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March 13

Nature and Grace

The movement of what is natural in us leads only to the self. The dynamic of grace invites us to reach out in love to the other. What is natural to us turns in on itself. Grace is always expansive in its generosity.

To suggest that there is only a singular movement in us is to deny both the witness of the biblical story and the reality of the human condition. We are capable of great good and disastrous evil.

What is clear is that the human being, far from being centered and whole, is instead a conflicted creature. There are contrary forces in the human heart.

Thomas à Kempis understood this well through his own reflections on the biblical story, his own life, and his formation of novices in the

religious life. He writes, “nature accomplishes everything for its own gain and profit [and] does nothing without receiving recompense. . . . Grace, however, seeks nothing temporal, asks for no reward other than God Himself.”72

All of this is not to say that naturally we can’t do good. We can and we do. But we are also still on about ourselves. Grace brings a new dimension, however. This is living life out of a deep gratitude because we have been loved into a new existence and have been redeemed by the Christ who gave his life to gain our freedom and healing.

Prayer

Lord, may my life be marked by your grace and my gratitude, and may I live for your glory and the blessing of others. Amen.