This past week Father Alan Hartway and I took a ride to go see the Great Stupa of Dharmakaya and the Abbey of St. Walburga – both of them just 34 miles apart, in the mountains, not too far from the border between Colorado and Wyoming.
Since Father Alan is the Catholic presence on the faculty at Naropa Univversity (orginally a buddhist University), he is very familiar with the teachings and practices of Buddhists. So, I was able to pick his brain on what Buddhists believe and what their practices are. We toured the Stupa and then we prayed at the Abbey of St. Walburga.
Somewhere along the way, I asked Father Alan why he thought some people leave the Catholic Church and become Buddhists. How, I was thinking, could someone leave Jesus? How could someone leave behind a close intimate relationship with Christ for a preference for enlightenment?
Having spent much time with his students Fr. Alan said that it has become clear to him that we as Catholics neither grasp, nor teach, nor talk about our 3 greatest gifts, namely the doctrine of grace, the meaning of suffering, and the close presence of God.
In light of today’s second reading from Ephesians I want to focus on grace because the richness of this doctrine is held within these verses:
In love [God] destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of his will, for the praise of the glory of his grace that he granted us in the beloved. In him we have redemption by his blood, the forgiveness of transgressions, in accord with the riches of his grace that he lavished upon us.
What is grace? Grace is a participation in the very life of God. Grace is the unseen action of God who is extending to us help to move our lives into a better direction. Grace is the work of God working directly upon us, like when we get motivated to go to confession. Grace is what saves us; we do not save ourselves. Grace is God’s gift of Himself to us so as to draw us into ever greater union with Him. There is also the state of sanctifying grace, which is habitually abiding in a state of having a permanent disposition to live and to act in keeping with God’s call.
How do we obtain grace? We obtain sanctifying grace by baptism, and by the sacrament of Penance after we have lost our being in the state of grace.
How do we lose grace? By choosing to do wrong and failing to do good. We lose the state of grace when we detach ourselves from this close union with God. And when we detach ourselves grievously from this union with God, we are then in a state of mortal sin.
What is life like without grace? When we are not in the state of grace, we forget that we have been chosen by God and adopted as a son or daughter of God; we forget who we are and that we are loved directly and personally by God who is love. We lose our desire to be holy and without blemish before Him. Having forgotten who really we are, we choose paths in life that diminish the possibilities of living up to our potential and miss completely what it means for God to have lavished His grace upon us. In short, we go astray and we think falsely that we can fix ourselves and our problems.
And what happens to us when grace takes a hold of us, when we are willing to cooperate with it? God demands our free response. God will never force anyone to do as He commands. God will not force His grace upon us. But when we freely choose to respond to God’s grace, God immediately and directly touches our heart, and begins to fill the void that every human being knows, the void within the human heart that only God can fill. Grace also enables us to collaborate in the salvation of others and in the growth of the Body of Christ, the Church.
Amazing Grace. How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind but now I see.
Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come;
'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
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