The Flowing Grace of Now

Book excerpt: Winner of a 2020 Excellence in Publishing Award from the Association for Catholic Publishers (second place, prayer). For more than twenty-five years, Sr. Macrina Wiederkehr has authored such bestselling books on Catholic spirituality as Seven Sacred Pauses and A Tree Full of Angels. In The Flowing Grace of Now—her first book in almost a decade—Wiederkehr offers weekly reflections that reveal the spiritual teachers at work in your life, inviting you to listen to these teachers and learn from their wisdom. “There is an old proverb that says, ‘When the student is ready the teacher will arrive.’ I think I have been ready for a long time, yet perhaps I have spent too much time looking for the perfect teacher rather than seeing the teachers that arrive in unexpected ways.” With these words, retreat guide and author Sr. Macrina Wiederkehr begins The Flowing Grace of Now, a year-long companion that ushers you into the presence of teachers already at work in your life—teachers intent on helping you deepen your faith. These teachers are not necessarily saints, writers, or theologians, but rather ordinary people, events, and experiences whose presence already permeates your life. These include: biblical characters, day and night, silence, the virtues, and joy in another person’s good fortune. These, Wiederkehr suggests, are the kind of teachers who are the result of the flow of grace in your life. She encourages you to become aware of how they are at work in you and what you might learn from them. Each reflection begins with a scripture text leading you into the spirit of the week. A brief meditation on this scripture serves as a catalyst for the Word to take root in your heart and a closing prayer sums up the week. A teacher is suggested for you. The final quotation from a spiritual writer contains the spirit of your teacher and can assist you in embracing the wisdom of that teacher. Using this book as a year-long weekly guide can be an enriching opportunity to deepen and transform your faith life.