Grace (Willingness to Receive)

“All the Christians of St. John’s time, by “receiving of His fullness,” the “grace for grace,” actually shared in what the Logos incarnate is—not just seeing and hearing Him. This is a very powerful reminder to Christians of all times that even though we cannot see and hear Him as many of the first Christians did, we can still receive of His fullness—that this grace is not only completing and perfecting what was given in the Old Covenant, but also completing and perfecting what is lacking in us (if we cooperate!). Through this grace we can receive life in abundance—“zōē,” eternal life—which will be imaged in various ways later in John’s Gospel, including drinking and eating, along with other links to the Eucharist. All of this is a very powerful reminder of our exceedingly high calling of deification.” (Dr. Mary S. Ford)

“Life is hard. This is why we seek and can receive grace continually. We can receive it daily through prayer, and weekly through the sacrament of Communion. Grace is like a spiritual massage. Whoever has gone for a massage knows how good it feels when it’s over. Most people wish they could get one often, even every day. Well, with prayer, we can get a spiritual massage daily and with Communion, we can receive a large dose of grace every Sunday.” (Fr. Stavros N. Akrotirianakis)

“We usually think of grace as the unmerited favor of God that saves us despite our sinfulness… Grace is nothing other than the Divine Energies, the very “life” of God. Grace is God Himself…we [also] learn another sense of the essential term “grace.”… Paul uses the word to appeal to the generosity of his flock in Corinth…the logic behind the apostle’s teaching that we should be “grace-full” as God is gracious…Since we are “imitators of God,” we should show the same graciousness that He extended to us. Thus, Paul reminds his flock of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ who in His divine kindness and mercy became poor for our sakes so that we might become rich with the blessings of salvation…We who have received grace should therefore become exemplars of graciousness to the world.” (Fr. Basil, Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol)

“When we have a statement, such as that found in Proverbs and quoted by St. James (“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” 4:6), we should pay close attention and understand what is being revealed to us. Humility is filled with grace. Humility is the Cup by means of which we can receive the life of God: it is a sacrament of grace.” (Father Stephen Freeman) 

“St. Paul refers to his apostolic ministry as one of working together with God “as ambassadors of Christ” who call the confused Corinthians “to be reconciled to God.” (2 Cor. 5: 20-21) He addresses them with urgency, for “now is ‘the acceptable season’; behold, now is ‘the day of salvation.’” These words will confuse those who think that grace is merely a gift of forgiveness by God that precludes us from being judged guilty for our sins. When grace is understood in such legal categories, it becomes hard to see what it would be mean to receive it in vain, for grace would by definition bring about forgiveness.” (Fr. Philip LeMasters)

“…there is a well-known saying—an excerpt from a poem by the famous Russian poet Apollon Maykov: “The deeper the sorrow, the closer is God”. It’s about how in moments of life’s trials, heavy sorrows, and illnesses, we need to feel the presence of God in our lives reliably, clearly, and convincingly. This feeling, together with the understanding of God’s close sympathy to our sorrows should be found living in our hearts, actively strengthening and consoling us. It should…but do we truly feel this in these moments? Priests today are increasingly confronted with the opposite; the abundance of sorrows and trials makes a person very troubled: “Why is this happening to me? Why me? I just…” …And I’m am talking about believers and church people, those who in the event of spiritual problems are the first to run to a priest for an explanation.” (Priest Dimitry Vidumkin)

“When sorrows surround us, it is necessary to hasten to prayer to attract the special grace of God. Only with the help of special grace can we trample all temporary disasters…When tribulations come of their own accord, do not fear them. Do not think they came by chance or coincidence. No…they are engulfed by the incomprehensible Providence of God…From out of the pressing circumstances that compass us about, we must force ourselves to remember God, to turn to God with the most zealous prayer for deliverance. Deliverance will not be slow to come.” (St. Ignatius Brianchaninov)

“God becomes closer to us, insofar as we strive for this closeness ourselves. And we should not look for this closeness only when we are in trouble, but rather we should strive for it always. It is very important to understand this, because only union with Christ, the desire for which should characterize the daily reality of every Christian, is that invariable condition in which no afflictions are too terrible for him. For as St. Ignatius said: “Our temporary suffering in itself doesn’t mean anything, we give it meaning by our attachment to the earthly and everything perishable and our coldness to Christ and eternity.” (Priest Dimitry Vidumkin, St. Ignatius Brianchaninov)

