Earlier this week, we celebrated the Feast of Mary, the mother of Jesus. In some places, this feast day is known as the Assumption, following the belief that Mary did not die, but was assumed into heaven in both body and soul. For the rest of us, only our souls go to heaven while our bodies remain here. Other places call the feast day the day of the Dormition, meaning Mary did not die but instead fell asleep. Still, others allow for a belief that Mary did die like all of us someday will, and her feast day is similar to the feast days of the other saints. The Episcopal Church allows for any of these understandings. What is important for Episcopalians is to remember the example set for us by Mary.
There is a very well-known prayer that is said by Christians with devotions to Our Lady. It is known as the Hail Mary, and it comes from the greetings offered to Mary in the Gospel of Luke. The first line of the prayer says, “Hail Mary, full of grace…” The second stanza asks Mary to continue to pray for us. Very important indeed! As the mother of Jesus, I imagine Mary to be a pretty influential person. And if there were only one person I could pick to pray for me, it would probably be Mary. So the prayer makes a lot of sense. But what does it mean to be “full of grace”? We know that Mary is full of grace. What about the rest of us? Do we have a fuel tank where grace is stored? Do we use it up? Can it be replenished? If so, does that mean Mary is full of grace, and Fr. Tim is running on fumes? People have told me I’m full of other things before, but certainly never grace!
Our Prayer Book describes grace as something unearned and undeserved. This means the fuel tank analogy doesn’t work. God bestows grace upon us whether we want it or not! God gives us this grace even when we feel unworthy. Even when we feel unloved. Even when we feel unlovable. God loves us and his grace is an extension of his love. This means it is important for us to acknowledge his grace. To receive it. To accept it. And to recognizing the imago Dei in those around us and to share grace with them as well. I like to think I’m pretty good at offering grace to others. True, this can be hard to do when someone cuts me off in traffic or flips me the middle finger when I don’t accelerate quickly enough. It’s challenging to extend grace when someone says or does something hurtful. But for the most part, I think I do ok. I can be understanding if someone comes late to an appointment. I can be forgiving if someone bumps into me at the grocery store by accident. I even extended grace to a fan at a Phoenix Suns game recently, when he tripped and spilled some of his beer on me. I actually felt badly for him that he spilled some of his costly beverage, and not that it ended up on my Utah Jazz shirt. In fairness, it didn’t hurt matters that he returned in the third quarter with a cold beer for me, insisting that I accept his offering. But if I’m willing to offer grace to others, why am I so poor at offering grace to myself?
I think it is pretty common for us to be more gracious with others than with ourselves. If I’m at the beach, I always feel self-conscious about being in a bathing suit. Even though I would never look down on someone else for wearing a bathing suit. If I misspeak and say something silly, why do I feel foolish when I would simply laugh it off if someone else did something similar? I might give that person a playful hard time, but I certainly wouldn’t consider them a fool! It is important to remember that grace is abundant. And Jesus teaches us to love others as we love ourselves. This is a two-way street. This means we have to love ourselves the same way we love others.
God’s grace is unearned and undeserved, but he gives it to us anyway. The people in our lives are heirs to that grace, and we get to share it with them too! But that means we have to let them share it with us in return. We have to receive it, and not because we earned it or deserved it. We just have to open our hearts and accept it. And when we’re feeling down about ourselves, we have to extend a little grace to ourselves as well. God is good. He is all-loving and all-gracious. Maybe we can learn from Mary what it means to be full of grace. And if I can open my heart to be accepting of grace, then maybe I won’t have to feel like I’m running on fumes.