Experiencing the Grace of God. Possible?

Memorial of St Barnabas:   Daily Readings

Yesterday, I have taken the challenged that the liturgy gave me seriously: appreciate and understand better the gift of the Body and Blood of Christ but also the reality and the meaning that this gift creates in me. I continue my journey today, opening myself to the Word of God.

My attention is taken by the first reading. "In those days a great number of those who believed turned to the Lord." It seems a bit odd: it is those who believed that turned to the Lord. It's the most fundamental of choices: to choose God above all things. Everyday I have to turn to the Lord, convert my heart so that it is He who shapes my thoughts and guides my path. I also see here the beginning of the "new evangelization." When we decide to share the message of the Gospel, we begin by turning to the Lord, we begin by living it out ourselves.

"This news about them reaches the ears of the Church of Jerusalem." What a wonderful reputation did the Christians of Antioch had. Usually, when we do something bad everybody seems to know. It's more difficult to spread good news; it doesn't come natural to us, it seems, to say good things, especially about a Church. I asked myself: what kind of reputation does my parish have?

The Church of Jerusalem responds to the news and they sent Barnabas. When he arrived "he saw the grace of God." What marvel this must have been! Barnabas does not see what they were doing, what programs they were implementing, or how many charity works they were doing. He sees the grace of God. It must have been such a powerful experience that it is the Grace of God became so visible. It was an experience of God's grace.

I want a church where the grace of God is experienced in the same way by all those who come in. It's a church that I want to belong, too. But how can I do?

I found the answer in the first verse of this reading. It is by "turning to the Lord" that allows me to experience Grace personally, and it is by people deciding individually and as a community to choose God, to open themselves to grace that grace becomes truly Amazing. If this is what I want, turning to the Lord, converting everyday, must be what I must do!

How I wish I could talk to every person who sits in the pews, and help each one of them to really appreciate what God has done for them: He gave Himself so that we could be united with him intimately, living and nurtured by His Grace. What is the greatest challenge? Why is it that it seems so difficult to accept this gift? We have to undo what decades of "religionism" has done: making us believe that it is what we do for God that counts, that as long as we say the words, we show up at Mass, we are done. We don't have to engage, we don't have to convert.

I have to take Barnabas' advice to heart. He "encouraged them all to remain faithful to the Lord in firmness of faith." Firmness of faith. We can't take shortcuts or deviation. There is one way and it is the path opened by Jesus who died on the cross and rose up again. This is the only guarantee we have that we can remain in His will. We can't make it up.

"And a large number of people were added to the Lord." Here's the "unseen" consequence of people turning to the Lord and experiencing Grace. Their lives become so attractive that others want to experience it too. I like the fact that these people were added to the Lord. We have to invite people to join the Body of Christ, not an organization or a denomination. What our soul longs for is to belong to the One who gives life. The other dimension of the "body of Christ," the Church, makes sense only if we understand it as the incarnated dimension of Christ, not separate from Him. When we evangelize and invite people to join us at the Table of the Lord, we must make absolutely sure that they are becoming part of a living, vibrant, though many times unseen Body of Christ. How about my life (not my words), does it attract people to the Lord or does it scare it away? 

Living the Word of God brings me so much Joy. I know I can expect great things from the Lord today... and I want to be part of this. Here I am , Lord, I come to do your will.