Practical Steps to Fill Your Grace Well - New Evangelizers

The most effective way to refill the ‘grace well’ at the heart of how we choose the things of God over that of the world is by participating, in what I affectionately refer to as, the “Grace Trifecta”. The secret is simple – immerse yourself in God’s abundant grace through the frequent, it not daily, practice of prayer, sacrament and scripture.

PRAYER
• Rosary as prayer abacus. I employ this alternative use for the Rosary when I am having either a very distractible day or one filled with prayer requests. For each bead, I bring to mind someone needing a prayer – offering that bead’s prayer for their specific intentions. At the end of the Rosary, I have prayed for at least 50 people. Grace abounds.
• Turn your inner voice to one of constant communication with those in heaven. Engage your Guardian Angel, Blessed Mother or favorite Saint in dialog – and move closer to St . Paul’s exhortation to “pray without ceasing”.
• Do you feel like you spend all day in your car? What about praying for the intentions (known or unknown) for those in the houses you pass in your travels. This I affectionately refer to as, “praying your town”. I offer prayers as I pass by homes of sick friends, families with new babies, or a Requiem for a loss soul. I also pray this short prayer, “Jesus, Mary I love you, save souls” when I drive past a cemetery.

SACRAMENT
• Learn more about the incredible mystical beauty of the Liturgy so to be fully present for each celebration of the Eucharist. Some of my favorite current books on the Mass include A Biblical Walk Through the Mass by Edward Sri, Seven Secrets of the Eucharist by Vinny Flynn and The Power of Daily Mass by Bert Ghezzi.
• Get Ye to Adoration. Why? St. Alphonsus Liguori makes one of the best arguments for finding a way to work this incredible practice into your week:
“Know also that you will probably gain more by praying fifteen minutes before the Blessed Sacrament than by all the other spiritual exercises of the day. True, Our Lord hears our prayers anywhere, for He has made the promise, ‘Ask, and you shall receive,’ but He has revealed to His servants that those who visit Him in the Blessed Sacrament will obtain a more abundant measure of grace.”
• Frequent Confession. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is one of great healing. When we come to the Priest to confess we are doing more than leaving our sins at the foot of the cross, we are being filled with God’s grace to go forward and sin no more (or at least sin a bit less). This a great gift that we all need to open more than just once a year!

SCRIPTURE
“Ignorance of Scripture is Ignorance of Christ” St. Jerome
• Choose one scripture verse a month to memorize. Some suggestions from the well-spring of scripture that has blessed my life:
o Jeremiah 29:11
o Philippians 4:6
o Proverbs 3:5-6
o 1 Peter 5:7
o Matthew 6:25-27
• Not sure where to start? What about the daily Mass readings? True confession – I was in my thirties before making the scripture/Mass reading connection. Not sure how I missed this important piece of information during my faith formation perhaps my attention deficit or boy-craziness during those formative years is to blame?
• A little App assistance? A few years ago I overhead two faithful friends lamenting on the difficulty to add scripture into their daily prayer life. The conversation (coupled with some quality time in Adoration) sparked an idea currently available for both iOs and Android called – The Words With Jesus App. The simple application provides you a way every day to spend a few moments listening to Jesus in the Gospels.

Bottom line — however you choose to be filled with the overflowing grace of God — be sure to draw from it often and never let you well run dry!
Copyright 2015, Allison Gingras

Allison Gingras

Allison Gingras is founder of Reconciled To You and host of A Seeking Heart on Bread Box Media weekdays 10 am ET. Allison created the "Words with" daily devotional App Series. Allison offers retreats and presentations: Seeking Faith Series, Lessons from the Holy Family, and Technology & Evangelization.