Grace divides the world into two. First birth and twice birth. The former are those born into the human family alone and the latter are those born into Christ, although they still remain humans, but a different kind. One is the natural, the other the supernatural.
Grace is so sensitive that it is possible for us to reject it because of our will. It is freely given so it must be freely received. It cannot be forced on you even though it is the most sweetest thing you need in your life. If you like ice cream for instance, you wouldn't want to have it jammed in your throat, you would want to freely receive it. Accept it. Acceptance turns Saul into St. Paul, Augustine into a bishop, saint and Doctor of the Church and turned your womanizing friend to a church going fiend. Only those who have accepted Grace know about it and can tell you about it. You will never be able to tell what lies inside a locked door until you open it but someone who has been inside can tell you what lies in. That is what I hope to do today. Tell you what Grace is and why you should accept it.
Many times in the day we receive this Grace but we either reject it or simply don't recognize it. You need not be Christian actually, everyone receives them. How is this Grace communicated to us? Knowing how will make us be in a better position to reject or accept it. I hope you prefer the latter. It saves! This Grace is of God, not from God, God is this Grace. He made us as a man makes a vehicle. No vehicle can run on water. As human machines, we cannot run on anything other than God who made us. God is our fuel. Since we have sinned and have thereby cut ourselves from this Grace, God seeks to draw us back to Him. But how does He again, infuse into us what Adam and Eve enjoyed before our disobedience?
He does it by what are called Sacraments. In Greek, it means "mystery". The sacrament is any material thing used as a sign or channel for spiritual communication. Someone with a sense of humor is who can see through things. God made the world in such a way that we can see Him through things. The poets are experts on this. We see the power of God through a mountain, the beauty of God through the sunset, the vastness of God through the deep blue sea, the purity of God through a snowflake etc. Whoever is going to use the world to explain God must speak like John Milton, not Dan Brown.
Christ is this sacrament. The Word made flesh, God-Man - invisible yet visible. We saw the Father through His body and He is to lead us to the Father by coming into us and literally leading us on. So we no longer have to look to inanimate matter to grasp God, we look to Christ! And how would Christ lead us? He is in heaven we are on earth. We cannot go there, we have tried. How can He help us get there if He is not here but there and telling us to make it? It is impossible! He will do it through things. He will use certain things as an extension of His glorified body. If you accept these things, you have accepted Christ and by accepting Christ, you have Grace and Grace leads you on to heaven.
These things might be water, bread, wine, oil and so forth. He instituted these sacraments. Just as no one can see God and live, no one can, with his or her human body, accommodate the Greatness of Christ in their finite body! It would be like emptying an entire can of golden morn into the belly of a child at once! If you love the child you wouldn't try that because the child wouldn't like it although at first it may be sweet and enjoyable because the child is hungry at that moment and understands the importance of food and nourishment but there would be a point when the child would be satisfied and hence would not find it funny when you wouldn't stop stuffing their mouth with food they do not need. The child would no longer understand! Christ is food for our soul. He nourishes us and knowing we cannot have Him all at a go without first undergoing a sort of spiritual digestion, He split His body into what the Church calls The Seven Sacraments. Did the Church invent it? Only if the Church invented Christ. Christ instituted it.
But why seven? Because there are seven conditions for living the physical life. Five of these are individual and two are for the society. Think about it. In order for you to live the natural life, you must be born, grow to maturity, nourish yourself, treat yourself, drive out traces of disease, and as a member of society there must be a propagation of the human specie and lastly, there must be government.
Over and above this human life is the divine life and there are seven conditions for living that divine life. You must be born into it, Baptism. You must grow to maturity, Confirmation. You must nourish yourself, Holy Eucharist or Communion. You must till the wounds on your soul caused by sin, Penance, or Confession. You must drive out all the traces of the disease of sin, Anointing of the sick. As a member of this society there must be a propagation of the kingdom of God, Matrimony or Christian marriage. And finally, there must be divine government, Holy Orders or Priesthood.
It is Christ who effects this Grace into us. No one else. You must run away from any priest or clergy who tells you the Grace given during Baptism for instance comes from him. Even Satan cannot tell this kind of lie. It is Christ who baptizes, who forgives sins. And so on. That is why if you receive the sacrament from an unworthy priest it would still be a sacrament because it is Christ who gives it. The sun shines through a dirty window. The messenger may be very dirty but he may still bear the message of a king for a king.
So you see the Church takes care of you from the cradle to the grave. Meets you at every important part of your divine life. Your salvation does not depend on the priest but sola Christi - Christ alone. This is the mystery of the sacrament.
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