| God loves you, before you even think about God, in fact, despite what you think about God.
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Grace is arguably one of the most difficult concepts to understand, perhaps even more difficult than the Trinity, because understanding grace means that we know that God has already forgiven us before anything and that God yearns for our return and wholeness. Knowing this changes our very being.
Grace comes to us is many ways and likely in more ways that we recognize. The Catechism (p. 858 of the Book of Common Prayer) defines grace this way, "Grace is God's favor toward us, unearned and undeserved; by grace God forgives our sins, enlightens our minds, stirs our hearts, and strengthens our wills" (p. 858). And sacraments are "outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace, given by Christ as sure and certain means by which we receive that grace."
Watch this U2 video "Grace" and consider the questions that follow.
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Questions for reflection and conversation:
1. What words or phrases in this song have meaning for you? Why?
2. Identify a moment or experience in which you have known grace. Share it. What change did it create in you?
3. One of the lines from the song is "She carries a pearl in perfect condition." Read the parable of the pearl of great price (Matthew 13:45-46). What does this parable have to say about grace?
4. What does tradition (the Bible, liturgy, lives of saints) say about grace?
5. How does the U2 song present grace differently? the same as tradition?
6. What do other songs, art or slogans from culture say about grace?
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you to post your responses on the "Conversations" page.
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YFYL Chapter 10, Additional questions for reflection or discussion:
1. Write your own definition of the word grace and share a time when you have received God’s grace.
2. Read the Parable of the Lost Coin (Luke 15: 8-10). What three things does the woman do once she realizes that she has lost the coin? What does she do when she finds the coin? How might this parable inform the sacrament of the reconciliation of a penitent?
3. How are our covenant with God (discussed in Chapter two) and grace related?
4. Christianity is an incarnational faith. How is this related to sacraments?
5. Which sacraments of the Church have you found most meaningful? How have they been a means of God’s grace?
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Additional resources in print
Celebrating the Eucharist
by Patrick Malloy. Presents the building blocks of the eucharistic rite
from theological, historical and social-scientific perspectives as well
as a how-to guide to presiding at the Eucharist. Firmly rooted in the
perspective that baptism is the threshold into full membership in the
church. (Church Publishing, 2008)
Reconciliation
by Martin Smith. An excellent book for those preparing for the sacrament of the reconciliation of a penitent. (Cowley, 1985)
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