The Impossible meets the Possible

"All Christ did, all he taught, was the will of God.  Humility in our daily lives, an unwavering faith, a moral sense of modesty in conversation, justice in acts, mercy in deed, discipline, refusal to harm others, a readiness to suffer harm, peaceableness with our brothers, a wholehearted love of the Lord, loving in him what is of the father, fearing him because he is God, preferring nothing to him who preferred nothing to us, clinging tenaciously to his love, standing by his cross with loyalty and courage whenever there is any conflict involving honor and his name, manifesting in our speech the constancy for the fight, and in dying the endurance for which we will be crowned-this what it means to wish to be a co-heir with Christ, to keep God's command; this is what it means to do the will of the Father." St. Cyprian

I think that this quote best summarizes the Christian walk of life.  At first glance this life seems impossible, unattractive, superstitious, and unattainable.  I know that I have expressed these sentiments  in and out of my faith walk in Christ.  I remember that one of my greatest stumbling blocks prior to coming to the faith was that, I perceived that the faith was too difficult, depressing, and strange.  For a person like myself who suffered from depression nothing could be as unattractive as Christianity.  I remember reading excerpts from different saints how they would suffer daily through crazy acts of penance.  I remember specifically reading about a saint who fasted for 40 days on just bread and water.  I did not want to be a part of something that was so gloomy and unappealing. I wanted to do something great and memorable with my life, but not something that involved quasi masochistic acts. I rationalized that as long as I was "a good person" that cosmically everything would line up in my favor.  So that is what I thought until...

You see I was sort of right in my assessment that the Christian life was indeed impossible, but I missed something that was crucial to the equation and that missing part was...grace.  What differentiates a Christian from just a "good" person is grace.  So what is grace and how can one attain it?  I do not intend to explore or explain the theological ramifications and consequences of this indispensable gift given to the believer on a daily basis regardless of merit.   Fr. Benedict Groeschel explains grace as he says,

"There is a mysterious factor, a variable almost entirely outside the province of scientific inquiry and beyond empirical validation, that often decisively affects human behavior for the good...This gift is often bestowed when least expected, and it affects life by bringing good out of evil, repentance out of sin, hope out of despair, creativity out of destructiveness, love out of hate, and life out of death."  (From Stumbling Blocks or Stepping Stones, pg. 5)

The great news as a Christian is that this supernatural gift is always available.  Grace viewed from this light can be seen as never ending fountain of God's assistance and mercy.  Once this truth is accepted and internalized than the person is capable of living the universal Christian call to saint hood.  Once a person accepts God's graces than the person becomes a type of alchemist, turning the impossible into the possible.  Once a person reaches this exalted state than the person can live out the standards mentioned in the above quote by St. Cyprian with a sort of heavenly ease; a perfection that can't be explained or properly understood in this life.  It is my sincere prayer that we all become great, God expects nothing less than greatness from all of us.  The great news is that with his grace we can and will become great!