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Sometimes I think that I don’t think big enough.
Thank you for joining me as we study the Collect for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
This week's Collect reads, "May your grace, O Lord, we pray, at all times go before us and follow after and make us always determined to carry out good works."
Notice what comes first. It’s not good works, it’s God’s grace. I love this definition of grace, it’s so simple: grace is treating someone better than they deserve. It's what we get from God with more than enough to give to others.
Here’s why sometimes I think that I don’t think big enough. At first read, it’s really easy to see that the prayer includes tomorrow and yesterday. That scary doctor’s appointment you have coming up? God is before you, he’s already there. That time last week when you should have done more for someone or said more when someone asked about your faith? There’s a prayer for that, “Jesus, repair what I have done badly, and supply for what I have left undone.” (Fr. Jean C J d’Elbee)
Let's take a look at Psalm 139:5, “Behind and before you encircle me and rest your hand upon me.” (NAB) His hand resting on us is grace.
Now it’s time to think big. In A Commentary on the Book of Psalms, Saint Robert Bellarmine wrote that God knows everything that pertains to man because:
1) He knows everything past and future
2) As man’s Creator, He knows everything connected with man and he hasn’t lost sight of His creation. (More grace).
No matter what we do, or where we are, or even -think big!- that we live in the century that we do, God is before us, he is after us, and without his grace, we could do nothing.
Take some time this week to think about
Thanks for praying with me,
Julie