Thank God for actual graces

By Mary N.

Pope Felix Present the Church to Cosmas and Damian
(Wikimedia Commons)

When praying to the Lord I often request "actual graces". This is the term used for the special grace God gives to perform a particular task and I've noticed that when I pray for these "actual graces" God always grants them as long as I am praying in accord with His Will for me and with regard to my station in life. As far as I can tell, He has never refused this request though it is quite likely that I have failed to respond to them fully when given. Actual grace is a bit different than sanctifying grace.

I like to think of actual grace as "the grace of the present moment". Since I am not a a theologian I realize that this definition is a bit off so here (and here) are more precise explanations of actual grace and the help it provides us. These special graces are given to us to help us, in a supernatural way, complete a task God is asking of us. He gives us "a leg up" so to speak. They are temporary and not to be confused with sanctifying grace, the grace which communicates supernatural life into the soul at baptism.

I have noticed in my own life that the more often I ask for and respond to "actual grace" the more I get. God is generous in his giving. I call it the "grace of the present moment" because it is in the present that I receive this help from God. Certainly, I can pray for the "actual grace" to accomplish an important task tomorrow but I don't receive the special grace until the precise time it is needed.

There is a certain purity attached to the present moment. Each new day becomes a clean slate to write on. What we write on this slate is up to us. The term "present" has not gone unnoticed by me and as we unwrap the gift of today may we remember to treasure this gift, ask for the grace to live it well and give thanks because the gift tag contains the signature of the Almighty God.

"This is the day the Lord has made;  let us rejoice in it and be glad!"     Psalm  118:24


Mary N. blogs at The Beautiful Gate.

Do you know the name of your guardian angel?

By Nancy Ward

Guardian Angel by Domeenchino (Wikimedia Commons).

Years ago a Bible study friend of mine talked about going shopping with Lenore. Who was Lenore? Her guardian angel. How did she know her name? She asked her.

So I began to ask my guardian angel what her name was. After several years with no results, I started calling her Grace. If she didn’t like that name, she could tell me what to call her.

Months went by with Grace and I doing things together. Mostly I called on her because of electrical storms, traffic jams or nightmares. Sometimes I remembered her when I was joyful. She watched over me when I slept.

As I recuperated from injuries from a traffic accident, I couldn’t fulfill my responsibilities and I needed her. Early one morning after a difficult night, I tried to put myself in the presence of God by surrendering all my concerns, my pain, my unachieved goals and desires. In my weakness, the Holy Spirit gave me many graces. I received insights about several ministry projects, including new ways to use our website for evangelism. I sought guidance on a manuscript about joy that I was writing, but nothing came about that. While I was in this listening position that God sometimes puts me in, I heard distinctly in my mind, “Her name is Joy.” I hadn’t even asked!


Continue reading at Nancy's blog  JOY Alive in Our Hearts. 

Be a friend of the Cross

By Rebecca Duncan

Christ Carrying the Cross by Giorgione (photo credit: Wikipaintings)

"Three crosses stand on Calvary's height
One must be chosen, so choose aright;
Like a saint you must suffer, or a penitent thief,
Or like a reprobate, in endless grief."


A quote from St. Louis de Montford's 'Letter to the Friends of the Cross."  It is very short but I'm not done with it yet.  Despite its brevity, like all the works of this Saint, it is intense.

"To suffer much, yet badly, is to suffer like reprobates.  To suffer much, even bravely, but for a wicked cause, is to suffer as a martyr of the devil.  To suffer much or little for the sake of God is to suffer like saints."

It is hard for me to think of any specific graces I have been given apart from my conversion.  But, the ones I do remember were graces to embrace my cross.  In a way, my conversion itself was a grace to embrace the cross.  The reason I know these were huge graces is because I am a comfort-lover.  My spiritual friend said she thought she was bad about being attached to comforts but then she got to know me.  Believe me (or her), I'm the worst. 

If I think about it now my conversion was a grace given to me to embrace my cross.  I searched high and low for an answer to the meaning of life, but it was only when I admitted to myself that I could never find the answer on my own and sunk down into those depths of humility that an answer was given to me.  


Continue reading at Rebecca's blog, Otaku Catholic.

The five effects of grace

By Nancy Ward 

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).

Grace is powerful, plentiful, essential and effective. Through the gift of faith, we receive this unearned, undeserved gift of God’s love manifested in Christ’s salvation.

We need never fear the Author of Grace who seeks us out with a love that no power on earth can weaken or destroy. Driven by his unconditional love, he pursues a love relationship with us. By his nature he pours out his love. He can’t not love what he created.

That is why he is still alive in the world today and why so many love him.  People still renounce their possessions out of love for him, still surrender everything to him, and still build their daily lives around receiving his life in the sacraments. His pursuit of us makes him a sign of contradiction in our times. Few people are neutral about him. They either intensely love him or hate him. Still he pursues us, pouring out his love, offering the grace of salvation until our last breath.



