'Everything is grace'

My attention was drawn to this seemingly innocuous saying of St Therese many years ago before I became a Carmelite.  Now it is part of the foundation of my daily life.  It’s incredible how easily we forget the things we take for granted about our lives.  I did not choose when to be born, where to be born, what family to be born into, what school to be sent to – these most fundamental things that have shaped me.  God chose all these things for me – in part through my parents or guardians – but they too were subject to the law of grace.  They made choices about the environment in which I grew up, the environment in which I was educated, and so forth, but they were themselves children of grace.  But grace didn’t only rule the initial phases of my life, grace has been operative all my life.  I met a lady and married her joyfully and happily – but grace attracted her to me, grace chose that we should meet, that we should be in the same room at the same time, and so forth.  Out there they call this ‘chance’, but we know better.  Believing in the God of Love who rules history, we rest on His Divine Providence, not on chance, and so our daily lives are invested with a huge meaning and a huge sense of purpose.  That in turn makes for mental and psychic health – for along with our craving for love, we have a deep craving for meaning and purpose.

Intercessions:

Marie – cancer

Bernard – cancer, and wife Angela

Rosemarie – multiple afflictions

Elara, Siena – infants with severe medical issues