The Quiet Evidence of Grace How to Recognize Genuine Growth
I wanted to concretely talk about this a little bit outside of the reality of the fall and the example that Our Lord gives us through the Stations of the Cross. Once you have made an act of mental assent to your failure, right, that’s a great gift. I mean, really, you do have to look at it from the standpoint that your fault is mercy from God.
Then there are certain elements that are essential to correct that, and I think that it’s important to really articulate them. The first is to make an act of contrition, right? To immediately recognize your fault and then to say, “I’m sorry that I fell.”
Now, depending upon what it is that you did, is it a private sin? Is it a public sin, meaning that it was against another person? Then you’re going to need to repair what has been done, right? So how would you go about that? Do you need to apologize to someone? Did you break something? Does it need to be replaced? Right? Make a concrete resolution to get that reparation done.
Then, after you’ve apologized to God and made reparation to the person offended, make a firm resolution to acknowledge to yourself how you’re not going to fall into that same trap again, right? Be prepared for a similar attack, because Our Lord knows that you fell. I mean, Satan knows that you fell once now. He’s going to be likely to do it to you again, right?
Bring it to prayer immediately. “I fell. I’m sorry. I don’t want to do this again. Lord, give me the grace to combat this.”
And then, if it is truly serious enough that it moves beyond just a small fault and moves into that element of sin, meaning that you had knowledge of it and you chose to do it anyway, right, that should probably be brought to confession, even if it’s a venial sin, because venial sins confessed bring grace to fight it the next time.
So once again, make that immediate act of contrition, repair what was damaged, resolve with an amendment to fight it the next time, bring that resolution to prayer. If it’s serious enough, make sure that you take that sin to confession so that God can give you the grace necessary to help you fight that next fall, right?
What do we call it when you save someone from a public fall, right? You can actually be accruing these supernatural graces, right? The graces that are going to strengthen you before you fall again, right, by that past failure.
So I do think it’s really important that people both see Our Lady as a source of grace, but also, how do I amend myself from that fall?
Exactly. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Very, very, very, very important.
We have learned to recognize the predominant fault beneath our scattered sins, to practice the opposing virtue through small, faithful acts, to discern the movements of consolation and desolation, to give our days the gentle structure of a rule, and to return promptly after every fall through concrete repentance. Now the question arises: how do we recognize that grace is truly restoring the soul? The Catholic tradition warns us against two errors. One is to equate spiritual growth with pleasant feelings or dramatic experiences. The other is to become so preoccupied with self-measurement that we miss the quiet work of God.
St. John of the Cross teaches that God sometimes withdraws sensible consolation, not as a sign of abandonment, but to purify the soul and deepen it beyond feeling into a deeper walking by faith. This does not mean every dry spell is that kind of purification. Dryness can simply be dryness. But it does mean we should never assume that the absence of pleasant feeling means the absence of grace, any more than its presence proves grace is at work. Yet this does not leave us without evidence. St. Paul describes the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal 5:22–23). These appear as increasing freedom: greater patience with others, quicker repentance after a fall, less defensiveness, steadier prayer, deeper concrete charity, and a growing ability to choose the good without constant interior drama. Grace restores the soul through fidelity in the next good thing.
Sara Discussion Transition Approximate Time: 2:45–3:15 min
I think that, you know, this is where we turn to Saint Thérèse, right? Because this is where we really see the concrete life lived out, right? The small acts offered up, you know, with great devotion.
Insofar as God, you know, we started this talk at the very beginning with this thought that we have this little accumulation of individual sins, right? And that we have to be repentant for each one of these things, which can become grossly overwhelming, right? The whole point of this discernment of our spirit and trying to come into a knowledge of our predominant fault is not for the purpose of keeping track, right? Or, I mean really, it’s not about keeping track. It’s about slow, incremental changes over time, often in hiddenness.
Right? So in the same way that we don’t fall into vice with a huge splash, right? We fall into vice slowly, with a slow, incremental ascent to sin. We have to expect that the growth in virtue is going to be doubly hard and doubly unnoticeable, right?
As I said in one of the episodes, it’s so easy for us to identify pride and sensuality and vanity in us. But when we try to identify virtue in ourselves, right, our tendency is going to be almost the contrary. We’re going to think that we’re more virtuous, right? That we’re doing way better than we are, right? And that we are. That’s a real problem, right?
So I keep a spiritual card. Remember when Elijah, standing at the mountain, he goes up and he doesn’t know what he’s looking for. The storm comes and the earthquake comes and all of these different things, and yet he doesn’t recognize the Lord. He doesn’t hide his face until the gentle whisper, right? Because God doesn’t have to be flashy. God doesn’t have to do great things to get our attention. God is. And He wants us to be still with Him.
One of the things that I’ve really been kind of working with on myself is a mindfulness of being in the presence of God, walking into church and truly recognizing that He’s there. After communion, being aware of the fact that I really just received the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ.
And a lot of this, I had mentioned that I’m reading this beautiful meditation on Saint Catherine of Siena. She truly is a master of this, right? This interior life is given over to God, even in the midst of all the worldliness that’s going on around us.
So what do we need to do? Well, we should be on the lookout for concrete fruit, right? We should notice that our tone is becoming more gentle over time. In my case, I should notice that I am being more steadfast in my interior life, being more recollected in front of God. I should be looking for those concrete graces.
God isn’t trying to remain hidden. The whisper does come, right? But then secondarily, when we see that smallest action towards grace that we have to have within ourselves, an action of thanksgiving. Our whole interior disposition has to be one of deep thankfulness that God is willing to whisper.
A whisper, if you’re going to be heard through a whisper, what does that show you? Somebody has to be really, really close to you. A crash of thunder can be so distant from you, and you can still hear it. But for you to hear the whisper, it means that Our Lord is very close to you.
Be thankful. Saint Thérèse was really, really good at this, right? It’s just that recognition that every single action, small as it may be, done with great love, is pleasing to God.
So, do we repent more frequently? Is our prayer becoming more steadfast? Are we noticing that God is giving us small opportunities to practice charity in a manner? Those are the things that we’re looking for. Those where we hear the whisper, because that’s when we have that blessed assurance that Our Lord is near to us.
How then do we receive that whisper? Profound gratitude. Because that is the way that we show to Him that we receive His grace and we know that He is being active in our life.
Beautiful. Thanks for beautiful questions for journaling.
Where have I sought dramatic signs or pleasant feelings instead of the quiet fruit of grace? Where have I become preoccupied with measuring my progress rather than entrusting myself to God? Where have I overlooked small, hidden victories of fidelity and charity?
True spiritual growth is God’s work, received in humble gratitude. It does not remove struggle, but slowly makes us more able, steady, and willing to love. A soul growing in patience, charity, and self-control quietly changes the people and the home around it. The restoration of culture begins in the restoration of persons.
Let us pray.
Lord Jesus Christ, open our eyes to the quiet evidence of Your grace. Teach us to recognize the fruits of Your Spirit in greater freedom to love. Guard us from presumption and anxious self-measurement. May we walk by faith when the path is dark and give thanks for the small, hidden ways You restore our souls.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sources
John of the Cross. Dark Night of the Soul. Translated by E. Allison Peers. (Book I).
The Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006. (Galatians 5:22–23; Philippians 2:13).
Thérèse of Lisieux. Story of a Soul. Translated by John Clarke. Washington, DC: ICS Publications, 1996.
The six-episode arc answers the series thesis by showing how the restoration of the soul actually happens in ordinary life: