small group, week 3 of 7

After starting with prayer we six go around the table recounting instances when we were granted or given something undeserved, unentitled, unexpected; whether it be safety, health, peace of mind, experience of holiness or direct knowledge of God's grace to us.

We probed the similarities between grace (given, unconditional =belonging or share of ownership generously given), mercy (reprieve when justice is due =do over, forgiving the misdeed), and karitas (Greek for charity; the variety of love singled out among Faith, Hope and Love as being greatest). All three of these are given freely, not able to be earned or coerced.

We struggled with definitions (p.83 in middle of top paragraph): grace has same root as Spanish 'gracias' (expression of gratitude; thanks). By the sacrifice of Jesus, we all are forgiven our sins. We can't earn that or demand that, it simply has been paid for by that sacrifice. We own it already and merely need to realize this.

Conclusion: we all seem to have felt gratitude at points in our lives, maybe dramatic, maybe undramatic; maybe fully aware at the moment, or maybe only appreciating the details later. And yet, as mortals with a normal span of life, the experiences we are part of seem very significant; we seek personal meaning in events around us. But it seems unreasonable for God to know or care about the details of any one person's life when measured against the vastness of planets and stars being born and eventually dying. And yet we read that he knows all the hairs on our heads; his love is so vast but it also blankets individual lives and personal reckoning of experiences: we are not meaningless against God's infinity because he knows us completely, no matter how long or short our days may be.