Grace and graces

It is God’s grace to be able to iron!

Couple of weeks ago few friends and I were trying to organize a little catch up time. We decided to meet on Sunday for lunch in the location convenient to everyone. Knowing that most places are busy before Christmas, I volunteered to book the table for us. When I was asked for my name, the person on the other side of the phone was having difficulty recognizing my name. Was it Gray?–he asked. Grace–I corrected. How do you spell it? He asked. G-R-A-C-E. I spelled my name letter by letter. Ok, Grane, thank you. I said- not Grane, just Grace. The saga of simply giving the name over the phone included variations of Grade, Grane, Gray and… even I tried to sing “Amazing Grace”. It was truly a hilarious drama!!

The story of my name goes back to my family. Back in Poland my baptismal name is “Grazyna”, which means “beautiful”. I like this name very much. Who doesn’t like beautiful name? When joining religious life, in Novitiate I was asked if I want to change my name according to common practices in consecrated life. It was not my wish at all. Why? Because I believe that to become a consecrated person is to deepen the gifts received during your baptism, and baptismal name is important. My superiors had different plans. Cutting a long story short–on the day of my investiture I received the name Henrietta. Also beautiful, but very hard for people in Poland to remember or pronounce. When the time for my final vows came, 8 years after joining my congregation I wrote to my Superior General once more requesting to be called by my baptismal name: Grazyna. Permission granted. Hooray! ?

Few years later I moved to Australia. My desired baptismal name became almost a mission- impossible to pronounce or to be remembered by English-speaking people. Because of that, one of the American sisters living here asked if they could call me Grace. That was the new chapter of name identity started in my life, plus endless jokes about “being graceful Grace” or trying “not to dis-Grace” myself as well as requests for “Grace saying the grace before meal”.

At the same time this name renewed some goals in my life: seeking God’s grace, living God’s grace, being full of grace as Blessed Mary was- is something to live up to. Is “Grace” an English equivalent for Polish “Grazyna”? Not really, but it is close enough or, I would rather say: it is an extension, next level from living a life that is not only beautiful but filled with God’s graces.

There are many Bible quotes (Romans 3: 20-24; John 1:14; Acts 6:8; Ephesians 4:7 and many more) reiterating that we can do nothing without God’s grace. To live a “graceful” life means for me opening my heart as much as possible for God’s graces, seeing them, accepting them from God and inviting God to the places in my life where he is not fully present yet. Being called Grace is a gift for which I am grateful today.

Have a great day.

Sr Grace (Grazyna)