Dear TSJ Friends,
Yesterday morning I was reading an interesting book written by James Martin, SJ about his pilgrimage to the holy land a few years ago. And I came across a statement that I thought worthy of our attention today. It certainly caught my attention. Perhaps that in itself is a sign of something I am to learn!
“Be careful not to overlook anyone as an instrument of grace.”
Here is a bit of the context that this came from. It follows a discussion on how Jesus’ “tight knit village knew him so well that they couldn’t imagine someone so ordinary and so familiar as the carrier of divine grace.” They missed a treasure that was right in front of them. They overlooked his magnificence because they knew him growing up. We all know that this is the way of us humans and our families and communities.
But it really has made me muse on how easy it is to overlook the Master of Grace in the mess of ordinary life. We are so busy fussing over what is wrong and distasteful in ourselves and others that we miss the fact that anyone can be an instrument of divine grace in God’s hands.
Yes, anyone can be an instrument of grace [blessings] in God’s hands. So when we feel agitated and critical it might help us to stop and ask ourselves, “How is God using this person to bless me even though it feels the opposite?”
The other sentence that caught my attention was that Jesus was “the carrier of divine grace.”
Are we grace carriers?
I had never thought of being a carrier of grace. Have you? At least not in those exact words.
It made me chuckle when I thought how perfectly healthy people are carriers of contagious diseases such as streptococcus. Of course we don’t want that. But I had never thought of how people can be carriers of grace! And I do want that. Of course when it refers to Jesus it makes perfect sense. He embodied perfect grace. But what about us?
We often hear comments such as, “He/she is such a blessing.” That sure sounds like someone is a grace carrier. That usually means they embody attributes like patience, kindness, faithfulness, empathy, forgiveness, tolerance, love and compassion.
But even people who have not been described as a blessing and would be easily left out of that category are not to be overlooked, according to God’s plan. We often miss the the lessons that are treasures right in front of us because they don’t look like treasures and they often feel like troubles. But to God, all of us are possible instruments for blessing others. So even when we make mistakes at times it is those mistakes that end up as fine tuned instruments in the hand of God for our learning, growing and healing.
So let’s remember two things in our busy lives and in the troubles we face in relationships and in the world:
First – “Take care not to overlook anyone as an instrument of grace.”
Second – Be “carriers of grace.”
I would sure like to be better at both. Wouldn’t you?
Solomon has looked over my shoulder and says he thinks the quotes basically speak for themselves and that each of our “peeps” will ponder them from their own lives.
In short, I pray for divine help to be a grace carrier in a world waiting for deliveries of kindness and compassion, forgiveness and fulfillment.
And when we share our spiritual and emotional journeys together, each one of us can bring grace [blessings from God] into our world and to each other.
Blessings,
Margie and Solomon and Solomon Junior – all in it together! SJ says to “just make good!”