“Despite sometimes the way we phrase things, God’s grace is always available to us and He does not withhold His grace from us in the manner we may think. The reality is that when we do not avail ourselves of His grace, in most instances it is because we stubbornly cling to self-will. The irony is the stronger we are the longer it takes to break self-will. This is due to an unconscious pride that we have developed due to our gift of mental strength. That is why Christ says “blessed are the meek” as in blessed are the humble. They are blessed because their humility avails them of the reality of God’s grace sooner rather than later. They aren’t in the grip of a false pride that masquerades as an asset until it becomes exposed as a liability.” (Sacramental Living Ministries)

“In order for the massage to have the greatest affect, a person has to totally relax while the masseuse is working. Getting tense actually just makes the pain greater…Grace works in the same way. When we have relaxed spirits and hearts in prayer, in worship and in receiving the sacraments, the grace of the Holy Spirit will pour over us like warm water and give warmth and light to our troubled souls. If we come to receive grace with hearts that are hardened, it may actually make us feel worse…Life is hard. This is why we seek and can receive grace continually.” (Fr. Stavros N. Akrotirianakis)

“We do not yet have the eyes to see it, but our paths are ultimately the same as his [St. Paul’s]. No matter how sad, sick, frustrated, deprived, or conflicted we may be, the Lord still enables us to share in His life for the blessing and salvation of the world. We will not do that on as grand a scale as St. Paul, but that is beside the point. Like it or not, we have the lives in this world that we have. We cannot undo previous events, choices, and actions, including those that were and are well beyond our control. We cannot say a magic word and become someone else or change anything about the past. We can, however, repent by turning away from sin and reorienting our lives to Christ as best we have the strength to do today. That is how we will open ourselves to receive His grace. That is how we will receive the strength to convey Christ’s merciful compassion toward others as a sign of His great victory over death for the salvation of the world.” (Fr. Philp LeMasters)

“If you have done something bad and you feel and believe that you don’t deserve forgiveness from the person you wronged and from God, and your internal dialogue is ‘I don’t deserve the unconditional love and forgiveness being offered,’ I can tell you with great confidence you’re absolutely right. None of us deserve the forgiveness and unconditional love from God but it is not a question of deserving it. God does not love us and try to save us through His grace based on merit. The question we need to struggle with is ‘am I willing to receive it?’ Are we willing to receive God’s forgiveness and unconditional love, especially as manifested from another human being who is offering it to us despite what we may have done. There is such power and transformation in this reception and acceptance, and such torment in rejecting it due to hanging on to guilt because we are wrestling with the wrong question.” (Sacramental Living Ministries)

“Without God’s grace, we can never know the true extent of our wickedness. We are far too adept at deceiving ourselves, and the weight of this knowledge would likely crush us. And yet God leads us toward repentance – and life. Christ Jesus came into the world to save each and every one of us chief sinners, offering us His complete forgiveness…we must remember that our life in Christ is never about getting what we deserve, but concerns entering by grace into the joy of the Savior’s victory over sin and death through His glorious resurrection.” (Dynamis 2/7/2021, Fr. Philip LeMasters)

“… while Paul sees himself as such a godly example for his flock, he also considers himself the “foremost” sinner. As the former chief persecutor of the Church, he also serves as a model. The Greek word he uses as “pattern” refers to a sketch or outline of an original design…This pattern showed the manner of God’s treatment of Paul, the sinner. Despite the apostle’s offenses against Christ and the Church, God displayed His longsuffering; that is, God treated him with patience and forbearance…The point is that the merciful restraint that God showed to Paul assures all who look to God for the gift of eternal life. The Lord’s lovingkindness of the apostle demonstrates that all who turn to the Lord will not receive the condemnation that they deserve but the grace that they have not earned.” (Fr. Basil)

“Grace is God's unlimited, unconditional, uncreated love, freely given to those who do not deserve it.” (Orthodox Study Bible, 1 Corinthians 1:3)

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