"This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!" And what a great day it is, for both you and I. Not so much for the events of this weekend, although these are moments for great joy, but rather in the fact that God’s grace is being REVEALED and made MANIFEST in all of us!

What made King Cyrus a great king and liberator? Besides the spoken word, what illuminated the gospel and gave it power and conviction for the Thessalonians? What empowers us to do ordinary things in extraordinary ways?

GRACE! God’s AMAZING GRACE!

You’ve heard many a good preacher talk about it! The Bible is filled with it! Yet, how often do we really think about it? And what exactly is God’s grace? We can’t see it --- we can’t smell it, or touch it, or weigh it --- we can’t measure it even with the most advanced scientific instruments! However, as Catholics we believe that it’s REAL and it’s POWERFUL and it’s LIFEGIVING and LIFECHANGING.

The catechism tells us "our justification comes from the grace of God." ¹⁹⁹⁶ In other words, we are SAVED by God-granted grace. It then goes on to say that "grace is favor". It’s a gift. It is the "FREE and UNDESERVED help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons and daughters, heirs to His kingdom and partakers in the divine nature and eternal life." Now THAT truly is AMAZING GRACE!

When we were baptized, we received sanctifying grace that made us right with God. If we lose that grace along the way through mortal sin, we can receive it anew by going to confession. But is that all the grace we need or want? If you were at St. Pius X last weekend for Sunday Mass you might recall that Fr. Ray gave you the answer. And the answer is "NO". Fr. Ray spoke of the "Grace of Baptism PRESERVED"! If we’re to persevere in righteousness, St. Thomas Aquinas tells us, we need a constant dose of God’s grace. And we get that through sacramental and actual grace.

Let me frame this idea using a little analogy. Grace is to the soul, what food is to the body. If you wanna get your body into tip-top shape, you gotta eat the right kindda food, – which means no junk food – You need to consume that food through a proper diet, and you gotta exercise for maximum results. Grace acts in the same way. You gotta accept the grace that GOD gives you – not the limp promises society offers us so much like "junk food". You need a steady diet of this "soul-food" called grace and then you need to exercise it to get good results. This is called RESPONDING to God’s grace.

You see, GRACE may in fact be a gift -- but God doesn’t force it on us. We have to respond to that grace. And God gives US the choice. We can respond favorably to it or we can reject it altogether. It’s up to us! If we reject it, it’s like turning off the light switch. There’s power available but we aren’t taking advantage of it. And guess what! With the light switch off, WE WALK AROUND IN THE DARK. If we commit a grave sin, a mortal sin, we can sever our contact with God altogether. It’s like being signed on to the Internet with a Dialup account. You leave the computer for a while and when you return to it there’s a message that says, "Do To Inactivity Your Connection Has Been TERMINATED"! UhOh!

But God doesn’t want us to live in the dark -- and He doesn’t want to leave us disconnected. He wants us to take advantage -- and make use of the gift of grace He offers us. He gives us that most necessary sanctifying grace at Baptism and along with sanctifying grace, God gives us other graces: sacramental grace associated with each sacrament, the Eucharist being central-- the supernatural virtues of Faith, Hope and Love and also the gifts of the Holy Spirit. All these aid us in living virtuous lives. And it’s the virtues and gifts that help us EXERCISE the grace God gives us for one purpose --- so that we may bear fruit -- GOOD FRUIT!

It's like this…a car is engineered and designed to run under certain conditions. In other words, you don't fill the gas tank with water and expect to get very far. And you don't try flying your car off the nearest precipice. It wasn't designed to function that way. Well, the same goes for us! We were created in the IMAGE and LIKENESS of God. We were created to DO GOOD and AVOID EVIL. And just like God, we were created to be just AS generous…so the intent of doing good, my brothers and sisters, was not only for our own benefit but ALSO for the good of others. But, as St. Thomas Aquinas tells us, WE can do NOTHING good OUTSIDE of the grace of God! And so we should pray unceasingly for God's grace and respond to it and exercise it so that it bears GOOD FRUIT!

This, brothers and sisters, leads us to ask the Million Dollar question -- WHY?

If we look at one line in today’s gospel, we’ll know the answer. Jesus told them, "Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar AND TO GOD WHAT BELONGS TO GOD." And what belongs to God, you might ask? The bible tells us Praise and Glory, Honor and Thanks, Worship and Submission and Obedience! Scripture also tells us to "Sanctify yourselves and be holy; for I, the LORD, your God, am holy." And Jesus told us to "be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect."

Jesus also told us to….

Live the beatitudes…be humble, merciful, compassionate and righteous

Do various kinds of corporal and spiritual works of mercy

…feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, comforting the sick, visiting those in prison

Obey His commandments

…the Ten Commandments and the two great commandments

To love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength

And to love our neighbor as ourselves

To take up our crosses daily and follow in His footsteps

Now that’s a mouthful! But it's not impossible.

Oh, and by the way! Why do we repay to God what belongs to God? Because of His promise to us. Remember what I said earlier? "…to become children of God, adoptive sons and daughters, heirs to His kingdom and partakers in the divine nature and eternal life." Reason enough? Can I get an Amen?!

My brothers and sisters, living a grace filled life is NOT impossible. Through prayer and the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, God will increase in us the graces we need to live holy lives. By living a virtuous life and allowing LOVE, the great virtue of Charity, to give birth to all kinds of good fruit, Christ can sanctify and perfect us as we grow in holiness. So that when our journey on this earth is over, and we stand before the Just Judge, we will hear the words of the Lord saying, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." For "what eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart" I have prepared for those who love me."

May the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit! AMEN!