Beauty Changes Everything

To me, the very least of all the holy ones, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the inscrutable riches of Christ. // Ephesians 3:8

“I have a wife and a family who depend on me. I can’t just get up and be a missionary somewhere. That would be irresponsible!”

I sat in my living room, staring through the screen and at the young husband, who was a participant at a virtual young adult leaders gathering on Catholic Social Teaching where I was presenting. His ache for justice and activism was unmistakable. Before I could share suggestions about what he, and all of the attendees, could do and say to be living in solidarity with others, I looked at the crucifix in my hand. I had a flashback to a stunning gothic Catholic cathedral that I visited while on a pilgrimage in France. As a friend and I stood next to each other, breathlessly in awe of the cathedral, she turned to me and said, “Beauty changes your posture.”

She was right. We went from schlepping our way to the cathedral steps and kicking the stones at our feet, to straightening our backs and lifting our heads to see every detail that our eyes could find.

In the same way, the beauty of God’s unmerited grace changes our posture. Instead of focusing on what we can’t do, through the grace of God, we do what He enables us to.

God knows our vocation, temperaments, social skills, attitude, and abilities. He has given each of us a unique voice, personality, or way to express His grace that He’s given to us to “preach the inscrutable riches in Christ.” International stages, thousands of followers, and public platforms are a few avenues in which the Gospel is preached, but it is lived out in the ordinary way you love your family, speak charitably to strangers, interact with opposing thinkers, and invite unbelievers to believe.

When we focus on what others are doing or not doing instead of our own path, we are leaving the grace of God dormant within us.

The grace of God is given to you to preach the inscrutable riches of Christ through your words and actions, your business and your studies, your intentional time with friends and your unexpected encounters with strangers, your prayers and your sacrifices. Invite the Holy Spirit to reveal this to you.

God’s unmerited grace changes our posture. // @chikasworldClick to tweet

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