“Without God’s grace, I could do nothing” (Saint Joan of Arc).
Saint Joan of Arc expresses a fundamental truth in a very simple way. She knows that she depends on God for everything. However, this dependence does not have the negative connotation we usually associate with this term when we refer to a situation that deprives us of our freedom.
This is never the case with our Heavenly Father, since dependence on Him is the deepest fulfilment of our being. It is therefore important to emphasise God’s loving care, on which we depend. Indeed, this is true.
Since our Father constantly offers us this care as a gift of His love, our dependence on Him is a great joy and is true life. Our receptivity to this grace is, so to speak, the instrument on which our Father can play the melody of His love.
This does not mean that we should remain in a merely passive attitude, as if no cooperation on our part were necessary and as if we were a kind of medium of grace, without needing to use the natural gifts God has given us.
But we do depend and will always depend on God’s grace, without which we can do nothing. As Saint Joan says in today’s quote: ‘Without God’s grace, I could do nothing.’
To do everything as God wants and as best we can, we must be attentive to grace, which enlightens us, strengthens us and allows the gifts of the Holy Spirit to unfold in us. Sometimes this requires patience, and we must know how to wait until God’s grace impels us in the right direction and shows us how to do what the Lord asks of us.