Give the gift of grace this holiday season

This Christmas, give the gift that keeps on giving, give the gift of grace! Why? Because it’s the sole path to a soul at peace. Somebody cut you off on the freeway? Give him grace. Disappointed by a family member? Give her grace! Irritable checker at the supermarket? Give her grace too; you just never know what someone’s going through. Let’s assume positive intent and just give everyone the benefit of the doubt this holiday season.

What the world needs now is love sweet love, but it also needs a whole lot of grace. What exactly is it and how do we get it? Divine grace is God’s unmerited favor toward us. It’s his love and mercy poured down upon us simply because we exist, because we’re his children. We can’t earn it and we don’t deserve it, but he gives it to us anyhow, because God is love and that’s all he knows how to do.

Now, there’s a couple things you need to know about grace. First, you can’t store it up like a chipmunk stores acorns in his cheeks. You have to depend on it moment by moment, day by day. It’s always available to us, but it can only be had on the fly. Second, you have to give away what you receive so you can get more of it. This is called the loop of grace, and friends, that’s one loop I want to be stuck in.

Bishop Barron says, “Every single person has a mission: to be a conduit of the divine grace into the world.” I love that word conduit - it means we’re channeling a power that’s beyond ourselves - a source of love and goodness we can’t manufacture on our own. We must first receive it, then give it away, then receive more, then give that away. Rinse, repeat!

How does this dynamic play out in daily life? For me, it’s a key component in my relationships. I don’t always understand people’s actions, but I choose to give them grace because that’s how God treats me and we’re meant to imitate Christ - to be the heart and soul of Jesus in this world.

Moreover, grace goes hand in hand with forgiveness, and if you want to grow some spiritual muscles, there’s no getting around the need to practice forgiveness. Growing up, some of my family members struggled with this virtue, so I’ve seen firsthand how a lack of forgiveness can damage relationships. Grudges, resentment and hostility eventually become a poison pill that corrodes the soul. I don’t know about you, but that’s one pill I’d rather not swallow.

So this Advent season, let’s ask the Lord to give us a heaping dose of his amazing grace so we can channel it to everyone around us. When we do, we become messengers of his love and peace who can joyfully proclaim with the angels in heaven, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of goodwill.”