Lenten Lessons: A Time to Refill Your Grace Well

A Time to Refill Your Grace Well Graphic

What is Grace? and Why Do I Need It?

The Allison abridged version for the definition of grace? Grace is the undeserved, yet freely given gift of God’s Holy Spirit living within us. It is pure gift from a purely loving God. Sanctifying Grace is what we receive in Baptism that allows us to participate in a life with God. Actual Grace can be thought of as those passing, sometimes momentary, glimpses of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. A little (or a lot) of divine assistance to guide and support us through life. This gift of God’s grace is abundant. We need only dip into the spiritual well-spring to receive it. Why do we need it? Grace is the fuel for our souls to reach Heaven.

Filling Our Grace Well

The most effective way to refill our ‘grace well’ comes through the other gifts God has for us. Primarily, prayer, Sacrament, and Scripture, or what I affectionately refer to as the “Grace Trifecta”. The secret is simple, and not really a secret, immerse yourself daily in conversation with God – ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and I guarantee that door will be flung open!!

Entering into Conversation with God aka Prayer

Rosary as prayer abacus. I employ this alternative use for the Rosary when I am having either a very distracted day or one filled with many prayer requests. For each bead, I bring to mind someone needing a prayer – offering that bead’s prayer for their specific intentions. At the end of the Rosary, I have prayed for at least 55 people. In praying the Rosary, grace abounds.
Turn your inner voice to one of constant communication with those in heaven. Engage your Guardian Angel, Blessed Mother or favorite Saints (aka Your Saint Posse) in dialog. You will find the conversations not only more useful and encouraging, but it will also help you move closer to St . Paul’s exhortation to “pray without ceasing”.
Do you feel like you spend all day in your car? What about praying for the intentions (known or unknown) for those in the houses you pass in your travels. I call this, “praying my town.” I offer prayers as I pass by homes of sick friends, families with new babies, as well as the police and fire stations. I also pray for the souls in Purgatory, with either the Requiem Prayer or this short prayer, “Jesus, Mary I love you, save souls” when I drive past a cemetery.

Online Pray More Lenten Retreat

There are many honors in my life that I shake my head at and wonder – how on earth did I get that blessing. Being on of this year’s Pray More Lenten Retreat presenters is RIGHT up there among the craziest! Blessed to be sharing my favorite way to build a foundation of faith – the Grace Trifecta. Click the image below to learn more!!

Sacrament

Learn more about the incredible mystical beauty of the Liturgy so to be fully present for each celebration of the Eucharist. Some of my favorite current books on the Mass include A Biblical Walk Through the Mass by Edward Sri, Seven Secrets of the Eucharist by Vinny Flynn and The Power of Daily Mass by Bert Ghezzi.
Get Ye to Adoration. Why? St. Alphonsus Liguori makes one of the best arguments for finding a way to work this incredible practice into your week:
“Know also that you will probably gain more by praying fifteen minutes before the Blessed Sacrament than by all the other spiritual exercises of the day. True, Our Lord hears our prayers anywhere, for He has made the promise, ‘Ask, and you shall receive,’ but He has revealed to His servants that those who visit Him in the Blessed Sacrament will obtain a more abundant measure of grace.”
Frequent Confession. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is one of great healing. When we come to the Priest to confess we are doing more than leaving our sins at the foot of the cross, we are being filled with God’s grace to go forward and sin no more (or at least sin a bit less). This a great gift that we all need to open more than just once a year!