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February 17

The Movement of Grace

Grace is God extending his love, forgiveness, and goodness to us, not because we deserve this but because of God’s generous heart is towards all of his creatures.

Being a Christian and living the Christian life is to be in and to live in the sphere of grace, which is God’s undeserved favor. Grace is the realm in which we live, move, and dance. Being the grateful recipients of God’s grace is what marks us and shapes our identity as much as our genetic inheritance and our socialization.

Meister Eckhart understood well the significance and power of this grace. He writes, “Grace is not a stationary thing; it is always found in a Becoming.”48 Grace moves us from where we are to where we need to be. Grace radically reorients us.

Grace, therefore, is not a gift we put in our backpack. Grace is an intrusion into the basic fabric of our lives. It is a powerful intervention. Grace is what radically reorients and renews us. And this is because grace and forgiveness are welcoming and interpersonal dynamics. Grace links us to Christ the giver of grace.

Grace moves us from enmity or neglect of God to a place of embrace and friendship. Grace frees us from the destructive forces within our own being. Grace makes us gracious towards others. The grace of God in Christ makes us more Christlike.

Eckhart is, therefore, correct. Grace is dynamic. It moves us. It

reorients us. It makes us more truly human. It makes us more Godlike.

Reflection

The power of forgiving grace transforms us and makes us open to extend love and goodness to others.