An Everlasting Gift…

One of the benefits of working with the Cornerstone Forum is having available the archives of Gil Bailie to draw from. One of the recent reviewers of Gil’s book, “God’s Gamble”, on Amazon says in part, “Anything that Gil Bailie writes has been thought and rethought for decades.” It is true. Gil Bailie’s work often reflects something of a plowman going over the field multiple times to find the rich earth beneath and bringing it to the surface.

During these slow summer months I am recycling some of the postings from our earlier internet blog while Gil continues to work on the text of his next book project and I continue to keep the plates spinning at my multiple jobs.

The following reflection from a decade ago bears on the subject of grace/gift:

“Each of us will be eternally that which we shall have made ourselves on earth.” -Jean Danielou

Now that’s a truly daunting prospect. Here, however, is what saves us from it, (taken from the Eucharistic prayers):

“May He make us an everlasting gift to You.”

So, praise God, it is not entirely what we make of ourselves, but what God in Christ makes of us. Our task is less to make something of ourselves than to open ourselves to Eucharistic assimilation.
Everyone has to pull his or her own weight, but God does the heavy lifting.

To the question, “Well, which is it? My effort, or God’s grace?” The answer is …YES!