Grace and life.

         Grace and life.
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Grace is a supernatural gift of God,

which enables us to live

in His loving presence,

carrying out His will,

in our thoughts, words and actions.

We reveal that God is present in us by our words and actions.

By our earnest prayer to God,

who is present in us,

we earn God’s grace abundantly

and

the grace earned reveals itself in our good and moral life,

which is lived for God, the source of the grace.

God’s grace is the life giving force of our moral life.

If Our Lady could lead a dedicated life without even a stain of sin in her

it was because she was full of grace.

God’s grace helps us to lead a good moral life

and

our good moral life earns more and more grace from God.

 By moral life I mean a life led as per the God given moral laws.

Our life is the visible expression of the invisible grace in us.

God’s grace in us has its effect on our thoughts, words and actions. 

Even those who don’t worry about God’s grace think, speak and act.

But the thoughts, words and actions of those

who are activated by God’s grace

are different from those who live without grace.

The former’s thoughts, words and actions reflect God,

where as the latter’s reflect themselves.

Our Lady, who was full of grace thought, spoke and acted according to the will of God.

Of course we are not full of grace as Our Lady was.

That was a special gift given to her as His Mother.

Our life will reflect God in proportion to the amount of God’s grace in us.

If the water tank is dirty the water it contains also will be dirty.

To store clean water the tank must be cleaned first.

Our mind decides our behaviour.

As we think so we speak and act.

A clean life requires a clean mind

because our mind is the birth place of our thoughts,

which express themselves in our words and actions.

Only by the grace of God we can keep our mind clean.

Whatever we pray for or for not,

we should pray for God’s grace to keep us in touch with Him.

 
'Sanctifying grace’.
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The grace that maintains our relationship with God is called ‘sanctifying grace’.

Only this grace can keep our soul pure and make our actions meritorious before God.

 Only if we maintain our relationship with God throughout our life,

our death will serve as a gateway to heaven.

If we die without ‘sanctifying grace’,

we will have to live for ever without beatific vision.

‘Sanctifying grace’ is a free gift of God granted us at baptism.

We will lose this gift when we commit a mortal sin.

But we can get it back by true contrition and confession.

We must be careful to maintain our relationship with God

by remaining in the state of ‘sanctifying grace’ all our life.

Only prayer which keeps us in the presence of God can help us to keep this free gift of God safe.

 

Actual grace.
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There is another grace called ‘actual grace’

which is also given free to do a good act successfully as per the will of God.

When we want to buy something, what do we do?

Do we not ask our father to give us sufficient money to buy it?

In the same way when we begin to do ‘something good’

we must pray to our Heavenly Father

to help us with sufficient actual grace

to do it successfully as per His Will.

 

In short, grace is a supernatural gift of God given to us free to help us in our spiritual life.

It is a food to our spiritual life.

Lourdu Selvam.