Grace Occasion
Oliver Parkes
Perhaps because, the evening before, I had caught myself falling into a familiar shortcoming: caught myself, and caught myself. Stopped, and turned around, and walked back up that metaphorical slope. And then, instead of berating myself for backsliding, I caught myself there, too, and instead thought through exactly what had happened: what had been the stimulus, and the opportunity, and how exactly I had started to fall back into it, and how I noticed what I was doing, and how I stopped.
Sin can be an occasion of grace: grace that not only helps us to stop sinning in that moment, but to perceive the machinations of mind and heart, of desire and will, that lead us to sin. To understand how we got there. We firmly resolve to sin no more: that resolve is immensely aided by such understanding.
Conversion is a turning, a turning away from sin, a turning towards God, again and again, over and over, a dance that goes on, we hope, all our lives. And at every turn, grace meets us, supports us, steadies us, gently guides us, if we consent to be met, and supported, and steadied, and guided.
As long-standing readers of my blog may remember, I have already written about this challenge. In my last post on the subject, I gave two examples of how I had prayed at previous dinners. But for all my experience of praying at public dinners (or breakfasts as it tends to be the case with my Rotary club), I still find saying Grace on such occasions a challenge.
I was driving to Mass on a recent Sunday morning. There was one car ahead of me on the residential street. The speed limit was 25 mph, but he was crawling along between 10 and 15 mph. I was annoyed and concerned about being late.
He eventually turned into the church driveway ahead of me, and we proceeded to park next to each other. As I got out of my car and started walking, he said something about my being in too great a hurry. I replied over my shoulder that he had been driving unnecessarily slow.
As the Mass unfolded, I found myself wondering what to say if I encountered him later in the parking lot: That driving to Mass should be a purposeful activity and not a leisurely sightseeing experience? That he had been inconsiderate of the people driving behind him? And so on. Half a dozen times my mind diverged in that direction and I had to drag it back to the celebrant.
Actual grace may be defined as the inspiration to wisdom and goodness embedded in human experience. It is available not just to Catholics or Christians in general but to every human being, regardless of religious affiliation or lack thereof. Actual grace is the gift that enables believers to understand their faith more deeply and to live it more concretely. It also can lead unbelievers to belief
As my experience with the careful driver illustrates, all that is necessary to receive actual grace is to rein in ego, acknowledge that our first impressions may be shallow or mistaken, and open our minds and hearts to wisdom greater than our own.
VINCENT RYAN RUGGIERO, M.A., is Professor of Humanities Emeritus, State University of New York, Delhi College. Prior to his twenty-nine year career in education, he was a social caseworker and an industrial engineer. The author of twenty-one books, his trade books include Warning: Nonsense Is Destroying America and The Practice of Loving Kindness. His textbooks include The Art of Thinking and Beyond Feelings, both in 10th editions and available in Chinese as well as English, Thinking Critically About Ethical Issues, and A Guide to Sociological Thinking. His latest book, Corrupted Culture: Rediscovering America's Enduring Principles, Values, and Common Sense, is available at Amazon and in bookstores. Professor Ruggiero is internationally recognized as one of the pioneers of the Critical Thinking movement in education. Earlier in his career, he published essays in a variety of magazines and journals, including America, Catholic Mind, The Sign, The Lamp, and Catholic World.
The term grace is defined in ten ways by the fine people at Merriam-Webster. It\u2019s a word that has a unique simplicity to it, yet can be used differently. The word exists in the form of eight nouns and two verbs. I will always think of my younger brother yelling, \\\"GRACE!\u201D right after my Mom would implore us to say it before eating. The memory makes me laugh to this day. Whether as a noun meaning a short prayer before a meal that asks a blessing or a transitive verb defined as to confer dignity or honor on, the true meaning of the word might in fact be undefinable even though the experience of it is usually unforgettable.
Recently, while sitting with my eighty-five-year-old neighbor, he mentioned how people in our lives provide us with occasions of grace. That those who surround us are the catalysts for these incredible moments. Whether due to their actions or inactions, good or poor decisions, faults or strengths, each person\u2019s presence in our lives is an occasion for grace. Our fellow human beings help us to see, feel, and understand how grace works in the world today. I couldn\u2019t agree more.
