Grace – Freely Given

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator

Being away from home and living in the Poor Clare Monastery of Evansville has proven to be a valuable lesson for me because I have gotten so used to having instant access to the internet whenever I turn on my computer. To get a connection here in Evansville, I have to move as close to the satellite dish as I can. Lesson learned: don't take things for granted.

That could be the lesson that we learn from today's reading from the Letter to Titus. Did you recognize the last paragraph of this morning's reading. It is the passage that we proclaim as the second reading at the Midnight Mass for Christmas. Grace appears in Jesus.

The word "grace" or "gratia" means "freely given." Gracious, graciousness, gratuitous, gratuity – they all speak to the fact that God's love for us is freely given and never earned. We little human beings do not have the resources to initiate or maintain a relationship with God. God takes the initiative. God is in charge. My salvation is not within my own control. All I can do is be "grateful" in return.