always filled with tears, and we would stare at her with concern. Tears without pain or disappointment didn’t make sense to us.
My sister and I sat with Wilda during worship services because Mom was usually seated at the piano and Dad was standing at the podium. The gentle middle aged woman would keep the two of us quiet and happy. We loved her with that fierce love that children sometimes have for grownups who aren’t connected to them through familial ties. That was Wilda. She didn’t have to love us, but we knew she did.
Wilda Staton lived a difficult life. Her husband had died of some disease, the name of which I can no longer remember. Wilda’s failing mother lived with Wilda and her two half-grown sons. Lyndsey and Loren were the modern equivalent of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer – completely incorrigible.
When I was in first grade, Wilda died in a car accident. She met another driver at a blind intersection, and suddenly Wilda wasn’t there to sit with us in church anymore.
Her life was tragic from top to bottom. And yet, she was the one who first taught me about grace.
During my Protestant childhood, I learned that GRACE was an acronym for God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. I’m still not sure what that means.
And there was the other Protestant definition that blended grace and mercy in such a way that it was impossible to differentiate between the two. “Grace is God’s gift of undeserved mercy.”
So what is grace?
Grace is anything that helps us to live in Christ, grow in holiness and remain on this journey toward sanctification. St. Paul writes in his second letter to the Church at Corinth, “God is able to make every grace abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need, you may have an abundance for every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8).
As St. Therese said “Tout est grace” or “All is grace.” If you belong to Jesus Christ, then it’s all good. It’s all grace.
Grace comes the day we bury a husband or care for an ailing mother. Grace is there when we’re raising our children, even if our children are as difficult to raise as Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. Grace shows up when we lift our voices and sing our favorite songs - letting the tears fall. Grace finds us when we care for someone else’s children, when we teach them, and when we love them. And grace is there when we meet another car at a blind intersection.
Wilda taught me more about grace by her living and dying than I learned from any sermon, Bible school class, or Sunday school lesson. Grace is God working in us and through us and with us, so that we can live the life of Christ always and everywhere.
It is not a one time shot in the arm.
It is not some clever-sounding acronym that lacks real meaning.
It is found in the nitty-gritty daily living of the faithful Christian who doesn’t give up. It is a gift that flows from baptismal waters and keeps on flowing into the deepest roots of our souls. It shows up when we need it and to the degree that we need it, so that we can weather any storm.
Why must we have a solid understanding of grace? A poor understanding destroys our ability to grasp what Sacred Scripture means when it says that we are saved by grace or that His grace is sufficient or that Mary is full of grace. The definition matters . . . because a faulty definition compromises Truth.
Tout est grace.
It’s all grace. Anything that draws you closer to God and helps you to live out your calling, anything that keeps you close to God . . . that is grace.
Grace: Free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to holiness.
Sanctifying Grace: the grace we receive at baptism. This is a permanent disposition that points us toward God and helps us to live in keeping with God's call.
Actual Grace: God's intervention and support for us in everyday moments of our lives.
Sacramental Grace: Gifts of the Holy Spirit that we receive during reception of the sacraments.
