My Confirmation name is Grace. I can’t remember if it was my mum or my godma who chose the name for me. I think I was 11 years old then. I didn’t like the name. I only knew of one girl with the name of Grace, and I wasn’t at all impressed that I was being named ‘like’ her. And no one has ever called me Grace, even to this day. But I must say, the name has grown on me in the last few years.

What prompted me to think about God’s graces was that at the recent Papal Mass, I made friends with the lady seated beside me. Yes, you guessed it. Her name was Grace. We helped each other take photos as we posed the best we could to capture the ‘tiny’ stage from where we were seated. Grace mentioned she does occasionally come to our CSM Eucharistic Celebrations.

 

Free and undeserved grace

St Therese of Lisieux says “Everything is grace.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines grace like this: “Our justification comes from the grace of God. Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and eternal life. Grace is a participation in the life of God…” (CCC #1996-1997)

Some of us may feel we are entitled to some things because we worked hard at our jobs or we paid for good service. But hang on, when we start to have no sense of gratitude, we have no sense of God (and of His graces). Padre Terence’s homily hits another home run.

 

G.R.A.C.E: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense

God offers us the gift of grace. The sins that we commit nailed Jesus to His cross and yet God still wants to help us, still wants to give us his graces for free, still thinks we are worth it.  He is a Father whose love is unconditional.

Do we see God next to us? Do we recognise His graces at work daily in our lives? Do we appreciate His big heart which forgives us? Can we be like St Therese who looked at every little opportunity every day to draw closer to her Lord out of love of Him.

 

God’s grace and mercy

By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been ineffective.
1 Corinthians 15:10

St Paul would be a great influencer on social media today. He experienced God’s extraordinary grace personally. God’s grace had the power to change his life and he wanted the Corinthians to experience the same effects. God’s grace had the power to turn St Paul from the great enemy to the great apostle. God’s grace redeemed him and made him a son of God. And don’t forget, God has made you his own too!

So my pledge to all the Graces at CSM and beyond, no longer will I turn my nose up at my Confirmation name, I definitely could use some grace in my life.

 

Shared by Karen R-Fong, a wannabe tai-tai who wants to retire in a library of books and to read with our Lord to her last days.

 

References:

* Corpus Christi Church, https://www.corpuschristiphx.org, Everything is Grace.

* https://www.catholic.com, Grace, what it is and what it does

* The Word Among Us www.wau.org.sg Meditation 1 Corinthians 15:1-11