Grace. What is the first thing that comes to your mind? Do you focus on the word as it relates to beauty in a form of elegance or refinement? Maybe it is the meaning that relates to kindness, mercy, or decency. Many focus on its spiritual meaning, the “supernatural gift of God”. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, grace is “favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God” (CCC 1996).” Regardless of the definition that is in the mind of the person considering the meaning of grace, the most important thing is that it is a gift from God intended to lead us to Heaven.

May is a perfect month to reflect on our relationship with God and to focus on His grace. Easter season is drawing to a close and we celebrate the Ascension when we are called to consider our Catholic faith and what is asked of us. We celebrate our Blessed Mother at the beginning of the month and at the end of the month we remember those who gave all when they laid down their lives for our right to worship freely. God is the giver of grace and when we are in a state of grace, our relationship with God is complete.

Some do not consider burial in a Catholic cemetery as having to do with faith and especially grace. Despite our modern world’s efforts at undermining our faith, Catholic cemeteries exemplify grace in several ways. A Catholic cemetery is a sacred place and to bury a loved one in such a place is an expression of faith, an expression of our belief in the resurrection and life eternal. Burying our dead in a sacred place is an expression of love and acknowledgment that the body was a temple of the Holy Spirit and is to be treated with dignity even in death. A Catholic cemetery is a place of prayer and remembrance, and it is in prayer that we open ourselves to God. In a Catholic cemetery we find hope, and that is in that place of hope where we find God’s eternal love.

Grace is simply God’s love for us and His way of guiding us home.

God Bless

Andrej N. Lah