Grace Notes 2024-08-28

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa 55:8-9).

I can not emphasize enough that God’s Word is counterintuitive! It cuts against the grain. It is contrary to the wisdom of the world. It does not concur with fallen man’s understanding and sense of things.

In order to trust God’s Word, we need Divine help. This starts with God’s grace which comes to us in His Word. Christ purchased our redemption through His sacrificial death on the Cross. This gift of salvation involving the forgiveness of sin is benefited by repentant sinners who look to Jesus. That is to say, by all who place their trust in Him. And the faith to receive God’s grace is also a gift enabled by the Holy Spirit conferred upon us in our baptism.

Apart from God’s grace, our lives are shaped and formed by the world. Worldly thinking is the default setting for us, and little wonder with the incessant voices and influences of the world bombarding us day and night.

This is why the Apostle Paul writes “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Rom 12:2)… Conformity comes natural. Transformation takes realignment and effort. In fact, such renewal is largely predicated on being shaped by Holy Scripture. I speak of its teachings, commandments, and promises. Not only is familiarity with the Bible necessary, but also meditation and the application of its doctrines is involved. This is how we began to be shaped in God’s ways.

When we begin to understand the need for (trans)formation, we will be a lot more picky about what best lends itself to such formation. Good liturgy, good hymnody, good company, Bible study, daily devotion, good reading, fortification from the sacraments, the list goes on. But remember, God’s thoughts and ways are counterintuitive.

Since You Asked…

What is the purpose of the “Silence for reflection and self-examination” in the Brief Order For Confession and Forgiveness? 

“The silence for self-examination and reflection should be an extended silence to enable personal application of the general phrases of the prayer that follows. Silence of one or two minutes is not too long” (Manual on the Liturgy – LBW). This is a helpful time to reflect back on our lives over the past week and ask ourselves whether we have been disobedient or unfaithful, bad-tempered or dishonest, or whether we have hurt anyone by word or deed. By allowing for this period of reflection we are able to personalize what would otherwise remain quite general.