Grace - Mediation – sacrament
Dr. Terry Nelson-Johnson
Fr. Pat McGrath S.J. suggests that the Heart and Soul of Catholicism are intricately and intimately woven into this holy rhythm and dynamic: Grace, Mediation, sacrament.
Grace: The verb of God. The part of God that is desperate to get to us, to connect with us, to enter into communion - Holy Communion - with us. Ralph Waldo Emerson suggests that "The greatest gift is a portion of thyself." This is an apt and beautiful description of Grace: God is aching to give us the greatest Gift – a portion of Himself – over and over again!
Mediation: The Catholic imagination suggests that we cannot mainline [as if by injecting into a vein] God. The DNA of God is mediated to us through the material world – through the incarnation. A ‘sacramental mediator’ is any person, place, thing, event, or encounter that mediates grace to us.
sacrament: Any moment when God successfully does the only thing that God aches to do, which is get to us. Any moment when we receive or ingest a bit of God. Any moment when we welcome Grace, the gift of God. A sacrament is a “felt” experience of God’s Presence.
Our first Adventure in Grace will have us contemplating, marinating in, dancing and wrestling with this rhythm of our faith: sacramentality - Grace, Mediation, Sacrament.
Toward this end we invite and implore you to engage in this reality in your daily lives by using one of these sacramental prompts regularly.
“I received the sacrament of _________ mediated by __________.”
“I witnessed the sacrament of _________ Given to ________ Mediated by _________.”
“Hail Mary full of Grace..., Hail (person place, or thing) full of Grace.”
“Where’s the Grace? Where’s the Grace? Where’s the Grace?”
"Oh My God...”
Meister Eckhart, a brilliant Catholic mystic said, “If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.”
On behalf of the Faith Community of Holy Family – Thank You, Thank You, Thank You for your companionship.
