Here are two thoughts I have about God's grace this past few days.

1.  Grace is a good thing when it is given to me, but when it is given to someone else, grace could become a hard pill to swallow. One of the times I have come to a realization of that is when I get upset when some drivers drive so fast and they make me fear for my life. I hope in my heart that they get a ticket. However, when I speed and I see that police car behind me, I wish for grace, that I would get away with it. We sometimes do what we condemn others for and then thank God when we get away with it, even to the point of becoming boastful about not doing wrong.

2. In the beautitudes, there was a statement that if we love our enemies we will be sons of God. I flippantly thought that being sons of God is a reward. However, as I read it carefully, I noticed that the preceeding verses are about being kind to our enemies. Therefore, that statement "we will be sons of God" is a statement about how God is like. When we are kind to our enemies, we reflect God's mercy as a son usually reflects his father's looks, character, habits, ets.  We become partakers of the divine nature when we reflect the grace of God towards both friends and enemies. He causes rain to fall on the godly and the ungodly so they can grow food.

Who are our enemies? I think enemies can be looked at not as a static status (those who are different, those whom we hold a grudge against, etc). Enemies can also be a dynamic status. This means that even a friend could be an enemy at certain points. Those we love could be our enemies when they do us wrong. I believe this insight can help us with holding grudges. People do wrong things and sometimes we cast them off from our lives. If we are to be like God, I believe we can't cast off our enemies from our lives. God looks towards reconciliation. He sent his son to make his enemies into his friends. We also need to look towards reconciliation with our enemies. This does not mean letting those who have wronged us get away without suffering the consequences of their actions. There is evil and God abhors evil. For the sake of our Lord, justice must be served.

I was thinking of how the Catholic church made steps so that the Catholic priests who have abused children before would not have to face criminal prosecution. To them this may look like mercy (to the priests but not to the victims) but this was total disregard for God's law, not to mention state law which we are bound to obey as people of God, against harming children and having unlawful sexual relations. If the Catholic leaders love God, they would not have let those priests get away with their crimes. Saying that, it is possible to refrain from wishing evil on wrongdoers while letting them suffer the consequences of their actions. I believe this is the minimum act of love we can give to our enemies, to leave them in the hands of God, and not to actively seek their destruction through our actions.