9 June 2016 - grace like rain

[ Today's Readings ]

“Climb up and look out to sea,” he directed his servant,
who went up and looked, but reported, “There is nothing.”
Seven times he said, “Go, look again!”

Sometimes we don't see immediate results. We get up once and look and don't see rain. We go to confession but commit the same sin again. We ask God for more peace or patience but find ourselves more unsettled and anxious. The message here is that we need to keep looking. The grace of Jesus is more than enough to perfect us. Our free will is involved. But it isn't about our ability or effort. Jesus tells us that it will rain. We just have to keep watching for it.

We do need to do our part to remove hindrances from this grace having its full effect on us.

Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar,
and there recall that your brother
has anything against you,
leave your gift there at the altar,
go first and be reconciled with your brother,
and then come and offer your gift.

Such obstacles as unforgiveness need not keep us from the grace of God for which we so desperately thirst. But they can if we cling to them. God tells us to get up and look for the rain. But if we are content to sit and fume about our feuds we will not see nor taste it.

Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge,
and the judge will hand you over to the guard,
and you will be thrown into prison.
Amen, I say to you,
you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.

God can extract these obstacles from us the hard way or the easy way. The easy way is for us to let the grace he offers run its course. We can embrace his love and mercy and let it change our hearts to make us patient, peaceful, and forgiving. Only then do we truly learn what it means to enter into the Kingdom of heaven. It is God himself who gives the growth (first Corinthians 3:6), though, so let us keep watching for that rain of grace today.

You have visited the land and watered it;
greatly have you enriched it.
God’s watercourses are filled;
you have prepared the grain.