A few weeks ago a new student was placed in one of my U.S. History classes. This young man came to our school from a foreign country and had very little understanding of the English language when he arrived. The effort he has put into learning despite having to communicate with Google Translate (an incredible tool by the way) has certainly made an impression on his fellow classmates. How do I know this? When he was absent a couple of days last week, just about every student asked me if he was okay or wondered where he was. In high school, that never happens. Keep in mind his communication with them has been limited to a few smiles and one or two word responses like \u201Cthank you.\u201D If his presence hasn\u2019t been a grace, I\u2019m not sure what is.
Likewise, seeing the division we have created in this country politically can be a harbinger of grace. Cruelty toward our fellow man and woman is nothing new. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a stretch to say the venom shown toward those that vote differently from us has ever before reached such an extreme level in American politics. Thanks to the internet and social media, everyone has a platform to spew hate. Seeing the importance many have put on degrading those that think differently from them in the realm of politics can also be an occasion of grace.
American novelist Flannery O\u2019Connor grew up in the segregated South and was constantly looking for grace throughout her short life. She recognized many things needed to change and said the following about her writings: \\\"All of my stories are about the action of grace on a character that is not very willing to support it, but most people think of these stories as hard, hopeless, and brutal.\u201D Much of her writing shows the absolute cruelty of humans toward each other. Another great quote attributed to her is: \u201CThe truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.\u201D This is no doubt where grace comes into our lives, often in the face of cruelty, something this author clearly understood.
Maybe the best example of what grace is was given by my brother-in-law Chris\u2019 father Bill. While delivering his eulogy, his eldest son Billy mentioned how his Dad would always search for the good in people instead of focusing on the unsavory aspects of their personalities or actions. There are good things to be found in those that surround us in this beautiful country of ours. While personal bias seems to pull us toward focusing on the negative in those that stand opposite of us on anything and everything, grace pulls us to do as this quiet, unassuming father of six did throughout his life\u2014 always look for the good in everyone because as he often said, \u201CIt is there, you just have to find it.\u201D
In a society like today that seems to love division, one can understand what Flannery O\u2019Connor meant about human nature resisting grace due to the change it causes in us, because we humans don\u2019t do well with change. Maybe if we sought the good in those we vote for and vote against, know and don\u2019t know, admire and don\u2019t think too highly of, it can become an occasion of grace that makes each of us a better version of ourselves and one that will help bridge the ever growing divide that ails humanity today.
Some months ago, Maestro Aurelio Porfiri approached me with the idea of authoring a statement in support of genuine sacred music, for the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of Musicam Sacram. The statement would express in a clear and simple way our conviction of the continuing relevance of the great musical tradition of the Catholic Church for the needs of our times, and the corresponding urgency of recovering it in a world that has shown a preferential option for amnesia. I agreed with Maestro Porfiri, and thus began our editorial work together, as we worked on one draft after another. The drafts were shared with experts in sacred music, and slowly, out of the resulting conversations, a statement emerged that was short enough to be read by all, but detailed enough to address the total situation. We had this statement translated into nine languages and then sent it around to musicians, scholars, and pastors, requesting their signatures in support. Having garnered over 200 signatures from many countries [a list of the 200+ signatories may be found here], the statement shows that our assessments and aspirations are widely shared throughout the Catholic Church. This response is not enough to establish our statement as a majority view, but it is more than enough to demonstrate the falsehood of the progressive narrative of a world in which tradition no longer has a place or substantial backing.
I think we may say that modern individualistic music, with its realism and emotionalism, may stir human feeling, but it can never create that atmosphere of serene spiritual ecstasy that the old music generates. It is a case of mysticism versus hysteria. Mysticism is a note of the Church: it is healthy and sane. Hysteria is of the world: it is morbid and feverish, and has no place in the Church. Individual emotions and feelings are dangerous guides, and the Church in her wisdom recognises this. Hence in the music which she gives us, the individual has to sink his personality, and become only one of the many who offer their corporate praise.
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