May 2010: Vol. XXIII, No. 5

Anne Strader

Warm greetings, dear Friends! Grace abounds on this sparkling spring day. Rachel Naomi Remen, in her book Kitchen Table Wisdom, writes about the story of a poor man walking along a dusty road one day, wondering whether he would have anything to eat that evening, when suddenly the gods took pity on him and dropped a bag of gold in his path. He was not ready to receive this gift, however, and detoured around it without investigating, thinking himself fortunate to have avoided stumbling over such a large rock in his path. Our lives are full of such a "bags of gold" appearing in our path, but they rarely look like the gifts they are. Sometimes they even appear to be just the opposite, and only looking back do we perceive their value. As we meet in the Silence, let us seek the vision to recognize the many gifts of grace with which we are richly blessed every day.

Experiencing grace

Charlene Spretnak | May 2010: Vol. XXIII, No. 5

Experiencing grace involves the expansion of consciousness of self to all of one's surroundings as an unbroken whole, a consciousness of awe from which negative mindstates are absent, from which healing and groundedness result. For these reasons grace has long been deemed "amazing."

~ from STATES OF GRACE by Charlene Spretnak

Deep within your eyes imprinted grace

St. John of the Cross | May 2010: Vol. XXIII, No. 5

You looked with love upon me
And deep within your eyes imprinted grace.
This mercy set me free,
Held in your love’s embrace,
To lift my eyes adoring
to your grace.

~ by St. John of the Cross

Without grace there is no spiritual life

Valentin Tomberg | May 2010: Vol. XXIII, No. 5
There is no authentic and sincere spiritual life without faith, hope and love; but there is no faith, hope, and love without mystical experience or, what is the same thing, without grace.
~ by Valentin Tomberg

Grace is trhe gift of well-being

J. Philip Newell | May 2010: Vol. XXIII, No. 5
The gift of nature is the gift of "being"; the gift of grace is the gift of "well-being." Grace is given to reconnect us to our true nature. At the heart of our being is the image of God, and thus the wisdom of God, the creativity of God, the passions of God, the longings of God. Grace is opposed not to what is deepest in us but to what is false in us. It is given to restore us to the core of our being and to free us from the unnaturalness of what we are doing to one another and to the earth.
~ from THE CHRIST OF THE CELTS by J. Philip Newell

Grace is the only exception

Simone Weil | May 2010: Vol. XXIII, No. 5
All the natural movements of the soul are controlled by laws analogous to those of physical gravity. Grace is the only exception.
~ by Simone Weil

Within the sorrow there is grace

Wayne Muller | May 2010: Vol. XXIII, No. 5

This much I have learned: within the sorrow there is grace. When we come close to the things that break us down, we touch those things that also break us open. This is the point of healing: when we have told the story, we can leave the story behind. What remains is hidden wholeness, alive and unbroken.

~ from HOW THEN SHALL WE LIVE by Wayne Muller

All human nature vigorously resists grace

Flannery O'Connor | May 2010: Vol. XXIII, No. 5
All human nature vigorously resists grace because grace changes us and the change is painful.
~ by Flannery O'Connor

It's all grace

Bo Lozoff | May 2010: Vol. XXIII, No. 5

Probably one of the first strokes of grace in my life is my father's become totally paralyzed when I was eight years old, because it led me to become the kind of person I am now. Sometimes we understand grace only in retrospect. If someone were to ask me what grace is, I would probably respond, "It's all grace."

~ from GETTING FREE by Bo Lozoff

Grace is the outward expression of the inward harmony of the soul

William Hazlitt | May 2010: Vol. XXIII, No. 5

Grace has been defined as the outward expression of the inward harmony of the soul.

~ by William Hazlitt

Grace is a condition in which all growth is effortless

Jane Roberts | May 2010: Vol. XXIII, No. 5

The state of grace is a condition in which all growth is effortless, a transparent, joyful acquiescence that is a general requirement of all existence. Your own body grows naturally and easily from its time of birth, not expecting resistance but taking its miraculous unfolding for granted; using all of itself with great, gracious, creatively aggressive abandon. You were born in a state of grace; it is impossible for you to leave it. You will die in a state of grace . . . You cannot "fall out of" grace, nor can it be taken from you.

~ from THE NATURE OF PERSONAL REALITY by Jane Roberts

Grace takes us all to its bosom

Isak Denisen | May 2010: Vol. XXIII, No. 5

We have all of us been told that grace is to be found in the universe. But in our human foolishness and short-sightedness we imagine divine grace to be finite. For this reason we tremble . . . But the moment comes when our eyes are opened and we see and realize that grace is infinite. Grace, my friends, demands nothing from us but that we shall await it with confidence and acknowledge it in gratitude. Grace, friends, makes no conditions and singles out none of us in particular; grace takes us all to its bosom and proclaims general amnesty.

~ from BABETTE’S FEAST AND OTHER ANECDOTES OF DESTINY by Isak Denisen

Earth experience of grace

Jackson Lears | May 2010: Vol. XXIII, No. 5

Grace is what happens when openness to chance yields a deeper awareness of the cosmos or one’s place in it . . . when luck leads to spiritual insight . . . Proust called chance experiences "earth experience of grace."

~ from SOMETHING FOR NOTHING by Jackson Lears

Earth experience of grace

Jackson Lears | May 2010: Vol. XXIII, No. 5

Grace is what happens when openness to chance yields a deeper awareness of the cosmos or one’s place in it . . . when luck leads to spiritual insight . . . Proust called chance experiences "earth experience of grace."

~ from SOMETHING FOR NOTHING by Jackson Lears

The winds of grace are always blowing

Ramakrishna | May 2010: Vol. XXIII, No. 5

The winds of grace are always blowing.
It is for us to raise our sails.

~ by Ramakrishna

Grace Happens

Susan Gregg-Schroeder | May 2010: Vol. XXIII, No. 5

Grace happens! Grace seldom comes as a profound, single, life-changing event. More often it emerges as a whisper, yet it can carry a person through the next few hours or even days: mornings when I shared bagels and coffee with a friend who listened, offerings of food when I could not begin to plan dinner for the family, phone calls that came at those low moments to lift my spirits and remind me that I was still connected with others, the memorable sermon or anthem that touched my soul in a way I cannot describe. Grace happens!

~ from IN THE SHADOW OF GOD’S WINGS by Susan Gregg-Schroeder