Continue reading at Nancy's blog JOY Alive in our hearts.

Harden not your hearts

By Connie Rossini

Moses Smites the Rock in the Desert by Tissot (photo credit:Wikimedia Commons)

"If today you hear God's voice, harden not your hearts." This Psalm response from Sunday's Mass is familiar to those who pray the Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office). Taken from Psalm 95, it is part of the Invitatory prayed every morning. This verse helps me immensely in my spiritual life. It reminds me always to be open to God's grace.

I get easily overwhelmed when I think about all the obligations of the spiritual life. I need to pray every day and pray well. I must be detached from everything except God. I must answer my children with love, work diligently, be considerate of my husband's needs, refrain from gossip, be humble... Yikes! The phlegmatic part of me can't handle all that at once.

Over the last year, God has shown me how to reduce these obligations to just one: trust. I must believe in and accept His plan for me at every moment. Another way of saying this is I must have an open heart.

 

Don't look for grace before you need it

Corrie Ten Boom, who survived Dachau's horrors, wrote her family's story in The Hiding Place. I love the tale she tells about her conversation with her father concerning death. As a little girl, she was distraught at the thought her beloved father would someday leave her:

I burst into tears, “I need you!” I sobbed. “You can't die! You can't!”

“Corrie,” he began gently. “When you and I go to Amsterdam, when do I give you your ticket?”

“Why, just before we get on the train.”

“Exactly. And our wise Father in heaven knows when we're going to need things, too. Don't run out ahead of him, Corrie. When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need – just in time.”

I don't need to think about all the things God is asking me to do throughout the day. I only need to recognize what He is asking me to do at this moment. Grace exists in the present moment. It is available when we need it, not before. What is God's will right now?


Continue reading at Contemplative Homeschool.

The Rosary: just 2% of your day

by Allison Girone

The Virgin of the Rosary  by Murillo (photo in Public Domain).

 



"Returning continually in her memory to everything that was important in her Son's life and in her own, it was as though Mary prayed her Rosary, but without moving from one bead to another"(The Gift of Faith, pg. 202).

While I have always had a love for the Rosary, I am not always successful at praying it everyday. Considering that I am awake for 16 hours a day, I have 960 minutes in my "day." The Rosary may take 17 minutes to pray, meditating on the life of Christ. If I work that out mathematically, 17 minutes would be less than 2% of my day!

If I were to tithe to God and give Him just 10% of my day, the minimum in gratitude, I should spend 96 minutes or at least an hour and a half in prayer each day ... sobering.

I do offer up my day in my morning offering prayer...

I do pray throughout the day in many ways...but I could do more.

He deserves more.

And Our Lady is waiting, with graces...

Besides the Indulgences attached to the Rosary, Our Lady revealed to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan de la Roche additional benefits for those who devoutly pray the Rosary. Our Lady's promise is shown in darker blue text. Additional explanation on and doctrinal connections to each promise are shown following in the smaller normal text font and color. Note that the Rosary is the prayer (non-Liturgical) with the most published Magisterial / Papal documents expounding on its excellence. Vatican II's summary on Our Lady is contained in Lumen Gentium chapter VIII.


1. Whosoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary shall receive signal graces.
Signal graces are those special and unique graces to help sanctify us in our state in life. See the remaining promises for an explanation of which these will consist. St. Louis de Montfort states emphatically that the best and fastest way to union with Our Lord is via Our Lady [True Devotion to Mary, chapter four].


2. I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary. Our Lady is our Advocate and the channel of all God's grace to us. Our Lady is simply highlighting that she will watch especially over us who pray the Rosary. (see Lumen Gentium chapter VIII - Our Lady #62) [a great more detail is available on this topic in True Devotion to Mary, chapter four, by St. Louis de Montfort]


3. The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin and defeat heresies.This promise, along with the next, is simply the reminder on how fervent prayer will help us all grow in holiness by avoiding sin, especially a prayer with the excellence of the Rosary. An increase in holiness necessarily requires a reduction in sin, vice, and doctrinal errors (heresies). If only the Modernists could be convinced to pray the Rosary! (see Lumen Gentium chapter V - The Call to Holiness #42) St. Louis de Montfort states "Since Mary alone crushed all heresies, as we are told by the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit (Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary)..." [True Devotion to Mary #167]


4. It will cause good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire for Eternal Things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.This promise, along with the previous, is the positive part, that being to live in virtue. Becoming holy is not only avoiding sin, but also growing in virtue. (see Lumen Gentium chapter V - The Call to Holiness #42)


5. The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish.Since Our Lady is our Mother and Advocate, she always assists those who call on her implicitly by praying the Rosary. The Church reminds us of this in the Memorare prayer, "... never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help or sought your intercession, was left unaided ..."


Read 10 more reasons to pray the Rosary at Allison's blog  Totus Tuus Family and Homeschool.