Dear all,

I am really enjoying Richard Rohr’s book of daily thoughts entitled “On the threshold of transformation” which is aimed at men.

This one particularly (for both women and men!) grabbed me…

The economy of grace:

Love can happen only in realms of freedom. Without inner freedom on both sides there can be no true love relationship – only duty, fear, or obligation. So it is all a matter of growing in freedom, which could be called “growing in grace.”

God’s love is perfectly free. It is not coerced by any of our good actions, nor can we lose it because of our bad actions. We are stuck with it and cannot increase – or decrease – God’s love for us by anything we do or don’t do.

This is God’s “eternal covenant” with the soul. God does not love us because God has to; God loves us because God wants to. This frees us to simply receive that love, rather than feverishly try to make ourselves worthy of it.

I could add to this but don’t want to spoil its blunt beauty. I’ll just leave you with his question to reflect and pray on…

When am I most able to believe not in my own goodness but in God’s?

Yours because of Jesus – Neil.