Grace.  Not easy to define but easy to spot.  The Catholic Church tried to define grace and does it by dividing it up but both end up in the Church’s usual clinical way, stale and unemotional.

Grace

–wholly touching a new baby’s foot with your pinky finger
–hearing summer’s thunder rustle through your home
–first day of school and your mother’s hand is withdrawn
–getting the job that everyone said you’d never get
–waking up two hours before the alarm for your first day at work
–when she said “yes” when you thought she’d say “no
–new car smell (I had to throw that one in)
–leaving 40 degree and arriving to 78 degree
–returning to your seat when you know you’ve said something in a sermon
–person you don’t know says person you don’t know referred her to me
–the first of many colorful scribbles that adorn the refrigerator door
–the holy water blessing before falling to sleep
–that email from someone from 40 years ago
–your sports team wins in the last tens seconds
–“Beach Boy” leader Brian Wilson, fifty years later, walks on stage in darkness and everyone gives him a standing ovation before the first note is played (you had to be there)
–falling asleep and smiling to yourself after a long but meaningful day
–the moment I stand up before the Gospel and my sermon and wonder why I am the one doing this
–the conversation before the over-priced meal is served