Grace – Part 1

Main Idea

His Holiness Pope Shenouda III discusses divine grace, explaining that it is a power and help from God that supports a person in weakness and strengthens human will and nature. He explains that a person’s talents and abilities, as well as the spiritual gifts received, are included within the work of God’s grace. Grace also moves within the heart the love of God, the longing for repentance, and holy feelings. A person cannot, by natural strength alone, overcome spiritual battles, and therefore continually needs the help of divine grace.

Spiritual Message

The lecture affirms that grace works in repentance, service, worship, and the whole spiritual life, and that a person works through the grace active within him while his will cooperates with it. Grace does not cancel human freedom; rather, it visits, calls, and supports the person, while the person must accept its work and open his heart to God. Grace may come in response to prayer and asking, and God may also visit a person with His grace without the person having asked for it, as an expression of His love and care. Therefore, hope does not depend on human strength alone, but on the grace of God, which is able to rescue a person from weakness and grant an opportunity for repentance and return.

Educational Lesson

The lecture explains that the holy Sacraments of the Church are among the most important ways through which grace works in the life of the believer. In Baptism, a person receives the grace of the new birth and illumination; in Chrismation, the work and abiding of the Holy Spirit; in Confession, the grace of forgiveness; and in Communion, the grace of union and abiding in Christ and the forgiveness of sins. A particular grace is also associated with the Anointing of the Sick, Priesthood, and Marriage; therefore, perseverance in the Sacraments is connected with living in grace. The lecture also presents biblical examples of the work of grace, such as the visitation of Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, God’s response to the prayers and alms of Cornelius, and the calling of Matthew from the tax office.

Practical Application

The teaching calls us to continually ask for God’s grace in prayer: in our work, in overcoming sin, in loving God, and in seeking strength and purity. A person should be sensitive to the visitation of grace and should not neglect the spiritual opportunities God grants, because grace may knock at the heart while a person refuses to open to it. What is required is cooperation with grace and surrendering the heart to God’s work without abolishing free will. Thus, the believer lives in hope, knowing that God’s grace is help for the weak, support for those who need strength, and a divine visitation that leads a person to repentance and life with God.

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