This morning a mother called the parish office.  She and her family had received help from us during some recent flooding and she just wanted to express gratitude for the grace she had found in a time of need.  Her call served as a reminder that a battle is raging even beyond those in Darfur, Iraq and Afghanistan.  In one camp the battle is being fought with grace while selfish desire fuels the other.  Each of us must decide where we will pitch our tent.

In order for us to live in the camp of grace, we must be willing to acknowledge an insufficiency within ourselves.  That is seldom being done anymore because too many people feel little need for anything beyond themselves.  Most of us have more than we can use while far too many people live without even the most basic necessities.  In places where people are comfortable, many seem to have forgotten about the grace that comes when we are broken.  When people are free to think and do whatever they want, sometimes insatiable desire takes over.  Fueled by greed, desire can be mistaken for principle, and then it is allowed to take precedence over everything else.  

Recently, one talk show topic was about how people get into overwhelming debt and what can be done about it.  Person after person had almost the same story.  They had bought whatever they wanted with no thought for real need.  The more they bought, the more they wanted to buy with no regard for financial responsibility or consequences.  Desire promoted to the status of principle had placed them in financial quicksand and they were about to be sucked under.

What would a world based on grace rather than human desire look like?  What if we lived by the grace-filled principle that nothing could be done that would cause harm to any child?  What if the evening news focused on stories people living grace-filled lives?  What if our real celebrities were people building homes for the homeless or devoting hours to visiting the sick?  Rather than dismissing a world based on grace, we must recognize there is a kingdom where people are already living this way.  In fact, there are patches of grace cropping up even in pop culture. One reality show provides homes for needy people and a newscast ends the week with stories of people devoted to helping others.

This past Sunday I noticed an elderly woman sitting alone in a front pew after Mass.  When I walked over to greet her she said, “I am just sitting here overcome by the goodness of God.”  We talked for a few minutes as she shared the gift of grace alive in her life.  She had chosen the camp where she would pitch her tent a long time ago.  We must all do the same.  There is real abundance in one camp.  As for life in the other camp?  It appears attractive, but the cost is way too high.